Thought Train to Pusan

A friend actually recommended that I see the film We the Animals recently (which I haven’t gotten around to watching yet, whoops!), so upon finding out that it was an adaptation of a novel, I decided to get into the book. It is loosely based on the author’s own life, and reads like a childhood memoir of sorts. It is also very brief, and this works well in the majority of the novel to paint a picture of memories for the protagonist, but ultimately does a disservice to the story being told in the last quarter or so. The story is told from the POV of a young, unnamed boy living with his two older brothers, Manny and Joel, and his two parents in upstate rural New York during the 1980s. The boys are of mixed Puerto Rican and white heritage, and through a series of little vignettes, we see how close the 3 brothers are, with the narrator symbolizing how they view themselves as wild animals and get into all kinds of wild schemes. But we also see glimpses of the abuse that their mother receive...

What we have here is a novel about how our relationships can shape us and the personal stories that we form about ourselves, often based on the perceptions and actions of others towards us. But more than anything else, it feels like a novel about a woman being gaslit in so many ways, to reinforce certain narratives about her character that she then can’t help but believe. The Night Before is told from two different perspectives. One is from the point of view of Laura, a 28 year-old woman who has recently returned to her hometown after a bad breakup, and is finally going on a date with a man she met on an online dating site. The other pov is from Laura’s sister, Rosie, who had taken in Laura and urged her to go on this date, but after her sister does not return home from her date, Rosie is certain that something bad has happened to her. Or, perhaps, she is worried about something that Laura has done, given her previous histories with men. That is, as the story progresses, we learn more...

If you are interested in the history and energy of the queer ball scene of the 1980s/1990s -- such as was immortalized in the documentary Paris is Burning --, you may love this book. But then again, such as in the case of myself, you may simply think it is fine. I think this one really falls into a category of lesser-by-comparison. That is, I know these stories and have seen other media centered around this specific period of time and community, and found them all to be more engaging than this novel. Which isn’t by any means bad, but just left me a little empty when normally these subjects fill me with much more feeling. Inspired by members of the real House of Xtravaganza that are seen in the aforementioned documentary, The House of Impossible Beauties follows numerous gay and trans, Latinx individuals as they discover themselves, leave their homes, and eventually form the House of Xtravaganza as a family unit living in Harlem. The point of view switches between numerous characters, ...

I don’t think I’m the only person who read the description of this novel expecting something different than it was: the publisher’s blurb in fact draws a comparison to The Night Circus , which I did not feel whatsoever, not even in the fact that they both include circus-style performers. Despite the false comparison, this is not to say that The Lonely Hearts Hotel is entirely a bad book because it didn’t meet my expectations, but it certainly wasn’t what I wanted at this time. This is a book that pulls no punches from page 1, and continues to land blows throughout the novel unrelentingly (TW for: physical and sexual abuse on children, women, and sex workers, not to mention miscarriages, dogfights, and addiction also coming to the forefront). Of course, knowing that a large portion of this book takes place during The Great Depression should make me aware that it’s not all going to be sunshine and roses, but it truly felt like misery porn by the end, with a few insightful nuggets sprink...