jayisreading's reviews
507 reviews

The Hive and the Honey: Stories by Paul Yoon

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

It wasn’t until after I finished this short story collection that I realized I had somewhat high expectations for this book, because I felt a bit disappointed by it. I do want to start with the positive, which is that I found the focus on the Korean diaspora across time and different locations wonderful; it was also what pulled me to this collection in the first place. Furthermore, I really appreciated that Yoon drew attention to other members of the diaspora who weren’t necessarily Korean American and/or from South Korea (which I feel is often the assumption). Ultimately, the short stories are a welcome contribution to highlight other members of the diaspora and their lived experiences, while also showcasing the shared connection of displacement that members of any diasporic community so often feel. I also know this won’t work for everyone, but I didn’t mind the lack of resolution for these stories. I thought it worked well with the general tone.

What didn’t work for me as well is likely a “it’s not you, it’s me” situation. More specifically, I didn’t particularly enjoy Yoon’s writing style, though it could be this particular collection and I just need to check out his other works. The prose was quite sparse, and I often found myself wanting more from these stories than what was given. My favorite was probably “At the Post Station,” which was set in Japan during the Edo period, though even this story left me wanting more.

I think I’ll have to check out Yoon’s other books before I draw any conclusions about his writing style. I really appreciated the overarching concept of this collection, as well as the fact that he had very strong and clear themes, but I wish more was done with them.

Content Warnings

Orpheus & Eurydice: A Lyric Sequence by Gregory Orr

Go to review page

reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

Gregory Orr has some beautiful poems, and there were some moments of his lyricism appearing in his interpretation of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. With all honesty, I didn’t think this sequence of poems was amazing or terrible. In fact, I was pretty indifferent about it, mostly wishing that Orr had spent more time expanding on his ideas.

That being said, I admit that I’m a little picky about how this myth is approached, regardless of medium, mostly because this is one of my favorite stories. I’m inclined to say that if you want more, it’s well worth checking out how Ovid tells the myth in Metamorphoses or Rainer Maria Rilke’s Die Sonette an Orpheus.

Content Warnings

Lessons on Expulsion by Erika L. Sánchez

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

Lessons on Expulsion is a brutal exploration of desire and identity. She primarily considers her Mexican-American upbringing—especially as the daughter of undocumented immigrants—and how this informed her lived experiences and perception of the world. Sánchez’s poems are multisensorial and provocative, perhaps to a point where it might be unsettling for some with her unflinching approach to things deemed unpleasant. I admit that I wasn’t expecting this collection to be as dark (and sexual?) as it ended up being, but I appreciated the brazen honesty of Sánchez’s words.

Some favorites: “Lessons on Expulsion,” “Crossing,” “The Poet at Fifteen,” “Love Story,” and “Circles”

Content Warnings

Journal of an Ordinary Grief by Mahmoud Darwish

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

It’s hard not to feel an ache in your chest after reading Journal of an Ordinary Grief, knowing that something first published in 1973 remains painfully relevant over fifty years later. I am familiar with Darwish’s poetry, but this was my first foray into his prose writings (though the lyricism is still apparent). He deeply reflects on what it means to have Palestine as a homeland (and what it means that it is not given the same status as, say, Israel, by the West), along with what it means to be Palestinian.

I’m not sure if there is more I can say about this book, other than that it is well worth taking the time to read and sit with Darwish’s contemplations. I was especially impacted by the following quote from “Silence for the Sake of Gaza”:

And Gaza is not the most polished of cities, or the largest. But she is equivalent to the history of a nation, because she is the most repulsive among us in the eyes of the enemy—the poorest, the most desperate, and the most ferocious. Because she is a nightmare. Because she is oranges that explode, children without a childhood, aged men without an old age, and women without desire. Because she is all that, she is the most beautiful among us, the purest, the richest, and most worthy of love.

Content Warnings

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

Go to review page

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

The affinity that a number of queer people have with the monstrous is one that is explored in depth in this essay collection. I was invested in what each contributor had to say about their thoughts on their queer identity in relation to a horror film of their choice, which ranged from classic slashers to non-US horror films. Furthermore, this is an incredibly diverse collection of essays, not only in terms of how queerness is defined, but many of these authors also consider their race and/or disability. The contributors’ respective reflections really revealed the complexities of how the monster has been defined by culture and society, some taking a more academic tone when discussing this, while others had a more conversational tone.

Like any edited collection, I found some essays stronger than others. Overall, though, I’d say that it’s rather difficult to call any of them weak. Well worth picking up if you’re interested in horror (and a number of these essays don’t shy away from it, fair warning) and queerness. Relatedly, I recommend picking up Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry edited by David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli, if you’re looking for more queer monstrosity.

Content Warnings

Blood Orange by Yaffa As

Go to review page

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

I admit that I have mixed feelings about this collection. To focus on what I really liked, I think the way Mx. Yaffa wrote about Palestinian people, history, and memory is nothing short of powerful. This is a really short collection, yet Mx. Yaffa delivers so much emotion (much of which is rightfully coming from anger and grief) in each poem, expressing a desire for a decolonized world where they and other indigenous peoples around the world can live in peace. In addition to their Palestinian identity, Mx. Yaffa also draws attention to being trans, going further to show these two identities are interlocking. Somewhat relatedly, I thought the poem, “Marginalized,” did a great job reflecting on the struggles that marginalized peoples face.

What didn’t work for me was the general style of these poems. It’s not the kind of poetry that I particularly like, though it seems to work well for many others. It wasn’t a matter of having difficulty getting into the collection (quite the contrary, I thought it was quite accessible); it’s just a “it’s not you, it’s me” situation.

Content Warnings

How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir by Shayla Lawson

Go to review page

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Spanning across multiple countries and continents, Lawson’s memoir is more than that; it also is a manifesto of sorts, with a demand that we each deeply reflect on our complex identity and positionality in the world. Lawson, a Black American who is nonbinary, femme, disabled, and queer, draws heavily from their own traveling experiences to reflect on their identity on all fronts. One thing I particularly appreciated was how Lawson grappled with being from the United States and what that means in other countries. This is further complicated when they bring Blackness into the picture, and I found their reflections quite profound to the point that I was deeply reflecting on my own identity and how race and nationality shaped my experiences when I also lived abroad.

While Lawson’s memoir takes the reader through Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and the Caribbean, many chapters also focus on their experiences in different regions of the United States, which makes sense, considering how vastly different each region can be. While the themes and locations are incredibly diverse, I was really impressed that Lawson found a thread through all of them, especially in the way they stepped back to think about the world as a whole.

Written with deep gratitude, humility, and a sense of wonder, Lawson’s reflections are so welcomed in the way they challenge us to think about our place in the world and the existing potential to make it a better place.

Content Warnings

Tin Man by Sarah Winman

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

This was a quiet novel focusing on the somewhat complicated relationship between Ellis, Michael, and Annie. I say complicated in the sense that the relationship between Ellis and Michael in particular wasn’t exactly defined, other than that there was an intense intimacy between the two that somewhat fell apart as they grew older. Told first from the perspective of Ellis, followed by a more intimate perspective from Michael (which I think was a result of it being told in the first person), the reader saw the wonders and tensions of love in every sense of the word through their narratives during the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom (and France, for some moments).

I found that I was most invested in Michael’s section, especially to see how he made sense of his identity as a gay man during the AIDS epidemic. Unfortunately, I felt that his section wasn’t nearly as developed as it could have been, though, to be frank, I feel that the novel overall wasn’t as developed as I had hoped. Given the shortness of this novel, I think Winman could have taken more time to flesh out her characters more to really dig into their interiorities and, of course, their relationships with one another. While the prose was beautiful, I was a bit let down by the fact that there wasn’t depth in the content to make the writing really shine.

It seems like this novel worked really well for many other readers, but I found myself wanting a little more than what was given.

Content Warnings

What Have You Done to Our Ears to Make Us Hear Echoes? by Arlene Kim

Go to review page

challenging reflective medium-paced

3.25

I wanted to enjoy this collection more than I actually did. It’s likely a result of not understanding all the sources Kim was alluding to in her poems (though the poet’s notes at the end of the collection helped a little). It’s a little unfortunate, because I was really intrigued by her distinct, dreamlike style. Kim plays with an interesting mix of memory and imagination throughout her collection by turning to mythology and folklore meshing with the (im)migrant experience. I admit that I’m not sure I understood the question she wanted the reader to mull over (which I believe had something to do with identity), and this probably explains the difficulty I had in following this collection.

I think this is one I’m going to have to revisit in the future to see if I can better understand Kim’s ideas on a second read.

Content Warnings

Las Biuty Queens by Iván Monalisa Ojeda

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

3.5

This was a really interesting look into the trans Latine community in New York City, with Ojeda guiding the reader through the joys and struggles that are unique to this particular community. Ojeda heavily draws from his/her own experiences to craft these stories, so much so that I feel it’s almost misleading to say that this short story collection is fiction. It sometimes read like a memoir in which he/she took many creative liberties. Furthermore, I wouldn’t quite call these short stories, so much as they were interconnected vignettes that captured the intimate lives of those on the margins of society. For this perspective alone, I think Las Biuty Queens is well worth picking up.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find the writing especially engaging, which I think was in part because the stories were a little too short; most (if not all) of them didn’t give the reader enough time to think about this vibrant and beautiful community. Ojeda brought up a number of fascinating points that could have been further explored, ranging from sex work to immigration, and I really found myself wishing more could have been said on these topics and how they intertwine with being trans.

Content Warnings

More...

jayisreading's reviews 507 reviews

jayisreading's reviews
507 reviews