My rating: 4 of 5 stars “And what is love, in the end? Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else’s journey through life?” I’ve seen this book recommended all over the place. It was a pick for multiple book clubs I follow and ranked as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century (so far) by the New York Times . I don’t feel it lives up to that level of acclaim, but it is a good novel. The writing was unnecessarily pretentious at some points, and one of my favorite aspects of the book went down the drain about halfway through (see spoiler below). However, the storytelling was beautiful, and I cried at several points. I do recommend reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ; I don’t recommend going into it assuming it will be as brilliant as some claim it to be. I was so happy to see such a close, platonic male/female relationship and a seemingly asexual male character. But then said male character was revealed—in my o...

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars Disjointed thoughts from my first time watching Muriel’s Wedding : Why have I never heard of this masterpiece before now?!!! I mean, it’s one of Ridley Scott’s favorite movies , for crying out loud! Honestly, I only decided to watch this because I saw “ABBA” in the description. I have the same taste in music as Muriel—that is to say, great taste in music. I did NOT expect to be a sobbing mess by the end of this weird Aussie fever dream!!!!! I think the scenes of Muriel’s mum at the wedding and standing in the kitchen are going to haunt me until the day I die!!!!!!! 💔 ༻❁༺ 𝓟.𝓢. This review was crossposted from Letterboxd because it contains actual thoughts rather than a typically facetious single-sentence remark. View all my film ratings and pointless takes on Letterboxd .

My rating: 5 of 5 stars If a book seamlessly takes me through the full spectrum of emotions—makes me laugh out loud and break down crying—it gets all the stars from me. This is one of the most honest depictions of the traditional South I have ever read. My paternal grandparents lived in an unincorporated community called Cypress Inn (a similarly unusual settlement name). Cold Sassy reminds me so much of what I observed there growing up. Some of the character names in this book made me giggle because they are common occurrences on my father’s side of the family. I have an “Uncle Leroy” and a “Pa Hoyt,” and I had never seen or heard bumpkinish names like that anywhere other than family tombstones and our genealogy book. Although the class and race problems of the South are not the main focus of this novel and exist mainly as a backdrop, I liked that the story did not completely skirt over the issues or present a false, almost propagandistic narrative (à la Gone with the Wind ). I espe...