This week was pretty uneventful, except that…
All Grown Up came out! I’d been eagerly anticipating this one for quite a while; I just knew I was going to love it, and I did. The writing is just so good, it’s exactly the kind of thing I want to read all the time. There’s this one scene where her character has lunch with her sister-in-law and I’ve been laughing about it all week. First, they’re having a difficult talk about her struggles dealing with Medicaid, and she’s wishing they’d change the subject, but when they do it’s an even more uncomfortable topic and she thinks, “Now I miss the Medicaid conversation.” Later in the same scene she’s having a hard time paying attention because the couple at the next table has “turned into a real thrill ride.” I’m sure I’m not doing it justice but it was hilarious and this book was fantastic and somehow managed to exceed my very high expectations and it’s very quick so go read it kthx.
So maybe after that, there was nowhere to go but down? I really thought I would like The Weight of Him but it was a huge disappointment. I’m very drawn to the themes here, specifically obesity, suicide, and familial grieving, but the writing just didn’t come together. It doesn’t feel genuine to me, instead it feels like someone wanted to write something that was very sad and then very uplifting so IDK death is sad and weight loss is uplifting so I’ll write that. It gave me kind of a Forrest Gump vibe, and I never saw Forrest Gump or read the book, so it’s unfair of me to make that comparison, BUT, which one am I being unfair to? I may never know.
Next up was The Doubter’s Almanac. I have a lot of questions about this one, like, “Why did I think I would like this?” and “Why did I keep reading this?” and “Will this ever end almost nothing happens in this book how on earth is it 500+ pages?” Suffice to say, I did not care for this one, and I did not care about anyone in this book except for a minor character named Paulette who is clearly unimportant because, women? Why would we care about them? I did manage to entertain myself a bit by speculating how much more interesting it would be if it were gender-swapped, or imagining its reception with a woman’s name on the cover, and coming up with alternate titles for it, such as “Mansplaining: a Beginner’s Guide” or “Boys Will Be Boys Amirite” or “Hey Guys I Have Some Daddy Issues” or “White Men Matter.” I think I’ve said more than enough.
Now I’m halfway through Little Deaths. I have been pretty good at resisting the thrillers for a while but this one managed to sneak in. So far it is okay-ish. Not especially well written but I definitely want to know what happens. I’m puzzled about why it takes place in 1965; I’m hoping that comes into play in an interesting way, but so far the setting feels inauthentic. Stay tuned!
