Books and Sensibility

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Adult Fiction

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

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This novella follows a generation spaceship making a decades-long voyage back to Earth. First Mate Jack Albright is trying to hold it together but mysterious attacks from an unseen enemy and a secret endgame hidden in the ship could spell the end for this last vestige of humanity. I love a good sci-fi on-a-ship story à la Battlestar Galactica (2004) and Ascension. Count me in.

The first ⅔ of this book is a little slow as we delve into ship politics and Jack starts to pick up clues about the ship’s unseen foe, but WOW does the last third pack a punch! It’s an intense and action-packed story with a tinge of horror. There are plenty of reveals and plot twists that make this book worth getting through the slow start. This is exactly what I want from my Black female-led sci-fi fantasy books. Brown paints a pretty diverse world that felt lived in.

I’ve listened to Bahni Turpin a lot and she truly hits her stride with this one.  She has an impeccable range of voices for the diverse crew Jack leads.

Yellowface by R.F Kuang

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Lol, how did Rebecca get this published? She is eating the publishing girlies up in this biting critique of the publishing industry, bookish social media, and cancel culture. Yellowface follows June Hayword, a flop debut author who steals an Asian American woman’s work and becomes a literary star.

Audiobook Narrator Helen Laser understood the assignment. Her performance truly encapsulates the self-important NWL ‘I’m a liberal, so I can’t be wrong’ energy coming off of June.

For the past decade, I’ve casually observed the publishing industry from the sidelines and it definitely influenced my perception of this book. I’ve seen the sort of online book discourse/drama June gets mixed up in play-out IRL. I think this is uncanny look at online book culture is why this book has been so popular with book influencers.

I’m curious what the average reader who is not plugged into the bookish internet will think of this book. Will they think the Twitter beefs, think-pieces, and clapbacks are inventions of Kuang’s?

Personally, I don’t think this is a complete parody. I am sure Kuang has seen and heard some of the outlandish things June thinks and says IRL.

Jess’ Mini Review Round-Up

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Dawn by Octavia Butler

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This book is incredibly strange.

I can’t fathom how Butler conceived any of this. Butler is definitely joining my list of authors who must possess entire worlds inside their minds because this was a wildly imaginative ride.

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It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

It Ends With Us follows Lily Bloom as a chance encounter with Ryle, a successful neurosurgeon, leads to a whirlwind romance. At the same time, Lily finds herself revisiting her childhood journals and remembering her first love–a homeless boy named Atlas.

I thought this book was fine. I don’t really understand why people so vehemently dislike it but I also don’t understand why it is so beloved. I think Hoover genuinely wanted to show how quiet domestic violence can be and I think she accomplished that. I think it was an interesting move on Hoover’s part to write Ryle as this perfect swoony hero for most of the book– then have his violent side come out by accident. The domestic violence is surprisingly nuanced. Ryle isn’t made out to be a monster. He has real empathy and regret –but the book wants you to understand that doesn’t make him less of an abuser.

I didn’t love that Atlas, who unexpectedly shows back up in Lily’s life, is the main reason Lily decides to leave Ryle. We hardly know who he is as an adult (or as a character) yet he becomes this huge catalyst in Lily and Ryle’s relationship. Atlas being the reason she leaves takes away from her agency, in my opinion.

The book felt like a redux of those old Lifetime movies where the woman falls into a whirlwind relationship only for it to end badly. Those movies were very popular so perhaps that is why this CoHo book resonates with people ? I also have a theory this book’s popularity has to do with the cover. It’s super aesthetic. Just saying…

Side Note

Lily’s diary entries are written as letters to Ellen DeGeneres–which did not age well…

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

The Measure exists in a world where adults 22 and older find a box on their doorstep that contains a string that shows the length of their life. The book follows a group of loosely interconnected people Gary Marshall style as they reckon with the new reality.

Me and Jenna Bush about to fight. 

I love a good high-concept “book club” novel so I went into this book with high hopes, but found it ultimately disappointing.

The book started out strong for me as we see how the world reckons with the existential question of ‘What you would do if you could know how long you’d live ?’ Some choose to look at their strings while others throw them away. People with long strings suddenly no longer fear taking risks while short stringers form support groups based on how many years they have left. 

Then the book slowly turns into a deeply uninteresting and mealy-mouthed metaphor for marginalization. People with short strings are seen as a threat and discrimination forms that mirror a lot of what happens to people of color, gay and/or disabled people IRL. But the thing is, there are characters of color and gay characters in the story and I don’t think Elrick had the range to contend with the intersections of existing prejudices and this new form of prejudice. This book acts like workplace discrimination and people protesting for their rights is a new thing ? 

I think there is a certain segment that will find this book poignant and revealing about how quickly your identity can be criminalized but if you already understand that, the book ends up with nothing to say.

I’ve been DNFing a lot lately but I kept going with this book because Julia Whelan narrates. She truly is such a solid narrator but, lol, she keeps steering me wrong.