Book Review: "You Know You Want This" by Kristen Roupenian

Wow, what a crazy collection of short stories this was!!

Kristen Roupenian's debut collection, You Know You Want This, is at turns frank, brutal, disturbing, kinky, poignant, emotional, and eye-opening. Her stories are about relationships of all kinds—parental, romantic, sexual, those between friends and lovers, and even those between relative strangers. The relationships are rarely equal, in that most often, someone has the upper hand, although it might not always last for long.

This collection reminded me a little of Carmen Maria Machado's fantastic collection Her Body and Other Parties, in that they explore imbalances of power between the genders, and a number of the stories have some sort of erotic charge. A few of the 12 stories in this book are a little weirder than most, with violence, fear, and even the supernatural at their core, while some take a more traditional route.

Among my favorites in this collection were: "Bad Boy," in which a couple starts out wanting to help their friend get over a dysfunctional relationship, only to create an even more dysfunctional relationship with him; "The Boy in the Pool," about childhood best friends who had grown apart, and a teenage crush on an actor from that same period; "The Matchbox Sign," which tells of a couple struggling with problems real and imagined; "Scarred," about a woman who conjures her heart's desire, a naked man, after finding a book of spells in the library; and "Cat Person," in which a young woman finds herself in a relationship with a man for whom she's not sure how she feels.

Roupenian has a vivid imagination, a talent for evocative imagery, and she creates characters which, for the most part, seemed like everyday people trapped in some unusual situations. (Obviously that doesn't apply to every story.) While a few of the stories were a little too bizarre for my tastes (and she's unflinchingly graphic with her descriptions of violence, blood, gore, and a little bit of the macabre), overall, I found this a fascinating collection, one that will definitely stick in my mind for a long while.

This is the first short story collection I've read in 2018, and I hope it signifies that this will be a year of fresh stories from writers new and seasoned, full of memorable characters and situations that make me feel, make me think, and at times, make me a little uncomfortable.

Book Review: "The Unhoneymooners" by Christina Lauren

So there I was, feeling a bit of withdrawal since it had been more than two months since I'd read a Christina Lauren book (I read four of their books in 2018, and one in 2017). Then, like a bolt out of the blue, I saw that NetGalley was offering advance copies of their newest book, The Unhoneymooners, and I literally pulled my car over into the first parking lot I saw and submitted my request. (True story. And I kept to my no NetGalley requests while driving rule.)

Of course, I was granted access to the title, and one day later? I devoured the book and will (kind of) patiently wait for their next one. (A long, long time ago I went to a book signing of John Grisham's for The Pelican Brief. I told him how much I liked the book and he said, "Man, Larry, I just finished this one. Slow down!") But once again, Christina Lauren doesn't disappoint, but gives me all the feels and leaves me giddy.

Olive and Ami are identical twins. As far as Olive is concerned, Ami has always been the lucky one, while Olive has recently been laid off from her job and had to move back in with her family when her roommate moved out. Plus, Olive's biggest achievement is getting stuck in an arcade claw machine when she was younger.

Ami is also lucky in love—she's about to marry Dane, who may be a little too frat bro-y for Olive's taste, but Olive is happy that her sister is happy. Ami has been able to put on her entire wedding and reception through contests and drawings (which explains the ridiculous, Skittle-green bridesmaid's dresses), but she's given Olive a number of tasks on the big day, most of which include interacting with Ethan, Dane's older brother—and Olive's nemesis since their first meeting took an ugly turn a few years ago.

"Too tall, too fit, too classically pretty. Never friendly, never trustworthy, never any fun. He puts on an innocent smile—innocent on the surface: a flash of teeth, a dimple, but in his eyes, it's all black-souled."

When Ethan and Olive are virtually the only two people not to contract food poisoning at the reception, Ami and Dane have a free honeymoon in Maui that is use-it-or-lose-it. Olive is certainly not going to let Ethan enjoy Maui by himself, so she agrees to go. They both figure there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy the beautiful scenery—and lose the other. But when they realize they'll need to pretend to be giddy honeymooners for 10 days, it seems like a small price to pay for paradise, right?

When unexpected encounters with people from both of their lives force them to tear into their acting roles with greater passion, Olive starts to realize that she doesn't mind spending time with Ethan and pretending to be married to him. Maybe he's not as bad as she thought he was—and maybe she can't get enough of being with him. But what is real and what is an act? What will happen when they leave paradise and go home to Minnesota? Will they fall back into their antagonistic relationship?

The thing about Christina Lauren's books (other than terrific characters you root for, great emotions, humor, and hot sex) is that even though you probably can predict most of what will happen, you get so hooked on the story, and you're so charmed by it, that it doesn't really matter. Their books get me every time—like I said earlier, I get a little giddy, a little emotional, and I just want more.

If you're a fan of rom-coms, or just want a lighter book to divert you from brooding thrillers, Christina Lauren's books are just the ticket. Their book Love and Other Words made my list of the best books I read last year, while Roomies, My Favorite Half-Night Stand, and Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating were not far behind. (Plus, Autoboyography, one of their few YA books, is utterly AMAZING.)

NetGalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Falconer" by Dana Czapnik

Lucy is a high school student growing up in New York in 1993. She's a so-called "pizza bagel"—a mix of Jewish and Italian heritage. She's not afraid to speak her mind, even if it's to trash-talk, and she's a talented basketball player, comfortable playing among men and boys—and she knows she's good, too.

"I'm not just the leading scorer at my school, I'm the leading scorer in the entire league for two years running, which you would think would garner me the same amount of respect Percy gets. But I'm a girl, and I'm really tall and I don't have Pantene-commercial hair and I'm not, let's say, une petite fleur, so everyone just assumes I'm a lesbian."

As tough as Lucy appears, she also has a vulnerable side, especially when it comes to her best friend, Percy. He's the heir to a major fortune, and things come easy to him, but he likes to pretend he's poor, likes to talk about how horrible America is and how hard people have it. Lucy is in love with Percy, and although she knows he doesn't feel the same way about her, she isn't willing to give up hope, but she also isn't willing to follow him with lovesick stars in her eyes.

"Even though I know Percy isn't remotely interested in Sarah as a person, he likes her in a way he'll never like me, so our jealousy of each other is mutual and equally damaging, which I recognize with the left side of my brain. But I'm a creature forever ruled by the right, the part that holds what a more sentimental person might call the whims of the heart."

Lucy doesn't understand why men and boys are treated differently than women, and even portrayed differently in art. Her favorite statue in Central Park is called "The Falconer," and it depicts a boy releasing a falcon into the wind. She resents how girls and women would be depicted as girlish, afraid of the world around him, yet this boy appears powerful and strong. That's what she wants to have.

Dana Czapnik's debut novel follows Lucy as she struggles with her relationship with Percy, with self-esteem and what her peers think of her, and having to confront the uglier parts of life, people, and the betrayal of trust. Lucy has courage but how do you keep strong in the face of adversity, how do you continue to have self-confidence when you're constantly getting knocked down?

I found Lucy to be a very well-drawn, vivid character. I've seen some comparison to Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, and while I don't really see that, she definitely has a memorable, sometimes acerbic, sometimes vulnerable voice that sticks with you. She is a character you root for, one you take into your heart.

While I loved her character, I struggled with the book overall. At times I felt as if it was told in a stream-of-consciousness style, with long play-by-plays of basketball games and meanderings through New York history, art history, etc. It just didn't hold my attention as much as it hoped, so I found myself skimming through certain parts of the book.

When The Falconer worked, it worked well. It made you feel with, and for, Lucy. While for me, the book was uneven, it clearly demonstrates that Czapnik is a storyteller with a great future, one whose work I'll be watching for.

NetGalley and Atria Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Other Americans" by Navidad Thélamour

"That's how socioeconomic stratification works, you know. We all end up in the same circles and stay there."

I've read a lot of books that explore the dynamics between the haves and the have-nots, and the machinations that those in power use to attempt to stay there. But until now, I've never read a book that explores those concepts within the African-American community.

With her debut novel, The Other Americans, Navidad Thélamour paints a portrait of one powerful family and those who orbit around it, and in doing so creates a dramatic, almost soap opera-esque story I couldn't get enough of.

The Dessommes family has been one to reckon with in Atlanta society for some time. Like every family, they have their ups and downs, but they do their best to make their ups public and keep their downs private. Vince Dessommes has been groomed to take over the family business since he was born—his father taught him how to be a man, and his mother made sure that his every move was the right one. Of course, that meant essentially ignoring their younger daughter, Jillian, letting her know she was definitely less than her brother.

Vince is ready to ascend into his father's spot at the top of the company and take over, but no one's quite ready for that yet. His ambitions create serious pressure for his wife, Delaney, whose dreams of becoming a social worker were put on hold (permanently) when Vince proposed. She isn't quite sure why she chose a life for which she has little control in charting its course over the one she wanted, but the closer Vince gets to achieving his ambitions, the more he wants his wife to fulfill her expected role.

"Power was something better used than left to get rusty, she'd learned. A Dessommes family trait that never seemed to skip a generation. Nothing had changed, in that regard, and nothing ever would."

Laney's best friend, Aaliyah, doesn't understand Laney's choices either. As a Trinidadian, she is viewed by the Dessomes family as an outsider, more because she reminds them of their blackness, of a heritage they don't want to think about. Aaliyah believes that hard work should be rewarded with success, and she is determined to succeed in the marketing firm where she works, so she puts in long hours and works tirelessly. But she doesn't factor in the disadvantages she faces as a woman, nor does she realize that for others, naked ambition means pulling strings rather than working hard. And she's not going to take it.

Jillian Dessomes has long been the one on the outside. It's one thing to be treated as an afterthought by your parents (although they expect you to keep up appearances and make the family look good), but what is it about her relationship with her brother Vince that unhinges her so, that causes her fondness for drugs, razor blades, and inappropriate relationships? What will it take to find the peace she so desperately needs?

All of these storylines intersect in The Other Americans, and create a tension-filled, emotional, thought-provoking read. This is a book about family loyalty, ambition, the need for independence, craving acceptance and love, and how people continue to surprise you in ways you don't expect—both positively and negatively. This was a compelling book, as I love stories about dysfunctional family and relationship dynamics.

Thélamour does a great job in her debut novel, and her writing is very self-assured. While some of the characters are very well-developed, I found Vince's character to be a little less complex. There was also one storyline involving the return of a character from Vince and Jillian's youth that seemed extraneous to me—it's like, clearly she had a purpose but I wasn't sure what it was except to create drama in another relationship.

If you like this type of story, pick up The Other Americans. It says in Thélamour's bio that she's working on a follow-up, and I'd love to see that.

The author provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "No Exit" by Taylor Adams

Warning: don't read Taylor Adams' No Exit before bed.

While there are some creepy parts (and some gruesome ones), those aren't the reasons I'm warning you. It's quite simple, actually: if you start reading this book, there's no way you're going to want to put it down. You're going to want to stay up until you finish the book, and then once you're done, you'll probably have a little excess adrenaline that will keep you awake longer.

Trust me, I was severely overtired this morning, so I speak from experience!

College student Darby Thorne has just gotten word that her mother is dying and is about to undergo potentially dangerous surgery. Although their relationship has never been good (her mother said that when she was pregnant with Darby she thought she had the flu, so she almost killed her with Theraflu), Darby cannot miss the chance to apologize and make amends in case time is short.

To get home, she has to drive from Boulder, across the state of Colorado, and into Utah. But Mother Nature has other plans, as a massive snowstorm and her old car don't feel like facilitating her trip. Before she knows it, she's stuck in the middle of a blizzard in the Colorado mountains, with only a highway rest stop for shelter. She can't get a cell phone signal to see how her mother is or let anyone know she's delayed, and she left her phone charger in her dorm room.

"Here Darby was, the underachieving secondborn, trapped at a lonely rest stop just below the summit of Backbone Pass, because she'd tried to race Snowmageddon over the Rockies and failed. Miles above sea leavel, snowed in inside a '94 Honda Civic with busted windshield wipers, a dying phone, and a cryptic text message simmering in her mind."

There's not much to the rest stop—some coffee and hot cocoa, a few vending machines, and four strangers. Sandi and Eddie are cousins heading to Denver for Christmas; Ashley is gregarious, handsome, and perhaps trying a little too hard to be sociable and funny; and then there's Lars, a rodent-faced mouth-breather who gives Darby the creeps. It's quite a motley crew to pass the time with, especially when there's no real entertainment save endless card games.

When Darby goes outside to the parking lot to try and find a cell signal, she makes a frightening discovery: she finds a little girl being held captive in a cage inside the van parked next to her. The van door is locked, and she certainly can't make too much of a fuss, because she has nowhere to escape to. Whose van is it? Whom can she trust?

"What were the odds of stumbling across a kidnapping in progress? While trapped overnight in a snowy rest stop? It was all too fantastical to be a part of Darby's life."

Darby must not only think of herself, but of the little girl. With two lives on the line and no way to contact anyone to help her, the ball is in her court. But there's more to her fellow travelers than meets the eye, and navigating her way through this may take more strength and courage than she has.

No Exit takes off with the first few paces and never lets up until the very end. Adams ratchets up the suspense and the tension page by nerve-wracking page, and the atmosphere was so evocative that I actually felt colder than normal while reading this book. Darby is a terrific character—complex, flawed, impulsive, and yet determined to fight the odds and save the little girl's life.

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of twists I saw coming and I few I didn't quite expect. Some of the twists, though, made me roll my eyes a little, but that's when the book felt a bit like a summer blockbuster, where you don't question how long the battle will continue until resolution is achieved, because nothing ever goes smoothly.

I had heard a lot of buzz about No Exit so I was really eager to read it, and Adams definitely didn't disappoint. The book probably should come with a trial-sized supply of tranquilizers, though, to calm you down once you've finished!

Book Review: "Late in the Day" by Tessa Hadley

The two couples were the closest of friends—Alex and Christine, and Zach and Lydia. Before all four met each other, Lydia and Christine were friends from school, as were Alex and Zach. When they all were living in England, their families spent a great deal of time together, and even their daughters grew up together. While they each shared some similarities, each was very different from one another.

One night, Alex and Christine plan for a quiet evening, when the idyll is broken by a phone call. Lydia is calling from the hospital to say that Zach died suddenly. The two are utterly shocked by Lydia's news, and rush quickly to tend to her, to tell Lydia and Zach's daughter, Grace, who is in school in Glasgow, and to handle the details that are necessary when such a tragedy occurs.

How do you help a friend who is grieving the death of her husband when you, too, are grieving the death of a cherished friend? What words can convey support while not focusing too heavily on your own loss? Alex and Christine feel unmoored, as if a part of them has died, as jovial, big-hearted, creative Zach always seemed to bring rationality and heart into their relationships with one another. Lydia is unsure of what to do—she is unable to tend to Zach's affairs, or even process the thought of being alone in their house without him.

Yet when Lydia moves in temporarily with Alex and Christine, being all together doesn't help assuage their grief. What it does instead is bring to the surface the difficulties in Alex and Christine's relationship, and unearth hidden feelings among the three of them which were buried a long time ago. Without Zach, the cracks become apparent in all of their relationships, but for a time they keep their peace out of respect for his death.

"Anyway, she didn't think any longer about the truth in that same way: as a core underneath a series of obfuscations and disguises. In the long run, weren't the disguises just as interesting, weren't they real too? She and Alex were so unlike, really: associated through some accident in their youth—the accident of his choosing her, because of what he thought she was. Since that beginning, they had both changed their skins so often. Marriage simply meant that you hung on to each other through the succession of metamorphoses. Or failed to."

Shifting back and forth between the early days of their relationships and the present, Late in the Day is an examination of the strange ways grief manifests itself, how it reignites old passions, opens old wounds, and creates friction in places there never was any before. It's a look at how we think of close friends as part of our family, but yet there are times we realize friends are no substitute for our family.

Tessa Hadley is a very talented writer, and she has a keen eye for dialogue and character development. From the very outset I predicted how the story would unfold, and I'll admit I was a little disappointed, because it seemed almost too predictable. I really never understood what the characters saw in each other except the pull of gravity keeping them together, and I felt that Lydia, Christine, and Alex were fairly unlikable, full of recriminations yet unwilling to say what's on their mind.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped I would. I found the pacing to be very slow (the flashbacks, while edifying as to how the characters got to where we are now, dragged on for far too long) and things seemed a bit disjointed at times. I also wasn't sure what message Hadley was sending with the way she tied things up.

I read Hadley's The Past a number of years ago and found it very enjoyable, and I also enjoyed her collection of short stories, Bad Dreams and Other Stories. While Late in the Day wasn't a winner for me, I'll definitely keep reading Hadley's work, because I do love the way she writes.

Oscar Nominations: What I Think Will Happen

Those of you who know me well know that I've been fairly obsessed with the Oscars for years now. We do our best each year to see every movie and performance nominated for the major awards, and thanks to my ridiculous trivia-laden brain, I can tell you everyone nominated for Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, and Director, as well as all of the movies nominated for Best Picture, since the Oscars started in 1927. (It's a super-useful skill on the open market.)

Tomorrow morning at around 8:37 a.m. ET this year's Oscar nominations will be announced. As I've done for a number of years, I am listing my predictions of what I think will get nominated for the major categories (along with some analysis of what I wish would happen), and then tomorrow I'll see how I did.

So, here goes!

Best Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice

Analysis: Every year since 2009 there has been a variable number of Best Picture nominees. Some years there are seven, eight, nine, even ten. No one knows how many there will be because of the way Best Picture nominees are voted for. I'm picking eight—if the Academy goes with one more I think it will be either If Beale Street Could Talk or First Man (which I loved); First Reformed, Mary Poppins Returns, or Crazy Rich Asians could surprise as well.


Best Actor
Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

Analysis: If I had my picks, I'd have Lucas Hedges for Boy Erased and/or Ethan Hawke for First Reformed in there. While sadly, Hedges doesn't have a chance this year (and he also turned in another award-worthy performance in Ben is Back), Hawke could sneak in and replace Washington (Hawke has won more film critics' awards than any other actor). There's also a chance that Willem Dafoe could get a nod for his performance as Vincent Van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate.(Sadly, two other really strong performances—Ryan Gosling in First Man and Robert Redford for The Old Man and the Gun—don't even make the discussion.)


Best Actress
Yalitzia Aparicio, Roma
Glenn Close, The Wife
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Analysis: While I believe that Close, Colman, Gaga, and McCarthy have their slots sewn up, that fifth one is anyone's guess. I'm betting Aparicio will ride a huge wave for Roma tomorrow, but other possibilities are Emily Blunt for Mary Poppins Returns, Viola Davis for Widows, Nicole Kidman for Destroyer, and critical favorite Toni Colette for Hereditary. (If everything was fair, Julia Roberts would get a nomination for her fantastic performance in Ben is Back, and Charlize Theron deserves a nod for Tully, but comedies never fare well.)


Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Analysis: One of the things that will make me so happy tomorrow is if Sam Elliott finally gets his first Oscar nomination after a long career. However, I think he's the one with the best chance of being left off the list, too, in favor of last year's winner, Sam Rockwell, for Vice. (It's also possible that Chalamet, who received Golden Globe and SAG nominations, could be overlooked instead. If The Favourite leads the nominations tomorrow, Nicholas Hoult could also sneak in.


Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Vice
Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Analysis: I really, really, really want Claire Foy to be nominated for First Man. I'm hoping she gets in over Blunt, who was the female lead (I hate when leading performances get nominated for supporting awards). I'd also like to see Nicole Kidman get nominated for Boy Erased, but that seems unlikely, as does my sentimental favorite, Michelle Yeoh, for Crazy Rich Asians. While King really should be the favorite for this award, there's an outside chance she could get passed over, like she did for the SAGs, although I doubt that will happen.


Best Director
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

Analysis: I'm sticking my neck out with my prediction of Lanthimos over Adam McKay for Vice (who received a Directors Guild of America nomination along with Cooper, Cuaron, Farrelly, and Lee), but there's often one surprise. There are many times that actor-turned-directors don't get nominated when their films do (Ron Howard for Apollo 13, Ben Affleck for Argo, Penny Marshall for Awakenings), so Cooper could get left out, although I'd be surprised. Other possibilities include Damien Chazelle for First Man, Ryan Coogler for Black Panther, and Barry Jenkins for If Beale Street Could Talk.


How off will I be? Check back tomorrow and I'll let you know. (If you listen closely, you might hear me cheering or crying, "Why?", tomorrow, too.)