In under 300 pages, Tastes Like War tackles complex family relationships, trauma, poverty, mental illness, sense memory, and displacement and imperialism, to start with. Even at the tensest moments, though, Cho addresses all with sensitivity and, above all, love.
Category Archives: Reviews
‘The Future’ A Chilling Story of the Near-Present
A lot of the elements within The Future are easy to find in today’s headlines. It makes the world that Alderman unfolds eerily familiar, and that familiarity functions as a tether through the jumping, crisscrossing, and otherwise shuffled times and places through which we unpack the story.
‘Good Bones’ a Charming Family Horror
The house is haunted in Good Bones, but the supernatural danger is far more interested the people than the structure in which they reside. Although, you know, that’s important, too. This is, after all, a haunted house story.
Subtlety and Atmosphere Give ‘Hunt’ Wings
If you’re just looking for an atmospheric autumn read, A Wild Hunt delivers on that front. That said, I doubt any of it will give you nightmares. It may, however, haunt you in more metaphorical ways.
‘Fuzz’ Prompts a Different View of our Animal Neighbors
The clash between humans and the fauna we surround ourselves with—and are surrounded by—is both frequent and frequently deadly for one or the other of us. How do we treat our fellow animals, and how can we treat them better? Roach has a few ideas, and while none of them are easy or convenient, they’re worth considering.
‘Hollow’ a ‘Bittersweet’ and Magical YA Mystery
Bittersweet was fun, and sad, and mysterious. Juniper’s world is full of love, and a whole lot of unanswered questions, and magic aside, that’s what it feels like to be a teenager a lot of the time. Pearsall’s worldbuilding, and the obvious love she has for all her characters, is what really brings this story home. Sometimes, I could almost feel the sticky heat of summer or taste the family’s famous lemon bars.
Beware the Shadows in ‘Keeper’
Ghouls and goblins are scary enough, but the real horror draws heavily from the worst parts of real life. That’s certainly the case in The Keeper, a graphic novel from power couple Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes that gives form to the amorphous threat of racism and generational trauma. Aisha’s luck could hardly be worse.Continue reading “Beware the Shadows in ‘Keeper’”
‘Jaded Women’ A Fireworks Show of Family Relationships
There’s also no skirting around the fact that these are all messy women. They harp on each other, they back-bite, they keep old grudges close, and lock away the love they think makes them vulnerable. Maybe that’s why I was rooting for reconciliation so hard.
‘Juliet’ a Dark but Gripping Look at One Teen’s Spiral
From self-harm to drug use to taking clothes from a dead girl in a dumpster, Juliet gives a matter-of-fact account of the events from her teenage years. But now and then, adult Juliet puts in her two cents about her experience thinking back on those experience half a lifetime ago. That reassurance she survives is crucial for getting through some of the tough parts.
‘Difficult Fruit’ Lots of Food for Thought
The Book of Difficult Fruit works as a sometimes meandering but never unpleasant series of thoughts on things most people give no thought to at all.
Ring Reads 