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Finished reading:
Disobedience by Naomi Alderman. Queer woman goes home to her Orthodox Jewish community after her Rabbi father dies. I nearly bailed, hard, at the 50% mark, actually; I couldn't see how it was going to end happily for any of the main characters, and for a bit there it looked like it was heading down the "town gossips get the facts/rumours entirely wrong" squicky trope. But it was short, and I had an externally imposed deadline of the library loan period, and that was enough to keep me going, and I'm so glad I did.
Somewhere in there it all smoothed out into being okay, and if not happy as such, then definitely characters being content with their (actively reaffirmed) life choices. And the ending was pointing towards new directions and people making changes -- not dramatic overthrowing regime changes, but the first steps in generational changes that means so much. Um, that was all very vague, but I ended up really really liking this one. It was all that plus a fascinating insight into a religion I know almost nothing about, too. I'd tentatively call it the Oranges are not the only fruit for Orthodox Jews, but it's been so long since I read said that I don't know how accurate that actually is. Would rec.
Currently reading:
God's war by Kameron Hurley. That was the best opening page EVER. Like, hello yes I am here for your body-brutal sci-fi pronoun-game scene setting, holy shit sign me up. There are so many brilliant deft little world building touches.
I'm currently in the throes of much deeper political/cultural scene-setting/exposition at page 100ish tho, so it's slightly a slog, but I'm expecting it to pick back up and also flag the important things as reminders later on.
Up next: God. No idea.
Disobedience by Naomi Alderman. Queer woman goes home to her Orthodox Jewish community after her Rabbi father dies. I nearly bailed, hard, at the 50% mark, actually; I couldn't see how it was going to end happily for any of the main characters, and for a bit there it looked like it was heading down the "town gossips get the facts/rumours entirely wrong" squicky trope. But it was short, and I had an externally imposed deadline of the library loan period, and that was enough to keep me going, and I'm so glad I did.
Somewhere in there it all smoothed out into being okay, and if not happy as such, then definitely characters being content with their (actively reaffirmed) life choices. And the ending was pointing towards new directions and people making changes -- not dramatic overthrowing regime changes, but the first steps in generational changes that means so much. Um, that was all very vague, but I ended up really really liking this one. It was all that plus a fascinating insight into a religion I know almost nothing about, too. I'd tentatively call it the Oranges are not the only fruit for Orthodox Jews, but it's been so long since I read said that I don't know how accurate that actually is. Would rec.
Currently reading:
God's war by Kameron Hurley. That was the best opening page EVER. Like, hello yes I am here for your body-brutal sci-fi pronoun-game scene setting, holy shit sign me up. There are so many brilliant deft little world building touches.
I'm currently in the throes of much deeper political/cultural scene-setting/exposition at page 100ish tho, so it's slightly a slog, but I'm expecting it to pick back up and also flag the important things as reminders later on.
Up next: God. No idea.
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