Oof. Beautifully written and gruesomely, hauntingly heartbreaking - moreso because it relies on the sickening nuances of real world abuse and murder. The description is fluffy - the text is gnarly.

I appreciated the Tagalog woven throughout. In multilingual families, some words stick in one language over the other(s), particularly taboo ones. Melissa represents this flawlessly.

The characters are fully fleshed out - we meet nearly everyone in both their past and present iterations - though there are a few ‘leaps’ in personality we’re left to resolve with our own inferences. Rather than plot holes, these choices feel intentional. The work tasks us with reflection and empathy, calling on us to use what we know of trauma to connect a few dots.

If you’re willing to disturb your soul, I recommend.

I have to admit, I DNF'd this book. The narrative of a dead woman just wasn't enough to hold me this time.

This was one of the best books that I read this year. It’s so beautifully written and so raw. I would say pass on this if you’re more sensitive, as there are several graphic and upsetting parts.

I really enjoyed how the story lines all weaved together in the end. Unsolved murders, a serial killer/rapist, religious aspects, ghosts, the seedy underbelly of North American cities, immigrant women trying to make ends meet…this book really has it all.

I was a little skeptical at first, as there is some magical/mystical portions in the beginning that I didn’t understand the significance of at first. Just get through that part, and you will get sucked right into the story. I couldn’t put this one down!

Too stressful to continue.

CW: Graphic rape, murder and child abuse.

A Tiny Upward Shove is an ambitious novel that intertwines Filipino folklore, murder, and the lasting traumas of the unwanted and forgotten women of the world. Marina, a sex worker, is murdered in the opening pages of the book by Willy Pickton (who is based on a real serial killer of the same name). At the moment of her untimely murder, an Aswang is called forth by her ancestral heritage. In Filipino folklore, an Aswang is a shape-shifting, mythical creature that attaches its spirit to a family for seven generations until it fulfills the unfinished business of the afflicted.

But how did Marina get there? Selling tricks to score another hit? This story is not a simple narrative of her life, but a deep look into a flawed system and a fractured humanity that led to another nameless murder. The author oscillates between the story of Marina’s Aswang seeking vengeance for her murder and the events that led to that singular moment. The brutality of the narrative doesn’t consume the reader, but rather penetrates the façade that every child is wanted and cared for. This is not an easy read, but it feels like a necessary one.

This was hands-down one of the most impactful books I’ve ever read— addicting, brimming with sensory language, grim and dark yet woven through with deep love and other real human emotions. I couldn’t put it down, and for the time I was reading it I found these characters and their world consuming my thoughts (and dreams) entirely. Their world is our world, which makes this an even more chilling yet moving read.

There was so much rape in this...