I love to read your outpouring of love for My Friends because I have it on my shelf to read imminently - meditative and overflowing in humanity are two writing styles that mean a lot to me. I have always loosely been interested in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and this review has confirmed that interest!
I am waiting for James to come out in paperback and I am intrigued by your reflections. You are the first person I have seen be slightly critical of James (and I love that) because so far, I have only read reviews giddy with admiration. It has left me feeling apprehensive to read it - but now I feel more ready! You’ve given me more meat to think about and I really appreciate that. Everett is a star writer and I like The Trees parallel you’ve made because I enjoyed that book a lot.
I definitely recommend going from the top again with Butlers trilogy! I read it back to back and it is a reading experience I recommend to everyone. I felt an enormous sense of loss when I finished Adulthood Rites. Someone close to me has Parkinson’s and I thought Piñeiro’s depiction was perfection - especially the structure. I thought the book taking place across a singular day was genius because days do feel so long when you have no control over your body.
I have always wanted to read The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating - and as someone with a chronic illness myself, I am really interested in the comfort you describe.
A great (two) months! I really look forward to your review of The Last Warner Woman as someone who has recently read their first Miller. This signals the end of all of my thoughts - thank you for a great read!
Ah I really look forward to seeing what you make of My Friends! I too am drawn to anything that is just so fundamentally human.
James is such a funny one! Even though I've read a couple of Everett's novels before, it still felt different to what I expected. I personally think I love him best when he's at his more challenging and puzzling. Telephone is my favourite that I've read of his so far. I feel like I need to go back and explore more of his work, Erasure as well of course, and then return to James, maybe with another (slightly grudging) read of Huck Finn to solidify my thoughts on it.
Yes I think reading the Xenogenesis trilogy back to back would definitely have been the better way to go! I'm sure I'll return to all of her work in the future. She was a real visionary.
Elena Knows was a really powerful read on that front, I was really impressed by it, and an ambitious thing for Piñeiro to do. Also would love to see your thinking on The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating! I don't know that I'll be thinking about it for a long time, but it was still a lovely gentle read.
I really want to read My Friends so I’m glad to hear you speak so highly of it! Also, I read Elena Knows a couple of years ago now but her depiction of living with PD has stayed with me to this day. Incredible writing.
Claudia Piñeiro is such a talented writer, I’m halfway through it currently. I’m finding her depiction of Parkinson’s heart wrenching as it’s a disease that hits very close to home for me. Her descriptions and internal monologue is giving another layer to experience Parkinson’s as an outsider.
I read James earlier in the year and really enjoyed. It felt super accessible and built a great novel that kept moving forward in a fast pace. I find it intriguing to how he feels being shortlisted for award’s especially after his novel erasure. My only regret is not have reading Huckleberrey Finn first as I’m sure it would have given another layer to think about.
I love to read your outpouring of love for My Friends because I have it on my shelf to read imminently - meditative and overflowing in humanity are two writing styles that mean a lot to me. I have always loosely been interested in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and this review has confirmed that interest!
I am waiting for James to come out in paperback and I am intrigued by your reflections. You are the first person I have seen be slightly critical of James (and I love that) because so far, I have only read reviews giddy with admiration. It has left me feeling apprehensive to read it - but now I feel more ready! You’ve given me more meat to think about and I really appreciate that. Everett is a star writer and I like The Trees parallel you’ve made because I enjoyed that book a lot.
I definitely recommend going from the top again with Butlers trilogy! I read it back to back and it is a reading experience I recommend to everyone. I felt an enormous sense of loss when I finished Adulthood Rites. Someone close to me has Parkinson’s and I thought Piñeiro’s depiction was perfection - especially the structure. I thought the book taking place across a singular day was genius because days do feel so long when you have no control over your body.
I have always wanted to read The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating - and as someone with a chronic illness myself, I am really interested in the comfort you describe.
A great (two) months! I really look forward to your review of The Last Warner Woman as someone who has recently read their first Miller. This signals the end of all of my thoughts - thank you for a great read!
Ah I really look forward to seeing what you make of My Friends! I too am drawn to anything that is just so fundamentally human.
James is such a funny one! Even though I've read a couple of Everett's novels before, it still felt different to what I expected. I personally think I love him best when he's at his more challenging and puzzling. Telephone is my favourite that I've read of his so far. I feel like I need to go back and explore more of his work, Erasure as well of course, and then return to James, maybe with another (slightly grudging) read of Huck Finn to solidify my thoughts on it.
Yes I think reading the Xenogenesis trilogy back to back would definitely have been the better way to go! I'm sure I'll return to all of her work in the future. She was a real visionary.
Elena Knows was a really powerful read on that front, I was really impressed by it, and an ambitious thing for Piñeiro to do. Also would love to see your thinking on The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating! I don't know that I'll be thinking about it for a long time, but it was still a lovely gentle read.
I really want to read My Friends so I’m glad to hear you speak so highly of it! Also, I read Elena Knows a couple of years ago now but her depiction of living with PD has stayed with me to this day. Incredible writing.
Oh I can't wait to hear what you think of My Friends!
Claudia Piñeiro is such a talented writer, I’m halfway through it currently. I’m finding her depiction of Parkinson’s heart wrenching as it’s a disease that hits very close to home for me. Her descriptions and internal monologue is giving another layer to experience Parkinson’s as an outsider.
I read James earlier in the year and really enjoyed. It felt super accessible and built a great novel that kept moving forward in a fast pace. I find it intriguing to how he feels being shortlisted for award’s especially after his novel erasure. My only regret is not have reading Huckleberrey Finn first as I’m sure it would have given another layer to think about.