Category: Books

I have honest and completely biased – cause I’m human – reviews on all the books I’ve been reading since December of 2016.

Books

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 323
Quick Review Amy Schumer is a household name as a bold and open comic, movie star, TV star, writer, and more, but do we really know her?

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I live under a rock, so I had never heard of Amy Schumer until her 2016 movie Trainwreck. In the two years following, I have become a big fan. I love her honesty. She’s not perfect, but she is real. In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, she ramps up her candor and imperfections even more. She becomes an even more relatable star as she humorously tells some of the ups and downs and face plants of her life.

I am drawn to people who deal with struggle through humor; probably because I do the same damn thing. Schumer’s stand up is hilarious and powerful and sometimes in your face. Her book is a subdued version of all of those things. She looks comfortable on stage for comedy shows. During interviews, she seems nervous and uncomfortable like she’d rather be any where else preferably not in the spotlight. Instead of entertaining on a stage or sitting on a couch for an interview, her introversion shines through. She is just that: an introvert. In her book, it feels like she gets to tell her story on her own terms without having the pressure of being funny.

I have always appreciated her unapologetic honesty. Her book is even more so. She talks about her family, her struggles, her relationships, losing her virginity, abuse, the road to success, having money, and so much more. She lets her fans and readers in and see what is behind her on stage persona.

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She has a very self-deprecating sense of humor. I appreciate this because I too spend most of my time pointing out my flaws. Although, I hope she could see herself the way so many people see her: as a smart, talented, beautiful woman. It is obvious she deals with self-esteem issues sometimes bordering on ‘does she have any self-confidence at all?’ But I would love to meet a woman on this earth who doesn’t. This book was written two years ago, and it’s evident the themes in her latest movie I Feel Pretty have been long lasting themes in her own life.

Candor is one of the most notable points in her memoir. She talks about her parents honestly. She has no qualm about critiquing or slamming present and past self. Her inclusion of diary entries is hilarious and wonderful. She includes footnotes, which are equally funny. It takes a lot of lady balls to let the world see the ridiculousness that is teenage diaries.

Schumer is a born storyteller. She has a tendency to meander through her stories and chapters by adding one or three tales on her way to making her main point. They may or may not have something to do with her point, but they are all entertaining.
I highly suggest The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and a multidimensional memoir. I know I do!

Memorable Quotes
“If you’re a true introvert, other people are basically energy vampires.”
“I don’t know what a hedge fund is. I want a hedgehog fund.”
“…nobody can be innocent and wise at the same time.”
“This is how we were raised: we were always oppressively OKAY.”

Title: The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo
Author: Amy Schumer
Publisher: Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9781501139888
Books

Purple Hibiscus

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 307
Quick Review Set against the backdrop of a Nigerian coup, a 15 year old Kambili learns about love and life outside of her childhood home controlled by a religious zealot.

I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is my favorite author, and I have now officially read all of her books. Purple Hibiscus is her first novel, and it’s beautiful.

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Nigeria is in the midst of a complete upheaval. Kambili, a 15 year old girl, and her brother, Jaja, stay with their aunt and cousins in Nsukka. Kambili begins to realize the extent of her father’s religious fundamentalism and abusive nature when she compares it with the loving, open household her cousins flourish in.

Adichie explores so many interesting themes throughout the progression of the novel. Christian fundamentalism is a looming presence as Kambili struggles with her father’s oppression even when she is far out of reach. She is unable to engage with her surroundings, family, and even herself because she lives in perpetual fear of her father’s wrath and eternal damnation. The physical and psychological abuse Kambili, Jaja, and their mother live with is intense. Aunt Ifeoma and her children are the voice of progressivism.

I love Adichie’s inclusion of Igbo words peppered throughout the narrative.

I seriously suggest this novel to anyone interested in reading. It’s a beautiful and moving novel full of hope and heartbreak speaking to the resilience of the human spirit.   

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Memorable Quotes
“I was not sure what my laughter sounded like.”
“We didn’t scale the today because we believed we could, we scaled it because we were terrified we couldn’t.”

Title: Purple Hibiscus
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Collins (HarperCollins Publishers)
Copyright:  2004
ISBN: 9780007345328

Books

lost & found

RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: 310
Quick Review: When Millie’s mother abandons her, she accidentally gathers a small and unlikely group of friends and protectors.

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lost & found is nothing short of witty and inventive. Brooke Davis is a beautiful story teller; although, her name makes me think of “One Tree Hill.” A quick read full of humor, insight, and struggle. I enjoyed reading it because it is fresh instead of a new take on an old story. I haven’t read much, if any that I can think of, Australian literature, so it was great dipping a toe into the unfamiliar.

Millie is a little girl obsessed with dead things. In her notebook, she keeps a list of all the dead things she has seen including her dog, Rambo, and her dad. Her mother abandons her at a store one day. Karl the Touch Typist is old. He has lost his wife, but he and Millie become friends over snacks. Agatha Pantha is a Millie’s elderly, shut-in of a neighbor since her husband died. Each of the characters are eccentric and lost in their own grief. They’re an odd group, but somehow they complete each other.  

Davis has a wickedly funny, observational sense of humor as each of the characters describe their views of the world from often overlooked age groups. It’s hard to think the story of an abandoned little girl is funny, but it is; not the fact she was abandoned, but the way the story is told.

I love that the main characters are from age groups seldomly written as protagonists. As an adult, it’s hard to get into the brain space of a child and an older person – we haven’t been there yet. They are groups of people who are overlooked, underappreciated, and greatly underestimated. It was lovely watching these characters, who usually fly under the radar, be so full of life.

The chapters are fairly short and told from each characters’ perspective. The language is simple and to the point. There are great humorous moments and a style all its own. lost & found is a great read if you want to laugh. It’s also a great book to get through on an afternoon after work.    

Memorable Quotes:
“I am never going to have sex again, he says. Not with this face.”
“And then they do IT, because even old people call it IT.”

Title: lost & found
Author: Brooke Davis
Publisher: Dutton (Penguin Group)
Copyright:2015
ISBN: 9780525954682

 

Books

Social Creature

RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: 320
Quick Review: A psychological thriller delving into friendship, social media, and the power of perception.

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I’m not a huge fan of thrillers, they’re just not my thing. The ones I took a chance on recently were beyond horrendous. (Looking at you Sinner.) DoubleDay Books reached out to me, and I have always enjoyed their books. So I said, “sure.” Fingers crossed this would not be painful.

Social Creature, well… it’s cringe worthy in the best way possible. Like I said, I don’t have tons of experience with thrillers, but this has everything you could possibly want. It’s a thriller for the social media generation.

It’s a thriller meets Gossip Girl meets Great Gatsby. Louise is almost thirty and barely getting by in New York City. Working several jobs and exhausted, she is as far away from the dream as she can get. Lavinia is in her early twenties with the world begging for her attentions. Louise and Lavinia meet and start up a whirlwind friendship. Lavinia introduces Louise to all the right people because “things just happen” for her. The two friends waffle between mania and codependency.

That’s all I’m giving you of the plot because any more and you’ll know too much! Social Creature has you reading and asking so many questions! Will they be answered? Or will you end up in a book hangover?

Not only a thriller, it reads as a social critique of wealth, friendship, mental health, singledom, high society, education, and more. There is an exploration of how integral social media has become in our daily lives, in interacting with people, in receiving validation, and in our identities. There are so many references from classical literature, to opera, to music, and a bit in between; I loved it.

Narrated from an omniscient third party, but there is definitely a leaning towards Louise’s side of the story. The narrator breaks the fourth wall speaking directly to the reader. The reader is let in on the secret learning things that are yet to come long before the characters are aware. The style Burton uses is abrupt and disjointed. It is excellently crafted and fits the story perfectly.

Sometimes, I have a difficulty reading dialogue by contemporary authors because it can feel forced. Burton has some of the best contemporary dialogue I have read in a long while. It is perfectly executed for the audience, characters, age, and location of the novel. It is really well done.

With an impressive resume already, this is Burton’s debut novel, and she writes superbly. It is set to be released on June 5 of this year. I have a feeling it will be one of the summer’s must read novels. Perfect for the beach or wherever your vacation will take you.

Title: Social Creature
Author: Tara Isabella Burton
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780385543521

Books, Fiction

The Veins of the Ocean

RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Difficulty: II
Length: III
Genre: Fiction – Novel
Quick Review: A young Colombian woman struggles with finding herself amid healing from a life burdened with tragedy and guilt as an immigrant, daughter, sister, and woman.

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Patricia Engel is an award winning author, and she doesn’t disappoint in her novel The Veins of the Ocean. A beautiful novel about a young woman who emigrated from Colombia to Miami as an infant with her family. Mere months later, a tragedy strikes her family, which changes her future forever. Engel captured my attention within the first page with her dark yet enchanting style and content. The first chapter is stunning while setting the mood with a unique cadence, style, language, and enough clues to let you know you’re in for a story about gender inequity, culture, family, and so much more.

Reina is in her mid twenties. Her brother Carlito is on death row. Her life has been nothing but reactions to one tragedy after another. She struggles with being a daughter in a traditional latino family, where her brother received all the attention and praise. When there is nothing left for her, she picks up her life in Miami to start a fresh in the Florida Keys. Along the way, Reina grieves and finds love, passion, acceptance, and forgiveness.

It’s hard to describe the depths Engel reaches in her novel. She explores sexism, immigration, communism, religion, grief, the prison system, ecosystem, guilt, sexual assault, and so much more. The characters are beautiful and flawed and relatable. Dealing with Colombian and Cuban characters, Engel brings cultures seldomly discussed.

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There are seven parts comprised of many chapters, which vary in length. Along with the compelling narrative, the chapter lengths make you say “just one more chapter; it’s only two pages,” and next thing you know, you’ve read fifty more pages. The story is beyond compelling, and I finished the novel in a day because it was so interesting. It’s beyond quotable about love and pain and loyalty. Engel draws beautiful parallels between life surrounding the characters and their own.

One of the things I enjoyed most about The Veins of the Ocean was the lack of dialogue. The vast majority of the story is Reina looking backward and her thoughts on the present. It’s a stunning look into the mind of someone coping with pain. For me, I found it relatable. I think most people can relate to working through grief and guilt. There’s a unique cadence to the language that is so engaging.

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Memorable Quotes:
“It’s good for you to dream about things that will probably never happen.”
“We thought it hysterical that there is an industry of artificial horror when real life is so much more lethal.”
“Making friends with danger is the only way to survive.”
“… the love of a mother is not unconditional or eternal the way they say.”
“I am mourning my sadness.”

Title: The Veins of the Ocean
Author: Patricia Engel
Publisher: Grove Press
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9780802126740

Books

The Glitch

RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Difficulty: II
Length: III
Genre: Fiction – Novel
Quick Review: The CEO of a wearable tech company, Shelley Stone, is a workaholic Type A mom, who is unsure if she’s having a mental break or her identity has been stolen.

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Happy publication day to Elisabeth Cohen and her debut novel, The Glitch! It is a witty and provocative look into the pressures of being a mom who’s broken the glass ceiling. Literally the pinkest book I have ever seen, it is going to be the perfect beach read this summer.

Shelley Stone is the CEO of Conch, a wearable tech company, in Silicon Valley. After a tragic accident in her teens, Shelley decided to climb the corporate ladder as high as she could by working longer, harder, and more than anyone else. Married with two kids, she’s almost forty and totally unsure if she has lost her mind. A young woman comes into her life with the same name and the same memories.

Shelley takes her “me time” at 3:30 in the morning. An extreme multi tasker, she never does one thing at a time. She checks emails waiting for the hot water to warm, spends time with her daughter while working, and schedules sex at a convenient and efficient hour. She is in a constant battle for a place in a male dominated field. Traveling constantly, people are always asking her how she balances it all. As much as I would love to believe this is a satire, I have a feeling it is all too accurate for some women.

It’s hard to relate to the lavish lifestyle a tech CEO lives, Cohen makes the trials and tribulations completely relatable because they are issues women face every day on varying levels: mommy guilt, busy lives, work, relationships, sex, and more. Shelley is an intensely strong character, although not necessarily likeable. As a mom, she is trying to be strong and loving and supportive while also fostering an environment of gender equality and tearing down gender walls.

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Cohen creates a world vastly different from my own. A tech world. Shelley is a believable tech CEO because everything from snack time to peeing to sex is quantifiable. Every moment she is awake she is working even when she doesn’t own up to it.

Cohen’s writing style is odd and engaging. Told from Shelley’s perspective it reads as an uncensored inner dialogue spotlighting her type A personality, flaws, and attributes without being apologetic. The first person narrative is fascinating in this book. She can go on tangents or monologues starting out with purpose and drive as her statement begins to unravel as she explains herself over and over. It’s a really good look into the thought process of many women, or at least, I saw a lot of my thought process in hers.

I would love to say the mystery is super mysterious, but it’s pretty guessable – or it was for me. This book is wickedly funny and pointed. I really enjoyed reading it, and finished it in a weekend. I highly suggest it for your summer vacation reads.

Title: The Glitch
Author: Elisabeth Cohen
Publisher: DoubleDay (Penguin Random House)
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780385542784