Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

My rating: 2/5

I think I’d have rated this 3 stars if it wasn’t for all the hype this book has received, which raised my expectations. A female chemist in the 1950s/60s who becomes a TV cook — sounds amazing! But first I was distracted by the anachronistic narration, then the attitudes of Zott herself (yes, she’s ahead of her time, but she thinks too much like a 21st century woman, to the point that she becomes unbelievable). Next, by the fact that she appears as a charicature of a female scientist — can a woman not be intelligent and socially adept? Finally, the prose was very didactic to the point of preachiness, as though Garmus was worried her readers might not be bright enough to pick up her points if she used subtlety or subtext. I did enjoy the plot (though it’s a lot more harrowing than the cover and endorsements would have you believe), but there was too much going against it for me to enjoy this read properly.

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

My rating: 4/5

This was disappointing after Hamnet, but still a good read. Set in Renaissance era Italy, O’Farrell unpacks just how little freedom women in wealthy families had at that time, by focusing on one young girl and her forced marriage. It’s a buoyant read, though, as Lucrezia has a lot of spark and creativity, and the plot drives along like a fast-pulled carriage. I was a little distracted by her choice to use the present tense in this novel, I have to say. Though very few events happen, I was fascinated by the relational ins and outs between characters — something I always admire O’Farrell for.

Agua Viva by Clarice Lispector

My rating: 4/5

This is a really hard book to review, let alone rate, as it’s not like anything else I’ve come across. I was told it’s a novella in flash, or at least a precurser to them (this was first published in 1973, in Portuguese) and it certainly fits that category more than anything else. It’s a sort of stream of consciousness letter written from a fictional ‘I’ to a fictional ‘you’. It’s sort of a love letter, sort of an exploration of art, of language, time, phsyicality… and more! The text is hypnotic, echoing under your skin as you read, sparking with ideas and rippling with supressed sexuality. It’s a deep well of ideas that will be worth dipping into again and again.

The Outsiders by S E Hinton

My rating: 5/5

I know I’m going to be gushing about this book for ages. This is immersive storytelling at its finest; from the first page we are there, in 1960s Oklahoma, siding with the Greasers against the Socs. Hinton’s voice as she writes Ponyboy is spot on. I can’t believe she was just 17 when she wrote this… except, sort of I can. The prose has this kind of breathless urgency that rings true of teenagers. There is so much heart in this novel. A tough teen gang member who likes sunsets and Gone with the Wind – perfection.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

My rating: 5/5

I loved this book! I slurped it down and the bitter-sweet aftertaste is going to linger for ages, I know. It felt like a novella in flash, but at 350 pages, and not written in flash, it obviously isn’t. But the feel of it is there. Egan is so clever in how she shows the interconnectedness of lives, like Love Actually, but not cheesy. How does she make us care so deeply about all these characters, who we only see snippets of? The section in Powerpoint slides took me by surprise and captivated me. The white space and ‘ reading between the lines’ of this book is genius.