#8 The Common Themes of the Female Experience
I am woman, hear me roar.
My craving to read more female authors has been somewhat satiated.
These books just hit different — I hate to say that books written by women are “different” but they are — how could they not be- naturally an author pulls from their own experiences, the great ones can write from other perspectives but a lot of the time it falls into tiresome stereotypes (female caricatures rather than actual women); these are the complete opposite.
Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades 4.75/5
“We leave, we leave, we leave. We always leave. It is in our blood to leave. But perhaps it’s also in our blood to return. Why did we ever believe home could only be one place? When existing in these bodies means holding many worlds within us. At last, we see.”
This was surprisingly short but it definitely packed a punch. If you are a first born immigrant daughter you will internally (and possibly externally) scream at the accuracy of the descriptions of family, relationships, work — Daphne did a phenomenal job at capturing such a niche experience.
It follows a group of girls of colour from childhood to old age — they are mostly from working class backgrounds, living in overflowing households with families freshly immigrated from their home countries. And, bonus it’s set it New York, which I am a sucker for.
At the beginning I didn’t love the general style of writing, it’s more of a summary of all the girls experiences rather than having main characters but as the book went on the reasoning behind this becomes more clear.
I read this in one day and the catharsis it gave me is worth reading it 100 times over.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 4.75/5
“Until at last, at some unclaimed moment, the heart-pain seeped away like water into sand. Still there, but deep. Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.”
I tend to be cautious of books that have been hyped everyone, is on all the bestsellers list and eventually is adapted into a movie because a lot of the time I’m disappointed (a hint to a book I read that I will touch on in another entry).
But Miss Delia delivered.
it follows a young girl who lives in the Marsh of North Carolina — she’s shunned by the community and abandoned by a family but is resilient and content with the life she builds.
This is beautifully written, it has a melodic quality which complements the scenery of the swamp and the wildlife very well. Endings are tough to do, especially for books like this where it’s mostly predictable, but it was satisfying without being completely expected.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 3.75/5
“If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I’m neurotic as hell. I’ll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.”
Another classic novel under my belt!
This was definitely the most dark out of the 3 books and in that case the hardest to read. It falls into the “neurotic, depressed spiraling women” genre — like “Boy Parts” or “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” and I loved it.
At times it was a long stream of consciousness for pages and pages which did get tiresome to read even though I understood why the Sylvia was writing this way.
It followed a student who feels aimless and confused by life and ,despite being written over 50 years ago, captures the feeling of being a 20-something and thinking everyone else has a cheat code/secrets to life that they you aren’t aware of.
And the fact that it mirrored her own life adds to the impact of the novel.
My current TBR is running low — I’ve been struggling to find my reading “mood”, I might re-read a favourite then see how I feel. Also Taylor Jenkins Reid is releasing another book in August, and saying I’m excited is an understatement.
