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Okay, men are allowed to write SOME books
Dec. 27th, 2023 09:15 amI knew it -- the second I declared I was done with books by men for 2023, I had two library holds come in.
Magpie Wing by Max Easton is an Australian literary novel about sports, class, arts and suburban snobbery. Like most Australian literary novels, it reads more like a detailed outline than a completed work, I assume because that's all the author had time for before the grant money ran out. And like most Australian literary novels, it left me with a strong sense that life is devoid of purpose or beauty, and artistic pursuits are pointless.
I actually didn't hate Magpie Wing, but I hate what it represents about the Australian literary scene. But I will give it this: as an historical novel about a young man from a working class background with literary aspirations, it is doomed to be compared with Boy Swallows Universe, and it is far, far superior to Dalton's racist poverty porn (TV adaptation coming soon to a streaming service near you).
Lone Women by Victor LaValle is a horror novel, but I didn't know that when I put a hold on it. I must have skimmed the review I saw, because I had this idea that the "horror" came from the heroine being a Black woman homesteading alone in Montana, not an actual monster. And I was well and truly sucked in before I realised, and then I couldn't stop, sooooooo I guess I read a horror novel.
Truth be told, it wasn't all that scary, or even especially tense. I suspect this is what people deride as "cosy horror", but it was exactly what I didn't know I needed.
Magpie Wing by Max Easton is an Australian literary novel about sports, class, arts and suburban snobbery. Like most Australian literary novels, it reads more like a detailed outline than a completed work, I assume because that's all the author had time for before the grant money ran out. And like most Australian literary novels, it left me with a strong sense that life is devoid of purpose or beauty, and artistic pursuits are pointless.
I actually didn't hate Magpie Wing, but I hate what it represents about the Australian literary scene. But I will give it this: as an historical novel about a young man from a working class background with literary aspirations, it is doomed to be compared with Boy Swallows Universe, and it is far, far superior to Dalton's racist poverty porn (TV adaptation coming soon to a streaming service near you).
Lone Women by Victor LaValle is a horror novel, but I didn't know that when I put a hold on it. I must have skimmed the review I saw, because I had this idea that the "horror" came from the heroine being a Black woman homesteading alone in Montana, not an actual monster. And I was well and truly sucked in before I realised, and then I couldn't stop, sooooooo I guess I read a horror novel.
Truth be told, it wasn't all that scary, or even especially tense. I suspect this is what people deride as "cosy horror", but it was exactly what I didn't know I needed.
