Review: A Spell of Good Things (by Ayobami Adebayo)

My Rating:  4 stars

Ayobami Adebayo’s debut novel Stay With Me on my TBR for a while, but unfortunately, despite the best of intentions, I never got around to picking it up (classic case of “too many books, too little time”).  Well, a few weeks ago, when an ARC of her second book, A Spell of Good Things, landed in my email box, I was determined that, this time, I will get around to it.  And I am so glad I did because Adebayo’s writing here is amazing — poetic, lyrical, completely immersive and engaging.  I also appreciated getting to learn about Nigeria and a culture that I knew next to nothing about prior to reading this book — though I will admit that the sentences and phrases written in an untranslated Nigerian dialect throughout the book did throw me for a loop in that I had to stop and look stuff up at times in order to fully understand what I was reading.

With that said though, the book’s subject matter is actually quite heavy.   The story revolves around two main characters — a female doctor in her twenties named Wuraola and a teenage boy named Eniola — from two Nigerian families at opposite ends of the economic spectrum (the extremely wealthy vs the devastatingly impoverished, the “haves” vs the “have-nots”) whose paths unexpectedly yet inevitably intertwine, amidst a backdrop of economic strife, political corruption, violence, and tragedy (and that’s just scratching the surface). Even though there were moments of levity (manifested primarily through one of the Wuraola aunties and a few other relatives) interspersed primarily throughout the first half of the story, much of the second half had an undercurrent of bleakness and sadness to it that I actually found difficult to shake even after I had turned the last page.

I don’t want to say too much about this one, as I feel this is the type of story that you have to actually experience for it to be most impactful. What I will say is that this is one of those quiet, slow-burn type stories that takes its time to build up and play out — thoughtfully, meticulously, carefully — then in the last quarter or so of the book, the story suddenly hits you in the gut and you’re left reeling a bit.  For me, I found myself still thinking about that last quarter of the book even long after I had finished reading — I kept playing though different scenarios and wondering, if certain people had acted differently, if some circumstances had been different, would that have changed things in the end?  

While this was not an easy read by any means (especially emotionally), I’m glad I picked it up, as it was a unique, thought-provoking experience that doesn’t come around too often.  I know for sure now that I need to go back and read Adebayo’s debut, sooner rather than later.

Received ARC from Knopf via NetGalley.

Review: Becoming Duchess Goldblatt (by Anonymous)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

Let me say up front that I don't care much for social media.  Yes, I do have accounts on all the major platforms, but I created those more out of necessity than anything else.  I guess you can say that I "tolerate" social media in that I use when it when I have to (for example — to connect with a friend or distant relative or to research or get information on something), but outside of that I rarely post anything and rarely interact with anyone.  For the record, I have nothing against social media itself — it's more that the experience is not for me, as I find the pressure of constantly having to "keep up" with the trends and conversations on there extremely exhausting and stressful, and I basically have neither time nor patience for any of it.

Given the above, it should probably come as no surprise that I had never heard of the fictional Internet personality Duchess Goldblatt prior to reading this book.  In fact, this book probably would never have come onto my radar if one of my book clubs hadn't chosen it as a monthly read.   This is actually a memoir by an anonymous author who writes about how she came to create an alter ego on social media that is so beloved across legions of her devoted fans.  The author encountered a lot of loss and tragedy in her life and in efforts to parse her grief (not to mention the incredible loneliness she felt at the time), she created Duchess Goldblatt on a whim, not expecting the character to attract as much attention as it did.  Indeed, the Duchess can count among her followers many famous names in the literary community, such as Elizabeth McCracken, Alexander Chee, Benjamin Dreyer, Celeste Ng, Laura Lippman, etc.  But for the author, one of the most meaningful experiences that Duchess Goldblatt gave her was the opportunity to develop a close friendship with her real-life long-time idol, singing legend Lyle Lovett.   The author's candid conversations with Lyle (both as herself and as Duchess Goldblatt) were a lot of fun to read and I felt that's one of the things that made this book so special.  

Overall, I found this to be an interesting read.  I appreciated the candor with which the author recounted key moments of her life and the various struggles she went through.  There were parts that I resonated with deeply and wholeheartedly— such as this paragraph where the author's boss calls her into the office to praise her for doing a great job at work:  "Outperforming other people is of no interest to me.  It certainly doesn't motivate me.  If anything, it makes me feel a little guilty. I was raised not to show off, not to be proud, not to draw attention to myself.  I don't like people looking at me or standing too close. Compliments make me uncomfortable.  My greatest childhood dream was to be an author whom everyone would read but no one would look at directly, but I couldn't figure out a way to write books without people knowing my name."  I love this quote because it describes my exact sentiments as well.  I also related to the insecurities and vulnerabilities that the author felt about herself, as I struggled with these at various points in my life as well.  With all that said, the parts I didn't enjoy as much were the quotes and excerpts from the Duchess Goldblatt social media accounts — don't get me wrong, I liked the concept of it and I definitely appreciated the author for creating something that gave so much joy and comfort to so many people, but for me personally, the excerpts were distracting. Basically, I preferred to read about the author herself (this is a memoir after all) more than about her fictional Internet persona.  

Even though this one turned out different than I expected, I'm still glad I read it, as it was a pretty unique experience overall.   Given the author's desire to remain anonymous, I admire her willingness to share her personal story with so many people (I know I wouldn't be able to do it for sure).  I wish her the best of luck! 

Review: The Porcelain Moon (by Janie Chang)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

Janie Chang's latest novel is a beautifully written story about a little-known piece of history:  the hundreds of thousands of Chinese laborers brought to Europe during the Great War.  These contracted workers — part of the Chinese Labor Corps (CLC) — didn't fight in the war directly, yet they were crucial in keeping the "machinery of war" running through their efforts in maintaining and rebuilding equipment such as tanks and weaponry, clearing out trenches, loading provisions onto boats to ship out to soldiers, etc. — even after the war, they played important roles in helping to clean up the battlefields and, in many instances, restore land that was taken during the war to its original use.  Oftentimes, they were also tasked with doing soul-destroying work such as clearing out decomposing corpses of humans and animals.  The commanding officers overseeing these workers were usually non-Chinese military personnel and misunderstandings were common due to lack of access to translators — many of the workers were either treated poorly or subject to harsh working conditions, especially the ones from the peasant class who were largely uneducated and illiterate, with little to no understanding of the local language and culture, so they couldn't relay their grievances or fight for their rights.  What's worse is that, later on, the contributions of these workers were largely wiped from the history books, with very little information about their efforts available even now.  Chang did a great job bringing this obscure history to light, with research that was both meticulous as well as intricate.  The author's note that detailed some of this research definitely should not be missed!

As far as the narrative goes, the story alternates between the two main female protagonists:  Camille, a Frenchwoman from an aristocratic family fallen on hard times, who tries desperately to escape from an abusive marriage; and Pauline, the illegitimate daughter of a traditional  Chinese family who is sent to France with her uncle and cousin to take care of the family's antiques store — two women who live very different lives, yet whose paths end up intersecting in a tremendous way.  I loved nearly all the characters in this story, but without a doubt, I resonated with Pauline the most.  In a culture where losing face was worse than death and being unfilial was an unforgivable sin subject to grave condemnation, Pauline's life had already been predetermined for her, and as a daughter (especially an illegitimate one), the only choice she had was to obey.  But yet, those circumstances didn't stop her from trying to rise above her fate, which in itself, was hugely admirable.  Though my own family background is quite different from Pauline's, the cultural obligations and conventions that she was bound by were more than familiar to me — which is why I couldn't help rooting for her character more than Camille's, even though overall, I was deeply invested in both women's stories.  

This was my first historical fiction novel of 2023 and I'm so glad I got to start off with a book I loved, especially with this particular genre being one of my  absolute favorites.  I had actually read Janie Chang's previous novel The Library of Legends back when it came out and while I appreciated the obscure history depicted in that story as well, I felt it leaned too much into the fantasy and romance elements at the expense of the historical portion. This newest work, The Porcelain Moon, is in an entirely different vein in my opinion, as it focused more on the historical and cultural elements and balanced both in a way that flowed seamlessly.

Janie Chang has two backlist titles that I'm interested in but haven't read yet — I'm hoping I will get a chance to read them some time soon.  What has me most excited though, is hearing that she is co-authoring a new book with Kate Quinn (one of my favorite historical fiction authors), which is scheduled for publication later this year (in the Fall) — I can't wait to read it!!

Received ARC from William Morrow via NetGalley.