Strange Girls

 

Strange Girls by Sarvat Hasin, 307 pages

Aliya and Ava develop a close friendship during their years at University in London, a friendship that is formed on their shared interest of creative writing. They spend every minute together, staying up late intertwined on the couch watching movies, bringing each other coffee in the morning, and planning a future as drifting writers together. From their friends and families perspectives, they are too close and are becoming increasingly codependent on each other. As things get more intense, their time at University comes to a close, and their lives take different paths. 

What I loved about this story is the narration. Each chapter switches between the past, told by Aliya, and the present told by Ava. The present chapters follow Ava in adulthood, as she is back in London for a weekend to stay with Aliya for their mutual friends bachelorette party. Aliya's chapters talk about their time at University, focusing heavily on Aliya's fascination with Ava and the mental toll this takes on her. Neither character is necessarily likable, but it is interesting that the narration twists together these two characters as the story unfolds. 

I had a few small qualms about this book, mostly because the trope of characters in literary fiction can get worn out and that is how I felt during parts of this book. It made some parts feel too predictable and scripted, although other aspects of the story made up for this. 

The Pirate Queen

 

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon, 528 pages.

Gráinne Ní Mháille (or Grace O'Malley, as she is better known to English speakers) was born in Ireland in the 16th century, coming of age right as the English crown decided to strengthen their claim to Ireland. Grace was the daughter of a powerful chief, leader of a sea-faring clan, and all her life she longed not only for the sea, but for the independence her dominance could offer her. Her political control of many of the clans of Ireland, combined with her fearless piracy, rendered her the most powerful woman in Ireland, someone bold enough to appear before Queen Elizabeth herself. 

There isn't really a way to make the story of an anti-colonial pirate queen boring, so I can grant that this book had interesting parts, but I don't believe the style it was written in does it any favors. The chapters rotate between Maiden, Mother, and Matriarch, following Grace through various stages in her life. Unfortunately, what I found this did in effect was kill any possible momentum the book was building. The structure already often felt like a series of vignettes, which makes an amount of sense when trying to cover nearly six decades of a life, but the sense of disconnect was strengthened by having long stretches of events that occurred decades before whatever exciting thing was interrupted. I had a hard time remembering what was happening when by the end, as the three timelines began to join together.

There were a few other writing choices I found minorly frustrating, such as the narration usually referring to the protagonist as Grace to appeal to the recognizable historical figure, even though every time she is called Grace by another character it is taken as an insult; the somewhat two-dimensional supporting cast; or the sort of over-saturated "girl power" tone it sometimes took. I did appreciate that Lawhon did a good job of setting the scene for 16th century Ireland. Despite how interesting the subject is, I don't know that I'll be recommending this book. 

The Grandmother Plot

The Grandmother Plot by Caroline Cooney (2021) 269 pages

Freddy lives in his grandmother's house and visits her frequently in the memory care facility where she now lives. She doesn't always call him by the correct name, but she seems to recognize him and she likes it when he pushes her in her wheelchair on walks. He's solicitous of her wellbeing. But he also smokes a lot of weed when he's not with her. He barely makes a living creating glass beads and glass bongs. To complicate everything, somehow he has gotten himself on the wrong side of a crook who has sent his muscle to find Freddy.

Meanwhile, a woman who lives in the memory center with Freddy's grandmother has died, and the police say it was murder by smothering. Freddy's sisters, who are all out of town, are after him to get Grandma out of the center, but they can't help and they don't realize that Grandma couldn't safely live in her house anymore. Freddy's in a panic about what to do about his grandma and he is also worried about a couple of his friends who were arrested after being set up. Could he be next?

Although this novel is somewhat depressing, there are enough characters who grabbed my interest, including a dog named Snap, who has a reputation for biting, and Mrs. Maple, whose aunt is in the same facility. Freddy is likeable, even as he makes questionable choices. A final thought: the author really knows people who live with dementia and what it's like inside a memory care facility.

I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness

 

I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness by Irene Solà trans. Mara Faye Lethem, 176 pages.

In a small farmhouse deep in the Guilleries mountains, an impossibly old woman is about to die. Long ago, longer than should be possible, her great grandmother made a deal with the devil, a whole man for a husband in exchange for her soul. A trick leaves Joana with her soul, but the generations who will live and die in the house are not unaffected, as everyone born in the house is born lacking something essential, and even now their spirits prepare a feast to welcome Bernadeta to their number. 

 

I picked up this strange book in Barcelona knowing very little about it, and while I'm still not quite sure what to make of it, I'm definitely glad I did. The author started as a poet, and you can definitely tell from how visceral the prose is. The book often transfers seamlessly from the past to the present, and it is often hard to tell if the character we are following is alive or dead. This makes for a slightly confusing reading experience, but definitely an interesting one. This reminded me quite a bit of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, with the strange insular family and the magical realism. This book is undeniably weird, but it packs a real punch for such a little novella, and I think it's definitely worth reading. 

 

The Slow Burn

The Slow Burn by Ali Rosen, 316 pages

After superstar chef Kit's trendy restaurant burns down and her restaurant financier boyfriend dumps her, Kit has nowhere to turn. So she takes her friend's advice and decamps to a tiny town in Italy to work for her friend's pasta-making nonna. While she's there, Kit is forced to slow down, rethink her methods in everything from communicating to cooking, and embrace the small community. What she doesn't expect, however, is to fall for olive oil producer Nico, who's dealing with plenty of emotional baggage of his own.

This book is billed as a romance novel, and while yes, it is (and the title gives you a solid hint as to the type of romance to expect), I'd argue that the stronger story lies in Kit's personal growth and how she comes to understand her own faults while building a strong community around her. It's book that, more than anything, made me hungry for some fresh pasta and long for a trip abroad.

Rivers of London

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, 376 pages

This was our July Orcs & Aliens title, and since I'm just now getting around to writing about it, I'm going to 100% phone it in and simply link to previous posts by Regan and Cindy (who wrote about it way back in 2011, when it was first released in the U.S. as Midnight Riot). I generally love urban fiction, but yeah, the problems that both of my review predecessors point out are real. You can get the same vibe from Jim Butcher's neverending Dresden Files series (except Chicago instead of London). There are better urban fiction titles out there.

The Women in White

 The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen (2026), 291 pages

Riley is a recently divorced, living out of her car caregiver. Betty is a wheelchair bound octogenarian who is in need of help. They click instantly and Riley soon discovers there is a lot more to Betty's story. 

I am on the fence about this one. The novel follows two-timelines: the 1960s and present day. I really enjoyed the parts of the novel based in the 60s, especially the relationship between the four central women who became part of a scientific study looking into parapsychology. Unfortunately, the rest of the novel fell flat. I think I expected more exploration into their supernatural cognitive abilities and was disappointed that didn't happen. The present-day relationship between Riley and Betty felt incomplete and rushed. The ending also wrapped up too quickly. It was an interesting read, but I felt it could have been more fleshed out. 

The Life Impossible

 

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig, 324 pages.

Grace Winters has been living her life with a sense of numb detachment since her husband died, and if she's being honest she's been living that way for decades since she lost her son. Then an acquaintance she shared one meaningful Christmas with long ago leaves Grace her home in Ibiza, and Grace thinks this might finally be her chance to start over. But when she gets to Spain she finds things are not only stranger than her life as a retired math teacher ever prepared her for, but more wonderful as well.

The way this starts reminded me a startling amount of The Correspondent, which I read earlier this year. Both are written as correspondence by old women who have spent decades of their lives not really getting over the death of their son by tragic accident, an accident they feel responsible for due to negligence. However, The Life Impossible takes a sharp turn into science fiction with alien superpowers. That being said, the novel never really feels like it is about the powers, it always instead stays fairly focused on the question of what it means to live a good life. I really enjoyed this book. I found it meaningful and cohesive, and I believe I will think about it often. 

More Than Enough

More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen, 256 pages

Polly's book group has been with her through thick and thin, including her harrowing (and so far, unsuccessful) attempts to get pregnant. But when they jokingly give her a DNA test kit for a genealogy website, a pile of strangers show up as relatives, and she's not sure how much to share with them. Before long, a teenager who's convinced she and Polly are related turns up, so Polly and her closest friend from book club travel to learn the secrets of Polly's past. 

I read this book a while ago and I've been putting off blogging about it, not because I disliked it, but because I can barely remember it. I remember the vague info above, plus a couple other spoiler-y things, but really, other than having a vague "yeah, this was good" feeling, there's not a lot that sticks out to me. If you like Quindlen's other books, you'll enjoy this one. (I guess that's helpful?)

Women of a Promiscuous Nature

Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart, 368 pages

In 1940s North Carolina, Ruth was walking to work at a local diner when the local deputy picked her up, accused her of "promiscuity" and drove her to the health clinic. And from there, he took her to the State Industrial Farm Community for Women, which is full of dozens of other young women who are unmarried and living alone, or have the audacity to argue with their husbands, or were impregnated by an abusive family member. All of them institutionalized, drugged, and forced to work against their will and with no way out. Based on a very real group of such institutions, this book follows Ruth, 15-year-old Stella, entrepreneur Josephine, hard-living Maude, and the possibly-not-as-crazy-as-she-pretends-to-be Frances as they deal with the harsh realities forced upon them by superintendent Dorothy Baker.

It's sometimes horrifying to read this book, especially when you stop to think that this is what was happening to young women while "the boys" were off at war. There were a few times in the book where the writing got a bit clunky, but all in all, this was an interesting, if at times hard, book to read.