Paris (parisperusing) > Recent Status Updates

The Acts of Desperation and New People vibes of this one is resonating every vessel in my body.

Girl, I'm done…

not giving up, but also not rushing to finish.
it's literal hate-reading at this point.
i think my initial criticisms still hold, but something I didn't realize was how boring this book actually is.

The writing's a little chi-chi for my taste, as far as I can tell. It's heavily academic at times, but I'm going with it. Also, Seamus irks the hell out of me… not certain I'm invested in any possible redemption ark in store for him; he's an asshole and should remain as such.

Crunched through a few more stories on the plane, and it's getting… a little better.

Emerging from the miasma of anti-Blackness in the first story was difficult and unsettling, but it served a purpose, I guess.

These stories are just so gorgeously crafted. So transformative and disarming. Ling Ma is writing her ass off in this one.

Oh, Sarah’s someone to watch for.

I'm convinced ZZ Packer is the Chosen One. Every story is a page-turner, and I can't put this book down—just fantastic material here.

These stories are so effing good, my gosh—ZZ's three for three so far.

Glad I reached into my backlist stack for this one. The first story is so clever and vicious for its twisted interpretation of racial inferiority. ZZ Packer is quite the storyteller.

I am utterly engrossed. So weird and good.

Lovely writing. The notion of "the pool" as a sanctuary—another world, entirely—from life aboveground is also quite a serene, surreal image.

I don’t know which is more troublesome about this book: the author’s seeming preoccupation with white saviorism and the so-called luxuries of being romanced by (old-ass) gay white men, or the sad, desperate set of expectations she’s laid out for queer POC who dash at the first chance to be assimilated or culturally castrated.

It's giving undergrad.

Unsurprisingly, I love Hanya’s writing—she’s great. Surprisingly, there are so many red flags in this book, which reads shockingly tone-deaf, racially insensitive, and offensively absurd in its delusional imaginations for an alternate America. It reeks of Handmaid’s Tale-esque revisionism while—by sheer ignorance, it would seem—upholding oppressive, racist ideologies. Even so, I’m not bored.

Did not expect to be this invested but I love how this one is flowing, a lot. Asali has an intriguing voice, and the book’s Black and queer arcs are stunning.

Ocean has an odd inclination to reach for one-liners, and it's woefully apparent in these opening poems. What slivers of beauty in these stanzas—and they are just that, slivers—that do exist are, more often than not, suffocated in lofty cliches. I'm just… eh.

I’m way too early to say much—albeit the text is tight enough—but I’m… concerned with the trajectory of this first section. Imagining an openly LGBTQ-embracing society is my personal halcyon, but I can’t fathom how such a society could exist among a people whose identities are sullied by antiquated slurs like “Negroes.” Again, I’m early, but…

Beautiful writing so far.

For my first Rooney, I'm enjoying it so far — especially the development of her characters and their implosive lives.

This is my kind of book.

Learning a lot, and enjoying how this book is divided. Yet, when Ijeoma discusses racial mixing and the ways in which certain privileges mixed-race children are deprived of by “polluting” the white bloodline, we must also consider the privileges and accesses inherited by one’s proximity to whiteness in the Black community. Curious to see how/if that will be addressed later.

Going to finish this book tomorrow after work, then I’m (likely) going to cry accordingly. So good I’m literally scared for the ending.