The Good Samaritan by John Marrs: #TW for Suicide

The people who call the End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die. Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry. She doesn’t love talking to people worse off than she is. She craves it.

CB’s Thoughts: This book fucked me up. I think about it frequently, how many times meeting the wrong person at the wrong time can completely change your life. Or even end it. This is not a HEA book.

First Person Plural by Cameron West TW: Sexual Assualt, Repressed memories, etc.

First Person Plural: My Life As A Multiple is a psychology-related autobiography written by Cameron West, who developed dissociative identity disorder as a result of childhood sexual abuse. In it, West describes his diagnosis, treatment, and personal experiences.

CB’s Thoughts: This story was sad, but there was so much power in seeing Cameron’s story and his adjustment to life as a multiple. It is written in a way that you are experiencing the start of Cameron becoming a multiple similar to the way he does.

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl By Issa Rae A collection is written in her witty and self-deprecating voice, Rae covers everything from cyber sexing in the early days of the Internet to deflecting unsolicited comments on weight gain, from navigating the perils of eating out alone and public displays of affection to learning to accept yourself—natural hair and all.”

CB’s Thoughts: I loved this book because I resonated with Issa’s story. Well, everything except for the funny part. I am not funny.

The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor TW: Torture, Experimentation The Book of Phoenix is a unique work of magical futurism. A prequel to the highly acclaimed, World Fantasy Award-winning novel, Who Fears Death, it features the rise of another of Nnedi Okorafor’s powerful, memorable, superhuman women. Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York’s Tower 7. She is an “accelerated woman”—only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix’s abilities far exceed those of a normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room speed reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of Tower 7.

CB’s Thoughts: This book is vivid, beautifully written, and full of epic imagery.

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok TW: Racism, Sweatshop exploitation. When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life like the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family’s future resting on her shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition. Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the worlds she straddles.

CB’s Thoughts: This was written well and gave a peek into the dire predicament immigrants face when coming to the US. I listened to the audiobook, I definitely recommend listening to it. It brings the perspective of a child to life.

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision. 

CB’s Thoughts: Similar to The Good Samaritan, what happens when you reach the wrong person? Think about what would happen if someone who hated people was the first person to make contact with alien life? This book is a slow burn, but worth the wait.