"Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi

I read Homegoing with the Critical Consciousness Reading Group that we have at work. Our discussions focus on topic of equity, diversity, privilege, bias, etc, and are usually centered around a novel. Homegoing was a great choice for this group. It explores the history of slavery, the scars it left on collective consciousness of societies. It also explores the role the presence of a superpower and its settlers had on indigenous populations. It is an incredible read.

The book is structured as a compilation of stories from several generations within the same family. We start with two sisters in Ghana in the 1700s. Born to the same mother, they did not know about each other's existence, and by a stroke of fate, one of them marries a white soldier who oversees the rounding up of slaves headed for the Americas, and the other one of sold into slavery.

Every single story in this book is heartbreaking. Every single one is also filled with courage, resilience and unimaginable strength. In addition, I cannot help but admire Gyasi's skill as a writer. When you read her stories, you do not see words, but rather pictures: landscapes, faces, emotions. Her writing is vivid and almost cinematographic. I absolutely loved it. 5 out of 5 stars. No, 5 stars doesn't begin to describe how much I loved this book and how much it changed my perspective on the world we live in. It is because of books like this that I read. There are many good books out there, but then once in a while you stumble upon a real treasure. This was one of those cases. Do not pass it up.

"Shorefall" by Robert Jackson Bennett

Shorefall is a sequel to Foundryside, an extremely popular fantasy novel that I read last year. Somehow this installment lost its magic for me. I loved Foundryside, and yet Shorefall just dragged. Orso's constant cursing felt repetitive and annoying. If in book 1 he came across as a grumpy genius, in book 2, he pretty much spent most of the time saying "sh*t". Pages and pages of descriptions of how various scrivings worked became tiring as well. Finally, I thought the plot had some holes and the pacing was odd. Right at the point when things should be happening fast, our main characters would slow down and wonder about something irrelevant.

Some things which I felt were clear from the context (e.g., why Crasedes could not see Berenice when she was hiding in the ditch) were explained in a nauseating detail. Yet, other more important points (i.e. how did the new super-being called Tevanne escape in the end) were given no explanation whatsoever. In this particular case, there was simply one line "Tevanne escaped" - what? how?

And then there were moments where the characters could have acted, but didn't simply to suit the plot. For example, when Crasedes comes to Lamplands to attack Valeria and commands Gregor to join him, Gregor was about to shoot a scrived ball at Crasedes which would have incapacitated him. Once the command is issued, Gregor drops the weapon, and no other character picks it up and shoots the bad guy! Why? Instead Berenice and Orso both rush after Gregor. Again, why? This particular point in the story irked me to no end.

Moreover, there did not seem to be a larger moral underpinning to story. We got a bit of Valeria's and Crasedes reasoning for wanting to change humankind, but it seems superfluous and undeveloped. In addition, we still don't have the full origins story of the Clef and Crasedes. I understand the author is probably saving the big reveal for the final book, and perhaps that is why book 2 feels like a filler. Yes, there was a lot of action, but nothing truly decisive occurred. We also did not really have any big aha moments. Anyway, I can't quite pin this down, but I struggled getting through the book and I was underwhelmed overall. At this point, I am not sure if I want to read book 3. I think I'll wait and see what the reviews will be like.

"Such a Fun Age" by Kiley Reid

I first heard of this book because it was one of the picks for Reese Witherspoon's bookclub. Library waits for this title are unbelievably long, so I ended up getting a trial Audible subscription and listened to this book that way. It lives up to all the hype. Please read it if you haven't yet.

The book is about a young black woman named Emira who works as a babysitter for a white privileged family in Philadelphia. The wife - Alix Chamberlain - is a social media persona/businesswoman who is writing a book for young women about her experience and success. Her husband is a news anchor who one day makes an off-hand racist remark on air. The irony of the situation is that when in the aftermath someone throws a rock through the Chamberlains' window, they call Emira so she could take their toddler to a nearby supermarket while they talk to the police. At the high-end supermarket a customer becomes suspicious and "concerned" (in an extremely racist way) upon seeing a young black woman with a white toddler. The store security officer ends up questioning Emira and accusing her of kidnapping the child.

When you read the paragraph above, the story seems to be straightforward and all too familiar - a case of everyday racism and bias. But as you keep reading, the plot becomes very nuanced. There is Alix, a seemingly educated and intelligent person, who congratulates herself that her Thanksgiving party includes several black people, and who blatantly prefers her younger daughter Katherine to the outspoken and often embarrassing Briar, the toddler whom Emira becomes deeply attached to. Alix's bias and egotism is so deeply internalized she does not even realize why Emira is upset when the video of her encounter with security at the supermarket becomes public. Alix is so focused on making herself look good, she honestly believes she is not racist. She was probably my least favorite character in the book: just extremely fake and hypocritical.

Then we have Emira's boyfriend Kyle. He is white but has a lot of black friends and dates only black women. Am I the only one who found him a bit creepy? His bias might be less obvious than Alix's but it is clearly there and comes out when he least expects it.

The book also examines the various facets of female friendship, the pressure to have a successful career, what exactly a successful career means, and employer-employee relationships.

What I loved about this book is just how nuanced it is. Reid is a master at examining human characters and the myriad biases and privileges we all internalize and don't stop to examine. This book will make a great choice for bookclubs and discussion groups. 5 out 5 stars. I highly recommend it.

"Ruthless Gods" by Emily Duncan

Ruthless Gods is the sequel to Wicked Saints, a dark YA fantasy novel that I reviewed last month. In this second installment we follow the same characters as they deal with the aftermath of the events transpired in Book 1. Without spoiling the plot, I must say I liked the second book a bit better than the first. It somehow grabbed me from the get go and there was no struggle getting into the book which I experienced with Wicked Saints.

If it's been awhile since your read book 1, you might need to refresh your memory before getting into book 2. The author does not really give an overview of what happened. Since the aftermath is not what our characters expected, all three: Serefin, Nadya and Malachiacz are desperately trying to figure out what is going on. The suspense of the unknown definitely kept me interested. I also must say this book is even darker than the first one. There is much more blood, more monsters, and a lot of strange and unexpected things. There is also the good old back-stabbing and betraying each other among the characters. If you don't like dark fantasy, I would pass this one. Overall, a solid second book. 4 out of 5 stars. I will definitely be picking up the finale.

"Miss Austen" by Gill Hornby

Miss Austen is a fictionalized story about Jane Austen's elder sister Cassandra. The narrative alternates between two timelines. The first one is in the spring of 1840 when a 67-year old Cassandra visits the home of her relatives in Kintbury in the hopes of recovering the correspondence that both she and Jane had sent to their sister-in-law. The second timeline includes some of the old letters Cassandra reads and her reminiscences about her youth.

It is a well-known fact that Jane and Cassandra Austen never married and lived together until Jane's untimely death in 1817. Cassandra was devoted to her sister and to her memory. So profound was her desire to preserve Jane's legacy, that she meticulously purged Jane's private correspondence and destroyed the majority of letters authored by her. The novel allows us a glimpse into Cassandra's thoughts, and lets us see her reasoning for trying to keep Jane's private letters and feelings hidden from the prying eyes of posterity.

In many ways, Cassandra's actions were prophetic. Jane died in relative obscurity. Even though her novels were moderately popular when first published, they did not gain in popularity until well into the 19th century. Cassandra never stopped believing that Jane's works would live on and did everything in her power to preserve a lady-like image of her sister.

The book presents a very believable account of events and characters. Reading this novel, I was struck anew with how difficult and unfair life was for women at the time. As single unmarried women, Jane and Cassandra struggled with poverty and were forced to move from place to place until their brother Edward allowed them to stay in one of the cottages that he owned. There were very few options for women: marry or live out your years as a spinster, shut up in a back bedroom of a relatives' house. Cassandra believes that hers was a happy life. She spent her best years in the company of her intelligent literary sister.  She could not think of a better companion, or a closer friend to spend her life with.

The only plot line in the book that I thought was weak is Cassandra's relationship with Mr. Hobsday. She met him in her late 20s, and at least in the novel, both he and Cassandra feel instant attraction towards each other. Yet, Cassandra stubbornly refuses to marry him. Her reasons were not convincing, and I was particularly surprised that Cassandra did not even have a trace of regret about turning him down.

Overall, 4 out 5 stars. I think this book would appeal to all readers interested in Jane Austen and her books.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com.