Laura M

Brilliant

Revisado: 11-30-24

Tokarczuk’s books open into a more reverent, spiritual engagement with the natural world, and this is something Western folks desperately need right now. This is not the sappy, reductive version of eco-spirituality we see in a lot of popular books. It’s something more profound, darker, sublime, unshakeable, thought-provoking…

It took me a while to get into this one. I found it challenging to listen to the men’s conversations, as I’ve already spent too much of life hearing such things. But it was very, very worth it. Tip: listen to those sections on high speed. (If only we could do this in daily life.)

I thought the narrator did a wonderful job, but I would’ve preferred someone without such a strong American accent. (fur-miliar, minuti-ay) It kept bringing me out of the Silesian forest and reminding me that I was listening to a production.

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Powerful

Revisado: 11-26-24

This is a beautiful, powerful story. Hisham Matar’s reading is propulsive. It gave me a lot to think about, and I was grateful for the learning about events that I have struggled to understand with all my lack of context.
About halfway through, there is an incident where the narrator goes to a prostitute for company, has an awkward encounter, and leaves, saying “I should’ve ****ed her.” This brief dip into misogyny is never examined. I kept waiting, and it didn’t happen. So while I wanted to love this book, from about halfway through I felt like there was a hole in the text, and I felt alienated from the narrator, suspicious of how he sees my kind, whether he only cares about middle- and upper-class women, etc. I read to the end with this element of unease. It’s not that the event would be unredeemable, but that it is never examined.

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Wonderful

Revisado: 11-14-24

There’s a very light-handed, subtle way this story unfolds that I’m so impressed by. It just sweeps you along. It’s a total pleasure to read, as well as being thought-provoking and, on certain themes, quite powerful. There have been quite a few dissection-of-marriage/monogamy books published recently, and some are good, but this is excellent.

I love that the book examines relationships without creating a kind of fishbowl effect. The world goes on around the relationships, and in some way they seem vastly significant, and in some way not at all. This is what I’m always hoping for in literature, and it’s been missing from a lot of the recent “dissection”books. It reminds me of Jenny Offill’s work.

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Astonishing book and performance

Revisado: 11-02-24

I already loved Sarah Moss’s work before reading this but was unprepared for the philosophical and emotional power of My Good Bright Wolf.

I didn’t expect to relate to the experience of having an eating disorder, but Moss draws out the entire sexist, racist, fat-phobic context they develop in, which is a context we’re all shaped by in different ways. Sometimes the best kind of learning is an un-learning, and we get that here.

There’s a point in the book where writing is described as a gift, and the book really embodies that with its poetic language, innovative form and brilliant, empowering critique.

The performance is the kind that makes you realize what is possible with audiobooks. It’s a true work of art.

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Beautiful writing, misleading hype

Revisado: 07-26-24

I read the book after seeing glowing reviews in the NYT and elsewhere and equally glowing blurbs from some excellent writers. I appreciate the book, but it is not served well by the hype. I was expecting something more ambitious in structure or philosophy. The writing is definitely fantastic. The raw honesty is compelling. But there doesn’t seem to be much more than that.

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Haunting

Revisado: 07-19-24

I was curious to read Denis Johnson after hearing other writers rave about him. I get it now.

I found it difficult to keep going at the beginning because if the disturbing material, but glad i came back to it because it’s a supremely humane book.

Superb narration. Are there awards for this? Will Patton deserves recognition.

Also, for anyone living in BC, Alberta, Idaho, Montana, WA, OR, it gives a fascinating picture of what life was once like around here.

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Nunez never falters

Revisado: 07-18-24

As a writer, I’m just in awe of what Nunez does. The books often come across as “quaint” because of our ideas about pets or pet writing, but they are powerful, complex, and executed with incredible unfaltering control.

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Harrowing novel, gorgeous performance

Revisado: 07-07-24

Another brilliant work by Max Porter. I’ve had many gut-punches reading his work. I’m not always sure reading makes you more empathetic, but reading Max Porter does. It’s a gripping, propulsive read/listen. Best for folks who care about language and don’t need a standard plot with character arc + tidy ending.

The performance is why I buy audiobooks. This.

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Compelling story, superbly performed

Revisado: 06-26-24

The performance of this novel is a real work of art. It’s so impressive. The novel itself is beautifully told, with very impactful imagery of the landscape. The way tension is built is subtle and gorgeous. I love that the island life is lamented but not idealized.

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Brilliant work, superb reading

Revisado: 06-22-24

I read this marvellous, imaginative, compelling and polyphonic book years ago and wanted to revisit with audio. The performance is excellent. My only note is you should picture Toothwort’s cacophony of community voices as all spoken at once rather than one after the other – that is what the book intended and this is not too hard to do.

Porter has this wonderful ability to shift between mundane description, everyday speech, and gorgeous, poetic language. When the poetry hits, it really hits. I’m such an admirer.

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