Frankie_M

This is an epic, ambitious novel about confronting one's worst self, one's loneliness, and one's rage at the unfairness of life—and while I struggled to find a rhythm with its structure and balance of characters, it shines in its unapologetic female leads, its historical settings, and its captivating, if somewhat theatrical, prose style.

A collision of past, present, and future, Terrestrial History is a sweeping novel that traces the work of the generations of Hannah's family from contemporary life through the Earth's total environmental breakdown, and all the way up into the vastness of mysterious space. Joe Mungo Reed juggles these four without a hitch. Each chapter is dedicated to one character and, even if there is a decade or century between them, each builds seamlessly on the last to depict the events of Earth's env

Dreamy and mysterious in a way reminiscent of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Brokenhearted invites readers to consider the many, sometimes painful, paths to happiness. In their individual journeys, the characters have often confronted betrayal, romantic or otherwise, and their trip to the forest becomes a catalyst for discussing the nuances that lead a person to make life-altering choices. The novel's dialogue holds a lot of we

Just weeks away from playing the role of her life—Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra—Mona is resigned to spending Thanksgiving heavily self-medicated in order to endure the tide of her family and the underlying pressure that comes with a multi-faceted acting role. Given the narrative is almost entirely written in Mona's perspective, her view of supporting cast members does not always align with reality. They seem to take on different roles in Mona's

The plot is centered around a young widow's journey to find something grounding and tangible in what feels like a meaningless world. While death and grief are huge themes, Todd juxtaposes them with the thrill surrounding the comet. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how wonderfully written Bright Objects is. In a slow-paced and reflective narrative, Todd masterfully builds suspense. She infuses history, science, and magic in her imagery of the natural world, especially when depicting t