A novel that reads like poetry and 2 dystopians
Everything I read in March 2024
What I Read in March 2024
The Giver by Lois Lowry
In an unnamed place and in an unknowable time in the future, true joy, pain, grief, and all emotions have been taken away and has been replaced by “Sameness”. Because of this, color, music, sunshine, and so many things that affect our emotions have been eradicated to maintain order. Jonas, a twelve year old boy, have been chosen to receive special training from The Giver and will be the next Receiver of Memory. The Receiver of Memory holds a special place in society. He is the only person who holds all the memories of the time before “Sameness”. Now, it’s Jonas’ time to receive them.
The Giver is my favorite dystopian novel to date. After reading it, I thought to myself that this book is the essence of what a dystopian novel should be even though so many already came before it. In essence, a dystopia is a tragic decline in society and, to me, the greatest downfall of society is the loss of emotions and human connection. A lot of other dystopian novels tackles this but I connected more with The Giver. Maybe because it was written for children and that the story itself will tug at your heart. The writing is simple and the plot is predictable. The same story had already been told before. It also isn’t as critical as other dystopian novels. But it kept me reading non-stop. I was hooked. I remember all those days as a child were I just kept to myself reading.
The copy I read was covered with marginalia which really interested me, although I couldn’t really get what the writer/original reader was trying to convey. Did my appreciation of the book heightened because it was an old secondhand book? It probably did. I love reading used books. I love reading notes from previous readers. I love the messiness that comes with an unstable hand attempting to underline a quote. I love its intimacy. And with it, my imagination of the previous reader’s life come to life. I am reading a person’s life. But I digress. On to the next book!
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
A son writes a letter to his mother who cannot read. At first, he writes everything he has been holding back. All the times she hit him or the times he doesn’t feel her love. Then, little by little, we discover a family’s history that started in Vietnam.
The first thing that I thought when I held this book was that “Why did the author opt to contract We Are?” I feel like We Are instead of We’re sounds more beautiful to me. Second was that how the words flow beautifully as I read them - like poetry. There were so many times I had to pause to take in the beauty of the words. Here are some examples:
Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you'd know it's a flood.
A page, turning, is a wing lifted with no twin, and therefore no flight. And yet we are moved.
They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it.
However, these beautiful flow of words doesn’t always work, especially when we get to the history narration part. It felt a little forced to me. Forced to be beautiful instead of saying what it really wants to say. It felt like a performance. The book is also written in an irregular time structure. For example, sometimes it jumps from present to past to its past again, then back to the first past, then to the present. This structure confused me a lot and I don’t know always get what I was reading so I had to reread lines a lot. There was a also a Tiger Woods side story that I thought was unnecessary and only added to my confusion. I was so eager to read this because I heard so many good things but it didn’t not satisfy me in the end. Someday, I will reread this and hope it will be better this time.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The first time I read the Handmaid’s Tale I didn’t really appreciate it. I reread it through audiobook this March and I loved it! So much! And I will credit it all to Elizabeth Moss’ narration. When one medium doesn’t work for you, try another! If I happen to read the physical book in the future, I will take Elizabeth Moss’ voice with me.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel set in near-future New England, renamed as the Republic of Gilead, where a patriarchal and totalitarian government rules. Offred is a Handmaid in Gilead. She isn’t allowed to read or have any interests. She isn’t allowed to own anything or hold any other position other than being a handmaid. Instead, she lies on her back once a month to produce children for the Commander. Slowly, we get to know how Gilead came to be, as Offred narrates her past and of the time before.
I love Atwood’s storytelling style. At first we only know what Offred’s current situation is but, little by little, her past and Gilead’s own past unfolds. Atwood gives me little at first, just enough to get me started. Then she gives it to me all at once and now I can’t stop reading.
I don’t know what else to say about this book that hasn’t been said out there already, especially after the Roe v. Wade decision in 2022. I know that makes me a bad reviewer but I was both emotionally charged and emotionally spent reading this book that I am out of words.
What I Want to Read in April 2024
Right now I am reading three books at the same time. One is Insurrecto by Gina Apostol, Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, and The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. I don’t usually read three books at the same time but I started two heavy reads at the same time so I needed something chill in between.
I also want to pick up Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald again. I started it a couple of months back but I wasn’t really feeling it so I DNFed. Here’s to hoping this April might be the right time.
Substacks I Loved in March
Before you go, I want to share some Substacks I loved this month.
Jennifer Silva Redmond, who guest posts at SoNovelicious, Books & Reading & More Books, talks about her new memoir which is about her life at sea. I grew up near the sea but I have always been curios about living AT sea.
Renee from Looking at Books talked about the cover of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982. Such an interesting deep dive on how the cover came to be.
Elif Shafak on who truly owns books. The author or its readers?
Natalie of Subverse on what she would add to The Atlantic’s list of 136 Great American Novels if given a chance. I upvote her choice of The Handmaid’s Tale because right now, that book is slowly coming true.
Matthew Morgan’s guest post on The Books That Made Us because I was blown away the first time I read Jurassic Park too and the movie is my comfort movie even though every raptor scene keeps me on edge.
thanks for the shoutout!! I was reading your review of Handmaid's Tale and crossing my fingers you liked it and then I see my name - full circle moment. Elizabeth Moss is one of our greatest living actors, watch the show if you haven't yet she is magical and it extends the story so well.
I'm behind on reading all the newslettersI subscribe to and I just saw that you linked to the guest post from Jennifer on SoNovelicious. Thanks so much!