Review This review was published on Goodreads. Author’s Note (05 Jun 2024): This review was written over 2 years ago. It feels weird to rate a nonfiction, especially when its subject is far removed from my personal life. Your struggle for freedom entertains me, 4/5. I don’t even have the required background knowledge to criticize many of the arguments this book raises. The rating is for how successful the book is in overturning my worldview, and in that department, I think it did pretty well....
Review This review was published on Goodreads. Author’s Note (05 Jun 2024): This review was written over 2 years ago. 4.5/5 - spellbinding. I have sung praises for A Song of Achilles and I will sing it again. Rarely had a book affected me that much, with its saccharine prose and ultra-melodramatic plot that somehow reflected my inner life: the first queer novel I’ve read that made me feel seen. Which is why I would say that Circe is a huge surprise for me, since it’s even better than I imagined....
Review This review was published on Goodreads. I wonder if Joan Didion ever expressed regret, or should I phrase more directly, guilt, over the pieces she had written. America’s most elusive culture pundit, the New Journalism pioneer, the “neurotically inarticulate” writer with her chic Stingray Corvette and the smoldering cigarette she wielded in her right hand and her left hand tucked securely underneath, casual yet coolly judgmental, removed from the ensemble - and her eyes....
Review This review was published on Goodreads. Author’s Note (05 Jun 2024): This review was written over 2 years ago. Okay, so the “read a book from a genre you don’t like” challenge is over, and I’m glad. Which is a weird thing to say given that I rate this book four stars, but I guess Dr. Ryland Grace knows a thing or two about weirdness. TL;DR: The first half of the book is a solid three stars, but the final arc is so well-executed and satisfyingly resolved that I have to give it four....