Whether or not I was Olivarez’s target audience, I found myself profoundly moved by many poems in this collection.
Tag Archives: Food for thought
‘Extinction’ a Multi-Layer Puzzle
The Extinction of Irena Rey is a layer cake of fascinating and thought-provoking elements, all of them strong enough to hold a story on their own but working together deliciously.
‘Liberty’s Daughter’ Balances Play with a Dark Underbelly
Liberty’s Daughter is a story about finding your way in the world—an easy message to relate to, even for those of us living on dry land.
Friendship at Heart of ‘Tree. Table. Book.’
The moment of the younger Sophie’s realization is a hard one, and the elder Sophie has her own hard moments at present, and in the near future. Yet what does remain simple is the beauty of their unconventional friendship, and how common ground can erase years and miles and practically an entire life between them.
‘Monsters’ Heavy on ‘Dilemma,’ Light on Answers
Much could and is said about the nature of “cancel culture,” but Claire Dederer’s Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma is more concerned with how we look at the art these accused, and sometimes convicted, have made.
‘Beauty’ a Balance Between Ordinary and Sublime
This is a book of stillness, and a book of contemplation. It’s a book about appreciation, and of change. Life, broadly, is all of those things, and All the Beauty in the World shows the value in recognizing that a little more.
‘Scorpionfish’ a Hazy, Pensive Read
Languid and pensive, Scorpionfish is a story as melancholy as it is dreamy.
‘Lone Women’ a Parable of Secrets and Prejudice in the Wild West
Although the town at the heart of Lone Women is made up of misfits, it quickly becomes clear that some fit in better than others. Secrets don’t stay secret forever, even if they’re locked up tight. The literal escape of Adelaide’s secret exacerbates tensions that were already fraying beneath the surface.
‘Milk and Honey’ a Chilling, and Luscious, View of the Near Future
While there is a clear moral to the story in the book’s final chapter, Zhang writes deftly to keep any of her characters from being clear cut. The messiness in turn reveals truth: that when the chips are down, human instinct and that of crabs in a bucket are largely the same.
‘What the Dead Know’ a Pensive Look Back at Life and Death
What the Dead Know is about a lot of difficult stuff, and Butcher doesn’t shield us from the gore. But she does wisely keep it tastefully select in its details, delivering realness without exploitation.
Ring Reads 