Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Patrisse Cullors recommended Fledgling in Books (curated)

 
Fledgling
Fledgling
Octavia E. Butler | 2005 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Octavia Butler is one of my top favorite authors, and my favorite sci-fi writer of all time. Her writing is always at the intersection of race, class — and in this instance, vampires. I love fantastical things, and because this focuses on vampires and not humans it adds another element of imagination. In the book, she’s having a conversation about racism, but through vampires, and you just never know where that’s going to go. You’re reading it, reading it, reading it, and then it takes a hard left, and you’re like Oh shit, I didn’t realize we were going to go into these deep political topics. Even though she always does that in her books. I’ve read pretty much all of them, but this was my favorite. She died pretty soon after she wrote it, so it has a lot of sentimental value for me."

Source
  
The Umbrella Academy - Season 2
The Umbrella Academy - Season 2
2020 | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
It follows the theme of the previous season, and doesn't try away from tackling bigger issues (0 more)
Not quite as gripping as the first season (0 more)
Enjoyable watch
Contains spoilers, click to show
Just like the first season, season 2 is full of random jokes, questionable choices and mayhem that seems to follow these siblings. After traveling back in time to escape the apocalypse the siblings are spat out in the 1960s, each finds thier own way to adapt and makes a life, until in typical style they discover the end of the world followed them back too.
The season doesn't shy away from some of the bigger topics of the 60s and today, including racism and homophobia. They are well portrayed and addressed and fit in well with the overall storyline.
However, I did not find this season as gripping as the first, but I can't put my finger on why that is.
  
    GameGrumps

    GameGrumps

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    YouTube Channel

    Game Grumps: Dan and Arin playin' games. Episodes now LONGER and GIRTHIER. We've changed the...

40x40

ClareR (5674 KP) rated Wahala in Books

Jan 6, 2022  
Wahala
Wahala
Nikki May | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I really enjoyed this - there are some great characters who are both easy to empathise with AND easy to really dislike! I’ve seen comparisons to Sex and the City, but due to the fact that i haven’t seen a single episode, I can’t actually confirm that!

The three friends are a great mix of people who all have very different lifestyles, but still have enough in common and enough interest in each other, to be close friends.

And then there’s Isobel. An old friend of Simi’s from the time that she lived in Nigeria. I don’t think I’ve encountered a more unlikeable, manipulative character in quite a while. She knows how to get what she wants, and isn’t afraid to do it. She’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants.

It’s a fantastic read about female friendship, racism, family and class.

Another great find, and read, on The Pigeonhole!
  
We Deserve Monuments
We Deserve Monuments
Jas Hammonds | 2022 | Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Trigger Warnings: Generational trauma, racism, mentions of alcoholism and verbal abuse, homophobia, character death

Avery Anderson’s life is uprooted when her family moves from Washington DC to Bardell, Georgia her senior year of high school to look after her maternal grandmother, Mama Letty, who’s in her final stages of cancer. Avery only remembers one visit with her grandmother, cut short by an argument, when she was very young. Bardell is a small town with only two high schools - one public, and one private, the latter being founded by one of the town’s many racist forefathers. Avery quickly gets adopted into the friendship of two girls: Simone Cole, Mama Letty’s next door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, a descendent of one of Bardell’s oldest families.

Avery’s relationship with her grandmother is far from easy. Mama Letty isn’t easy to get to know, especially when she only answers questions in grunts and gruffs. It also doesn’t help that the tension between her mother and grandmother is so thick you can cut it with a knife, but both of them are refusing to address it.

Avery sets out on trying to mend the broken and split relationship but there are events many are refusing to talk about. It isn’t until Mama Letty begins to open up to Avery about her past, that Avery is able to piece together her family history that was shaped by the town’s racist history. As more events come out of the shadows, Avery must decide if finding out the truth is worth damaging the relationships she’s built in Bardell, or if some things are better left buried.

I absolutely loved and adored this book very much. Jas Hammonds masterfully tells this layered story of a young woman finding out about her family’s past within a novel that’s about generational trauma and racism. The amount of trauma the three generations of women must peel back is constantly met with tension. The story is hard to read at times, especially when you’re reading about Mama Letty’s past and the town’s racism, but this book wrapped its arms around me and refused to let go until the Harding family’s story is told.

Alongside Avery finding out about her family’s past, the relationship between Simone and Avery grows deeper and the way the two of them find their footing to their sexuality was well written. I wish I had grown up with a place like The Renaissance where you were accepted no matter what.

Overall, this novel is going to be one I’m going to talk about for months to come. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful, and captivating. Any readers who love reading about family and their dynamics, relationships, and hope will really enjoy this book.

*Thank you Roaring Brook Press and NetGalley for an electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review