A Story, A Movement, A Seismic Shift – A Review of She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

‘There will be a movement’ threatened Harvey Weinstein, in retaliation to the New York Times article coming out on October 5, 2017 accusing him of over thirty years of sexual predation. There WAS a movement, surely, but not in his support, nothing like he imagined, nothing like anyone could have predicted. The #MeToo movement came…

Booker 2018: Ranking the Shortlist

I’ve never been so enticed by a booker selection as I was with the 2018 shortlist, and so, I read them all (with the exception of Mars Room) and therefore, I now dare to talk about my favourites among them and who I think deserved to win. Honestly, any of these books would make a…

Beauty and The Beholder: A Review of ‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison

On the very first page, we are told that Pecola Breedlove, an 11 year old girl with only the desire of seeing the world through blue eyes, is impregnated by her own father, and that Pecola will live and her child will die. “There is really nothing more to say,” writes Morrison, “except why. But…

Nature, Nurture and a Nightmare: A Review of Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Using elements of the weather woven in with the myth of Medea, Jesmyn Ward tells a gripping story of a troubled family’s attempts of preparation and then at survival in the days previous to and just after Hurricane Katrina. The novel opens with the family dog, China giving birth to her puppies in a detailed,…

Poetry in Prose: A Review of ‘The Long Take’ by Robin Robertson

Quite simply, The Long Take is an aching ode to the common man, the war veteran, the constantly-changing cities, and the soot-and-silver movies of the 40s-50s. A novel written in poetry, this book follows the recently-returned Canadian veteran Walker, on his exploration of the post WWII America and the American dream. Walker begins his journey…