inside the mind

Mister N by Najwá Barakāt (translated by Luke Leafgreen)

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Mr. N is the ultimate in unreliable narrators, as the story slips through time and in and out of delusions.  This makes it hard for the reader to extract an actual story thread, as there are no textual clues beyond the opening lines of the scene to tell you when the action takes place, or whether it's taking place in reality at all.  However, Barakāt does an admirable job of pulling it together to give the reader something cohesive to hold on to at the end.  In between, we get a glimpse of war-torn Lebanon and the plight of its people.

This is not the book for a reader looking for a linear narrative.  However, a reader who can decipher Mister N's train of thought will be rewarded by the quality of the writing and the resolution, such as it is.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

permanent tattoo

Jobs for Girls with Artistic Flair by June Gervais

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Gina's older brother, Dominic, is giving her an ultimatum: once she turns 18 (next week), she has to figure out what she's going to do, and that doesn't include continuing to hang around his tattoo shop making herself useful.  The problem is that Gina doesn't want to go anywhere else.  Abanonded by their father, and faced with a mentally unstable mother, Gina and Dominic rely on each other, and Gina doesn't want to do anywhere or do anything but apprentice with Dominc and become a tattooist in his shop.  But this is the 1980s and a small town on Long Island, so women tattoo artists aren't really a thing.  But Gina is determined, and eventually Dominic agrees to train her, thinking that she'll inevitably give up.  What follows is Gina's story of learning how to stick to it and find support in unexpected places.

Gina is an engaging character who readers will root for.  Many of the supporting characters are also well-drawn   I struggled with Dominic, though.  At the beginning of the book he seemed like a very strong character, who always had Gina's back and was pushing her out of a concern for her best interests.  As the book went on, he came to seem kind of like a weak-willed jerk who really just couldn't be bothered with his little sister anymore.  Since the book is told through Gina's eyes, that may have been the point, as she matures and comes to see Dominic more clearly, and I, like Gina just became somewhat disappointed in him.  If so, I applaud Gervais for her subtle but effective rendering of a realistic brother-sister relationship.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

up to the test

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: There's a piece of wisdom that says that an author's sophomore effort is always a disappointment.  I'm pleased to say that I've found the exception that proves that rule on more than one occassion.  Joshi's sequel to The Henna Artist is another exception, making me think that perhaps we ought to stop making generalizations about sophomore efforts.

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur picks up 12 years after the events in The Henna Artist.  Lakshmi has married Dr. Jay, and they are settled into their lives at the hospital, clinic, and healing garden.  Malik is a young man of 20, who feels enormous fondness and not a little bit of indebtedness to Lakshmi, or "Auntie Boss".  When she asks him to go back to Jaipur to apprentice in the building trade with their old friend, Manu, he of course agrees, even though he's just at the beginning of a promising relationship with Nimmi, a young widow with two children who left her tribe to try to make a life in Shimla after her husband died.  In Jaipur, Malik is impressed with the Manu's biggest project, the Royal Palace Theater, and learns all he can.  In Shimla, Nimmi finds out that her brother has been involved with gold smugglers.  The intersection of those two plots is the driving force behind the book, but Joshi fills it out with beautiful language describing Malik and Nimmi's path toward each other and Lakshmi's road to come to peace with her path, as a catastrophe forces her to return to Jaipur for the first time in twelve years.

Anyone who enjoyed The Henna Artist will get immense satisfaction from reading this second installment.  Anyone who hasn't, but is looking for a well-written story about found families, with some intrigue and royalty thrown in will like this as well.  It's not strictly necessary to read The Henna Artist first, but it will be easier to understand some of the action in the sequel if you do.  I'm hearing rumors that this is meant to be a trilogy, and I'm excited for the third.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book for the publisher in exchange for this review.

all stereotypes, all the time

First Time for Everything by Henry Fry

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: I want to be very upfront about my reservations about reviewing this book.  I was deeply uncomfortable by what I felt were the stereotypes that the author deals in.  However, I'm not a part of the LGBTQIA+ community (only a friend/ally), and I don't pretend to be able to speak to the stereotypes presented.

The world of young, queer London is presented to us through the eyes of Danny Scudd.  Danny wants to be a journalist, and currently works in that gray space between journalism and social media, for a company that may or may not just be trying to exploit its readers with clickbait.  Danny is out, although one wouldn't call him proud, and is about to find himself single and in need of a new home.  Danny also suffers from crippling anxiety, and he seems to think that a good way to deal with it is to get roaring drunk and do really stupid things (which he's then anxious about the next day).

Enter Jacob, Danny's long-time best friend, who is outer than out and prouder than proud.  Jacobs insists that Danny move in with them and their collection of off-beat housemates, and that Danny start therapy, thus setting in motion Danny's realization that although he's not actively hiding the fact that he's gay, he's not exactly embracing it either.  Danny's path to figuring out how to come to terms with what it means to be gay will take lead him to take some unexpected actions, and may or may not cost him his friendship with Jacob.

But the message that Danny gets as he goes on this journey of self-discovery was part of the stereotyping that I was troubled by.  To me, it seemed as though all the other queer people (men, in particular) in Danny's life were telling him that the reason he wasn't happy was that he was trying to fit himself into the heteronormative paradigm of monogamy as a form of self-hatred.  Yes, there is at least one example of a deeply committed, happy, monogamous queer relationship in the book, but that seemed like it was supposed to be something that was definitely out of the norm.  So if they can do it, why can't Danny?

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.