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elenagroves's reviews
241 reviews
Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons
3.25
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
As a fan of Romeo and Juliet since its required reading during my freshman year of high school (during which we also watched the 1968 film adaptation, my English teacher obscuring Romeo's bare butt cheeks by placing a blackened computer window over them; but I digress), I mostly enjoyed this very 2023-feminist retelling. Romeo is portrayed quite obviously as the 30-something-year-old predator that he is, leaving indelible marks on teenage girls in the Verona that we know and love. We dive into the psyche of enigmatic character Rosaline, who is mentioned but not observed and is the recipient, almost exclusively, of men's sexual objectification and depravity in the Shakespeare original. While this retelling admittedly does hand its moralism to the reader on a silver platter, I think that—in this case—it both works and would be difficult not to do. In my opinion, Fair Rosaline falls short of a higher rating due to challenges arising from wonky plot pacing, slightly underdeveloped characters, and a writing style that is technically fine, and clearly simplifies the play's prose to appeal to a modern audience, but one that I did not personally connect with. Nonetheless, the ideas and reworkings of the story are entertaining, and I am glad to have once again delved into this literary universe after many years.
As a fan of Romeo and Juliet since its required reading during my freshman year of high school (during which we also watched the 1968 film adaptation, my English teacher obscuring Romeo's bare butt cheeks by placing a blackened computer window over them; but I digress), I mostly enjoyed this very 2023-feminist retelling. Romeo is portrayed quite obviously as the 30-something-year-old predator that he is, leaving indelible marks on teenage girls in the Verona that we know and love. We dive into the psyche of enigmatic character Rosaline, who is mentioned but not observed and is the recipient, almost exclusively, of men's sexual objectification and depravity in the Shakespeare original. While this retelling admittedly does hand its moralism to the reader on a silver platter, I think that—in this case—it both works and would be difficult not to do. In my opinion, Fair Rosaline falls short of a higher rating due to challenges arising from wonky plot pacing, slightly underdeveloped characters, and a writing style that is technically fine, and clearly simplifies the play's prose to appeal to a modern audience, but one that I did not personally connect with. Nonetheless, the ideas and reworkings of the story are entertaining, and I am glad to have once again delved into this literary universe after many years.
A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee
4.5
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
The beautiful thing about reading books by authors yet unknown to me is that I undertake the reading journey with the publisher's description in hand, absolutely no preconceived notions of how the experience will go, and a dream. A Shot in the Dark is, as I've come to find out, a superbly crafted and intricate novel that follows two individuals with shadowed, still-raw pasts whose paths cross one fateful evening and intertwine over the course of a charged summer in New York City. This novel deftly explores themes of gender identity and sexuality, trans- and homophobia, mental health issues, substance abuse and addiction, religion, and intimate relationship dynamics while maintaining a pulsing momentum until the very end. I am admittedly not a die-hard fan of the contemporary romance genre, but of the contemporary romances I've read, this is indisputably one of my favorites.
The beautiful thing about reading books by authors yet unknown to me is that I undertake the reading journey with the publisher's description in hand, absolutely no preconceived notions of how the experience will go, and a dream. A Shot in the Dark is, as I've come to find out, a superbly crafted and intricate novel that follows two individuals with shadowed, still-raw pasts whose paths cross one fateful evening and intertwine over the course of a charged summer in New York City. This novel deftly explores themes of gender identity and sexuality, trans- and homophobia, mental health issues, substance abuse and addiction, religion, and intimate relationship dynamics while maintaining a pulsing momentum until the very end. I am admittedly not a die-hard fan of the contemporary romance genre, but of the contemporary romances I've read, this is indisputably one of my favorites.
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
5.0
Life changing. The actual email I just sent to this book's author:
"Dear Dr. Walker,
I am unsure whether this message will reach you, but I just finished reading Why We Sleep in its entirety, and I cannot recall another book ever having had such a striking effect on me.
I recently started my first job as a speech-language pathologist in a nursing home outside of the XX area, and the residents I treat are highly vocal about their often daily fatigue/pain and lack of sufficiently long and/or satisfying sleep during the night.
I often feel stuck in my treatment of cognitive-communication skills such as short-term memory, as I feel (with my newly bolstered knowledge of the relationship between sleep and memory) that this poor sleep hygiene, including the propagation of sleeping pills by the nursing staff, is preventing progress on this and other fronts, including occupational and physical therapy. Seriously, some residents will enter into multiple microsleeps during our 35-minute sessions.
While I am fresh in my field and brand-new to the skilled nursing setting, your and others' work has inspired me to look into this pervasive issue at my workplace to see what can be done to more effectively promote proper sleep hygiene. More than anything, I want to try to break this seemingly insidious cycle of pain leading to poor sleep, leading to more pain and poorer sleep yet.
I have also been inspired to think about my own sleep hygiene during this read, which has admittedly always been relatively 'good,' but I definitely have a few things to work on myself! Somewhat comically, I have been spreading the gospel of the dangers of poor sleep hygiene to pretty much anyone and everyone that I know, so for that and my aforementioned reasons, thank you again for your research and devotion to the betterment of everyone's health."
"Dear Dr. Walker,
I am unsure whether this message will reach you, but I just finished reading Why We Sleep in its entirety, and I cannot recall another book ever having had such a striking effect on me.
I recently started my first job as a speech-language pathologist in a nursing home outside of the XX area, and the residents I treat are highly vocal about their often daily fatigue/pain and lack of sufficiently long and/or satisfying sleep during the night.
I often feel stuck in my treatment of cognitive-communication skills such as short-term memory, as I feel (with my newly bolstered knowledge of the relationship between sleep and memory) that this poor sleep hygiene, including the propagation of sleeping pills by the nursing staff, is preventing progress on this and other fronts, including occupational and physical therapy. Seriously, some residents will enter into multiple microsleeps during our 35-minute sessions.
While I am fresh in my field and brand-new to the skilled nursing setting, your and others' work has inspired me to look into this pervasive issue at my workplace to see what can be done to more effectively promote proper sleep hygiene. More than anything, I want to try to break this seemingly insidious cycle of pain leading to poor sleep, leading to more pain and poorer sleep yet.
I have also been inspired to think about my own sleep hygiene during this read, which has admittedly always been relatively 'good,' but I definitely have a few things to work on myself! Somewhat comically, I have been spreading the gospel of the dangers of poor sleep hygiene to pretty much anyone and everyone that I know, so for that and my aforementioned reasons, thank you again for your research and devotion to the betterment of everyone's health."
The Girl Who Cried Diamonds and Other Stories by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia
2.5
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
The Girl Who Cried Diamonds & Other Stories, written by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia, is a collection of short stories loosely interconnected by what the official description boasts to be its "shatter[ing of] the boundaries of realist and fabulist." Relative strengths of this collection include having 1) an enticing title, 2) aesthetically pleasing cover art, 3) generally decent writing, 4) some interesting and well-developed plot lines, and 5) interspersed acknowledgement of relevant social justice issues.
Of the stories involved, the one I most enjoy is the very first, "A Golden Light," which follows a young girl who seeks meaning in a mysteriously sourced light that illuminates her bedroom after her father's untimely death. The premise and execution of "A Golden Light" epitomize the degree of intrigue and supernatural presence that one might expect from a vaguely (quote-unquote) fabulist/speculative collection. Precisely due to this promising setup is why some might generate confusion when reading the following two, decidedly hyper-realistic (not to mention, topically grotesque), stories about teenagers ruthlessly bullying each other and a young woman being stalked by a man she saves from certain death.
Ultimately, a cohesive topical or moral momentum is missing throughout this collection, and the plots and characters of the individual stories often lack substance and/or an inherent driving force compelling one to read on (especially notable during the final story about a woman-turned-cloud, which comprises a whopping 25 percent of the book in page length).
The Girl Who Cried Diamonds & Other Stories, written by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia, is a collection of short stories loosely interconnected by what the official description boasts to be its "shatter[ing of] the boundaries of realist and fabulist." Relative strengths of this collection include having 1) an enticing title, 2) aesthetically pleasing cover art, 3) generally decent writing, 4) some interesting and well-developed plot lines, and 5) interspersed acknowledgement of relevant social justice issues.
Of the stories involved, the one I most enjoy is the very first, "A Golden Light," which follows a young girl who seeks meaning in a mysteriously sourced light that illuminates her bedroom after her father's untimely death. The premise and execution of "A Golden Light" epitomize the degree of intrigue and supernatural presence that one might expect from a vaguely (quote-unquote) fabulist/speculative collection. Precisely due to this promising setup is why some might generate confusion when reading the following two, decidedly hyper-realistic (not to mention, topically grotesque), stories about teenagers ruthlessly bullying each other and a young woman being stalked by a man she saves from certain death.
Ultimately, a cohesive topical or moral momentum is missing throughout this collection, and the plots and characters of the individual stories often lack substance and/or an inherent driving force compelling one to read on (especially notable during the final story about a woman-turned-cloud, which comprises a whopping 25 percent of the book in page length).
Girl. by Robin Williams
3.75
Robin Williams' GIRL. is a relatively brief but evocative poetry collection centering on the author's experiences with and insight on gender identity and sexuality. These poems expound on several prevailing themes including the dichotomy of feeling both "too queer" yet "not queer enough," especially as a bisexual person; romantic love and yearning; internal and external homophobia; and religious trauma. Williams' prose is punchy yet effortlessly florid, rendering this collection both compulsively readable and emotionally impactful. As a bisexual woman myself, many of the reflections within the poems resonated with me, reinforcing just how essential it is to have literary representation like GIRL. available for anyone who may have experienced confusion surrounding, or is coming to terms with, their sexuality.