Review of 'China Rich Girlfriend' by Kevin Kwan

 

Reading Crazy Rich Asians last year was a total breath of fresh air. It was like Gossip Girl (the TV series version), but with everyone having more money and set in Asia. I was OBSESSED, and China Rich Girlfriend didn't disappoint. I was a bit worried it might be one of those series' where the same trope is used repeatedly, but this had a whole world of new story lines and I was totally hooked.

*Spoilers if you've not read Crazy Rich Asians*

Nick and Rachel have decided to get married back in the US, and after his mum's *ahem* 'activities' in the last book, they've banned her from being there for the wedding. However, nothing's really a total secret in the world the pair live in. When Nick's mum finds out where they're setting up for the wedding, she flies to the US to drop the truth bomb on Rachel in person: she's found out who Rachel's father is. Wanting to find out more about her family history, Rachel brings Nick with her to China to meet her family, but things don't quite go to plan. 

This book was just as dramatic as the first one. The narrative is split into the perspectives of quite a few different characters, so it's a little hard to dip in and out of, but I find it really helps to keep me engaged. The stories loop and in and out of each other as the characters interact and I find it's a great way to reveal upcoming drama or secrets or twists. There were some new characters who made the old catty women in Nick's family seem like a breeze and I was totally absorbed.

I gave this five stars and I can't wait to get started on the final book in the series!

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Review of 'Queenie' by Candice Carty-Williams

 

Queenie is a book I've wanted to read for ages, but hardbacks are just so damn expensive. I eventually caved and downloaded this on my kindle earlier this year and really loved it. I only wish I'd read it sooner.

Queenie's a Black woman living in London who's 'on a break' with her boyfriend, wanting to believe it's just temporary. In the meantime, she's trying to put a brave face on things at work and with her family, concealing as much as possible how tough she's finding getting out of a long term relationship with a man she really does still love. She starts hooking up with new men to make herself feel better, but despite their obvious attraction to her, the short lived relationships get more and more hazardous and less to do with any kind of affection. Eventually Queenie realises she needs to accept some cold truths and face the fact that things aren't as okay as she's suggesting.

This is a really important book in my opinion. Not only are there feminist overtones throughout, questioning how men perceive woman, expectations (sexual and otherwise), careers etc, but misogynoir is addressed throughout. The whole book is specifically about what it's like to be a Black woman, discussing fetishisation, cultural expectations from older relatives, hair and hair care, and racism in a variety of difference settings. Carty-Williams discusses mental health and sexuality in depth, and I can't think of a single other book where this is at the forefront of a novel about a Black woman. 

It's an invigorating read and something I really feel ought to be read by any fans of romance novels, though it does come with a trigger warning for sexual assault.

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Review of 'Shame' by Salman Rushdie

 

I've been wanting to try reading a Salman Rushdie book for a couple of years now, but I just never found the time, and felt the weight of pressure of *needing* to enjoy his books because I'd heard how important they are. I'm pretty annoyed now that I put reading his works off for so long, and I'll definitely be picking up another soon!

Set in post-colonial Pakistan, Shame is a really great example of magical realism done well. We follow the life of the main character Omar Khayyam Shakil, who is born from three sisters who are so close that they all function as his mother, and are pregnant with him simultaneously. They live outside of society, and he never learns who his father is. As he grows older, he trains to become a doctor and meets Iskander Harappa and General Raza Hyder, two other key characters in the story.

The book (as the title implies) is all about shame. Each character embodies shame in the novel, and there's a constant reminder that shame begets violence. One character in particular is born with a deformity and the shame that she feels because of her family's shame in having her forces her into uncontrollable and extreme outbursts of violence. The magical realism blends into the important political lessons and tone of the book, and it really is a work of art. 

I would recommend for readers who are fans of Ian McEwan's novels or those who enjoyed The God of Small Things.

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Review of 'VOX' by Christina Dalcher

VOX was a book that I saw being hyped up all over the place even before it was released, and is one of very few books that I bought a brand new copy of last year. After loving The Handmaid's Tale, I was keen to see why everyone was comparing the two books. I can see it now, but I'm not quite sure if VOX really lives up to THT at all.

VOX is set in a dystopian alternate version of our world (that feels alarmingly realistic) in which women and girls are fitted with bracelets that limit them to 100 words a day. They're not allowed to read or write, and speaking over the 100 word limit will result in an electric shock emitted from their bracelet which gets more intense the further over they go. Parents must train their daughters to limit speech from a young age. 

Jean McClellan was Dr Jean before she was no longer permitted to do her job. And had her passport revoked. And her bank account shut. Just like all the other women in America. Unsure if she can even trust her husband, Jean finds herself uniquely positioned to make a difference, if she's willing to risk it all.

I really wanted to love this book, but it felt a little too close to home to be reading in 2020 (eek). I think part of the allure of The Handmaid's Tale is that it was written so long ago and we're only just starting to witness a time where the state of the world in the novel there is really feasible, whereas VOX's restriction on speech and learning for women really is something you could imagine happening right now. The plot was really interesting (and disturbing), but I found it quite a slog to get through. I honestly feel like the same book could have been written with 100 fewer pages and no parts of the plot would have been lost.

I would recommend it if you're a fan of dystopian fiction and enjoyed books like The Handmaid's Tale or 1984, and gave it 4 stars.

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Review of 'The Prison Doctor' by Dr Amanda Brown

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but after hearing a lot of great things about this book, and it being a topic I'm genuinely interested in, I went for it. I loved the idea of finding out more about the prison healthcare system, and whilst this was quite an eye-opening read, it really wasn't my favourite. 

Dr Amanda Brown started to lose interest in her work as a GP and wanted to consider a slightly different career path when she came across the opportunity to become a prison doctor. Although she knew it would be harrowing, she wasn't quite prepared for just how extreme it could be in comparison to her fairly mundane previous job. Excited to make this move and make a difference in the lives of prisoners, Dr Brown set her sights on being a truly good prison doctor that cared about her patients.

After working in both men's and women's prisons, Dr Brown has seen a LOT, and she details some of the most poignant points in her career in this book. It's a very honest insight into some of the really gritty medical incidents that can happen in a prison and so I think it should come with a whole bunch of trigger warnings: suicide, self harm, domestic violence, death, sexual assault. 

I felt like I did learn a lot from this book but I really struggled to get on with the tone of it. I felt that half of the book was taken up by the author telling readers why she was a better doctor than others and constantly extolling her own virtues. I was anticipating the prisoners or work being the forefront of the book, but in all honesty a lot of it felt like the author trying to show everyone how great a person she is.

I gave this three stars.

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Review of 'The Missing' by C L Taylor

              

This is one of those books that honestly sat on my shelf for YEARS before I got round to it, but i'd heard great things and always assumed I'd love it. Turns out that my expectations were a little too high (note to self: do not save books for so long thinking you'll enjoy them in the future). 

A crime thriller novel, The Missing tells the story of the mysterious disappearance of teenage Billy Wilkinson from his mum's point of view. The police chalk it up to Billy being a teen, and a troublesome one at that, and despite putting some effort into the search they get nowhere. Billy's mum however is desperate to find out anything she can. Soon her attention turns to home: she suspects her husband, her other son. She delves deeper and deeper into Billy's life, finding out things she never expected along the way.

I really REALLY wanted to enjoy this, but in my opinion the person behind Billy's disappearance is so blatantly obvious from early on in the book that I'd actually discounted them as a suspect in my mind because I didn't think the author would make their behaviour so over the top and in your face. I'd heard such great things about C. L. Taylor's writing, but having now read a second book of hers where the exact same thing happened I just feel like I don't get on with her books very well. 

I've given this three stars because I really liked the mother's character, and I did really want to find out *exactly* what happened, I just wish I hadn't guessed who it was so early on.

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Review of 'Far From the Madding Crowd' by Thomas Hardy

Far From the Madding Crowd was the first book I was forced to study at secondary school that I actually enjoyed. It made me look a whole bunch of words up in the dictionary and start to understand why/how people could study books. In essence, it was the start of my journey to studying English lit and really developing my love of books. So I decided to re-read it this year to see if I still enjoyed it. *Spoiler alert* of course I did.

This book really reminds me of why I love Victorian fiction. I read this at the start of lockdown in the UK and the gentle pace of the book and soothing descriptions of nature were really what I needed for a time fraught with anxiety.

Far From the Madding Crowd tells the story of Bathsheba, a woman who falls in love to some extent with three different men in the book. The book largely follows Gabriel Oak, the most reliable and most loving of the three, in his pursuit of her. Gabriel proposes to Bathsheba when he owns his own farm, and shortly after being turned down, loses the farm and has to apply to work at the one she recently inherited. It's a blow to his pride, but is nowhere near as hard as watching her enter a relationship with another man.

William Boldwood is a neighbouring land owner, and the most appropriate match for Bathsheba, but when she catches the eye of ruthless Sergeant Troy, all thoughts of 'worthy' matches are thrown to the wind. 

The book really is filled with beautiful description of the English countryside, and I love how shocking some elements of it were for their time. It's a great insight into moral tales in this era, with Gabriel Oak, like the tree, providing foundations and an aura of sturdiness, and the potential outcomes of extra-marital sex being taken to extremes. 

I gave this 5 stars and would recommend it if you're trying o get more into Victorian literature, or are a big fan of Dickens/the Brontes.

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Review of 'The Silent Patient' by Alex Michaelides

99% of the time, I decide on what kind of rating I'll give a book about a third of the way through and it rarely shifts. This book totally turned that on its head - I thought I'd give it 2 or 3 stars almost the whole way through reading the book, but the last 10% of it or so completely changed everything and made it a 5 star read for me.

The book is told from two perspectives: a woman in a psychiatric unit where she's remained mute since the day she killed her husband; and the therapist that's desperate to be assigned to treat her to try and be the one who gets her to speak. The majority of the story is told from his viewpoint, with snippets from her diary interspersed in between. It's hard to say too much about the book without giving things away, but everything got very intense before the end and the writing ultimately totally blew me away.

I found the book a little slow in a few parts, but it mostly was a page turning psychological thriller that kept me up at night wanting to read more. I was desperate for the woman to speak and tell us exactly what happened that day, and find out why she's never spoken since. When everything came out about what did happen, I realised there had been very well placed clues throughout and it almost made me want to re-read the book again straightaway!

I'd recommend this for fans of Shari Lapena's books, Before I Go To Sleep or The Girl on the Train. I gave this five stars.

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