WE DO NOT PART
Han Kang
“Can I tell you a story?”
She asked.
“It is a story I have been telling my whole life. It is the only one I know. I don’t need you to change the story, I don’t need you to change the characters, or change the ending…I just need you to listen.”
Poetic and devastating haunting and unforgettable. For me to say less, is to leave you with more. So please pardon the brief summary.
A friend has an obscene request. To which the only answer is yes. She sets off on her way not knowing what the journey may hold. Not knowing what it would require of her. Only knowing she must walk the road.
There is a subtle shift in reality. One that might go unnoticed if not for the light changing. The sun set at a different point in the sky. The novel is given just as you are at the point of surrendering to the plot. To what it might have been.
Like an offering, the story is given at the cost of the giver.
The plot points from this novel are ripped from your nightmare, which the body remembers but your tongue is unable to articulate. A loss so big it encompasses not only you but every person who has come before you and every person who shall come after. It takes you, the dreams you haven’t dreamed yet, and all the dreams you have for your children. It is a black hole and everyone you know is falling in.
It is nothing but death and destruction and they are denying its existence.
“Pull me out from inside.”
Colorblind
The Counting Crows
I am always a different person at the end than at the beginning of a Kang novel. They take a little bit of the reader in the reading. They consume in the consuming. This one swallowed me whole.
I have often slept through history class. Bored with the dates, uninspired by royalty, and rulers of faraway lands. Unassuaged by its very cyclical nature. Not knowing how precious the idea of history was.
The very idea of things already being done, lives already lived. Lives already lost. Experiences already had. Hard times trodden through presumably so that there is no necessity of them being endured again.
But the only way to tell a new story is to know the one that came before. The only way to ensure a lesson is learned is to learn it. If not, history will repeat itself. It is in its nature to do so.
WE DO NOT PART is not a breezeway, or a flyover. It is solid and immovable. It is a hard story. A battleground where blood was shed and lives were lost. It is important and I am so thankful that out of the many, this is one.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Random House | Hogarth for the advanced copy! It was truly a pleasure.
WE DO NOT PART…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BEAUTIFUL UGLY
Alice Feeney
I love Alice Feeney and she is an auto-buy, auto-request author for me. BEAUTIFUL UGLY is a solid thriller in the long line of great thrillers Feeney has crafted for us over the years.
BEAUTIFUL UGLY is set on a Scottish island, pardon me if I didn’t believe in its existence at first. We are following author Grady Green who a year ago had what the publishers are describing as “his worst best day of his life.”
He received some exciting news and when he calls to share the news with his wife the call ends with her silent on the other end, the line going dead. He never sees or hears from her again. She goes missing, not dead, not alive, somewhere in the ether.
This year, on the Scottish island, Grady is plagued with survivors’ guilt, is having trouble writing his next novel, and is having trouble moving on. He is there to write but oftentimes finds himself without words, without a good story, without the closure he so desperately needs.
The atmosphere is thick. The misdirection is the only thing thicker. The lies roll off of characters’ tongues so smoothly that you’re never really sure whom to trust, or who is telling the truth, which is at times even hidden from them.
If you’ve read Feeney before, BEAUTIFUL UGLY may remind you of ROCK PAPER SCISSORS. It similarly explores marital dynamics and asks the question of who is telling the truth. In this case, as was with ROCK PAPER SCISSORS, you won’t truly know where everyone stands until the very end.
I enjoyed my time reading it and I am happy to recommend it. It is perfectly set to be released in mid-January. And is a perfect fit for the coldness of winter and the aridness of the season.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!
BEAUTIFUL UGLY…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Missing You Series (2025) Netflix
The Coffee that gets me through each book:
Tarrazzu Costa Rican Blend
If you liked this review…you might like:
Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney
SWEET FURY
Sash Bischoff
“Revenge is a dish best served cold”
Dorothy Parker
Lila Crayne is working on an adaptation of Fitzgerald’s TENDER IS THE NIGHT with her fiancé Kurt. Part of bringing her role to fruition is her attending therapy. There she is introduced to Jonah. She attends therapy in the hopes that Jonah will guide her through her traumas and allow her to claim the role that is already hers.
Jonah is immediately helpful, almost to his detriment. He doesn’t realize until it’s too late that to help Lila he will have to excavate his past. To set her free, he must loosen himself.
This is Bischoff’s debut novel, and it is strong and wily. The rage hidden beneath the book’s surface is like a caged animal. Told to follow the rules, it only knows one way to survive. And that is to destroy everything and everyone in its path. Lila and Jonah are simply casualties of a war called SWEET FURY.
Lila and Jonah are chameleon characters changing with the chapter headings. Exposing parts of each other only to uncover parts of each other. The story takes a path I didn’t see coming. It took around twists I didn’t anticipate, and the ride was oh-so fun.
SWEET FURY releases her in the US on January 7, 2025. One of the best of 2025 so far! Make sure you pick up your copy where books are sold or borrowed!
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy!
SWEET FURY…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
