Reviews and Comments

roxdub

roxdub@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years ago

She/her/elle

Reader, writer. Liseuse, écriveuse.

Reading a mix of French and English books, mostly fiction, some classics and poetry, Canadian contemporary, sci-fi, socialist, and more.

This link opens in a pop-up window

The City We Became (2020, Orbit) 4 stars

In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember …

Wild ride

4 stars

This story will make such a great movie one day. Clearly cinematographic writing takes the reader through a fast-paced urban adventure. The main characters, city avatars, have been transformed into boroughs of New York. In other words, the City comes alive through the lives and bodies of Manny (Manhattan), Bronca (The Bronx), Brooklyn (Brooklyn), Padmini (Queens) and the primary avatar. They have to work together to defend the city against the invasion of a foreign being aiming to halt the growth and spirit of the city, and consequently cause conflict, pain and suffering. Aislyn (Staten Island), will find herself at a crossroads and have to choose which side she's on.

New York is the main character of this book, which is a complete whilrwind tour of a city under attack, but fighting back. Special appearances by avatars Sao Paulo and Hong Kong bring even more diversity to this urban mix …

No cover

Kukum (2019)

5 stars

Kukum's story

5 stars

I read Kukum by Michel Jean in French. This book won the French competition equivalent to Canada Reads, le Combat des livres in 2021. Michel Jean is a journalist who has been writing stories inspired by his Innu roots for many years. Finally, he’s getting some recognition in Quebec literary circles and media for his books. Kukum tells the story of his own Innu grandmother, Almanda Siméon. Beautiful and crisp like a Northern wind.

The tour of the world in eighty days (1900, P.F. Collier) 5 stars

Phileas Fogg, a very punctual man had broken into an argument while conversing about the …

Charming and accessible

5 stars

A short and happy travel book I read at a time when traveling was not in the realm of possibilities (ie pandemic). You already know the story, but have you read the book? It is the comical tale of a man who tries to win a bet by traveling around the world in eighty days, and ends up finding love along the way. Charming and accessible.

La guerre et la paix (French language, 2010, Éditions Points) 5 stars

"War and Peace centers broadly on Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three …

An epic classic

5 stars

For many years, I have been working through a rather long list of literary classics in chronological order of publication. I have reached the late 1800s, and it just so happened that the start of 2021 coincided with La Guerre et la Paix, or War and Peace (1869) by Leo Tolstoy. Looking back, it seems like a completely unreasonable project for me to start the year with such a dense classic. This book spans more than 1600 pages and features more than 500 characters. Lockdown life demanded ambitious personal goal-setting, and so I did what I could to stay the course.

Every day, I opened my beautiful green paper edition of this novel and read a few short chapters. War and Peace is the historical and philosophical novel by excellence. It narrates the invasion of Russia by France, and alternates between scenes of military conflict and high society. The complex …

Girl, Woman, Other (Hardcover, 2019, Grove Press) 5 stars

Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, …

Magnificent choir

5 stars

A magnificent novel that follows the interconnecting lives of a choir of characters in the United Kingdom. Evaristo writes in a poetic and sometimes fragmented style. I loved her voice and pen, and this book was a highlight of my reading list in 2021.

reviewed What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

What Strange Paradise (2021, Pan Macmillan) 5 stars

Memorable and important

5 stars

A book that dives into the migrant crisis like few others do. The story begins when bodies wash up on the shores of a small island. In alternating chapters, the situation unfolds either from the perspective of young migrant Amir, or from the perspective of the girl who shelters him, speaks a different language, and zigzags around the authorities to keep him safe. A beautiful and difficult book, haunting and devastating, that navigates a political and personal storyline.