Quarantine Book Club: July - September 2021
Picking back up where I left off, here are my reviews and thoughts on the books that were picked for the Quarantine Book Club for the following months: July, August, and September. Without further ado, let's get this thing going!
!!!! SPOILER ALERTS BELOW !!!!
July: A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson - 5/5 Stars
At this time, this was probably the longest book I had read in 2021 and I finished it so quickly. According to my Goodreads account, I started reading this one on July 7th and finished it on July 9th. This 3-part, domestic-thriller was narrated from the viewpoints of a mother, father, and daughter who were all involved in a scandal that almost took them to their breaking point.
18-year-old Stella Sandell was accused on murdering a sleazy business-man across town and at first her parents wouldn't dare speculate their only daughter under such a limelight, but after weeks of uncovering secrets they never knew existed, both Mom and Dad begin to reconsider what they know of their seemingly innocent daughter and question every thought they've ever had.
Back to May's book, My Sister the Serial Killer, Edvardsson writes on the principles of family relationships, and ultimately how far you'd go to take the fall or stand up for a family member, even when they could have done something horribly wrong. Me, being a childless Millennial, I have already answered this prompt so many times in my head, but that's just the thing. I don't have kids. I'm not a parent. I don't fear those types of calls coming in from a correctional facility late at night, not knowing what to believe. I'm sure some of my friends who do have children, or potentially even my OWN parents would answer differently, so really it depends on the situation.
August: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 5/5 Stars
Wow, wow. Okay, wait, WOWW! This book served me all of the 'Get Out' (2017) vibes. Like, hello? Jordan Peele needs to read this novella! Setting the scene and right off the bat, I was hooked. A 1950s socialite, of sorts, runs off the to save the day for her weakened and estranged cousin... or so she thinks? We love a good female hero complex, but when she doesn't know how the odds are stacked up against her, and seeing it filters in a disgustingly, raunchy occult twist??? Wooo, buckle up you guys!
Noemà was SUCH a badass and was able to completely break down her "debutante stereotype" with how she so brashly spoke to the Englishmen at the High Place estate, knocking them down a peg in their attempts to gaslight her through her stay. From ouroboros to glowing fungi, this book was PERFECT for the Halloween season and I'm considering picking it back up again when the spooky season rolls around again, but I'm also very excited to digest more of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's reads as soon as possible!
September: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam - 3/5 Stars
This one was a doozy, solely because I didn't really have any inkling into whether any of this was real, or if the people involved were just on a really bad acid trip. No, but seriously, I think Rumaan Alam did a great job of confusing quite literally everyone. I ranked this book so low, because I'm the type of reader who craves a resolved ending... and this was not the experience I had. Now, I do think that this would make a good mini-series on Netflix or Hulu, and now that I type that out, I feel like I remember reading that somewhere...
So there it is... I knew it. That's a good lineup so far, too. As far as comparisons go, I definitely was reminded of "The Quiet Place" and "Bird Box" for these two very apocalyptic scenarios where nobody knew what was happening outside of their attempts to stay alive and survive, held a torch to the events that transpired during Alam's short story of sorts.
When it was time to be syncing up with my book-club ladies, we all harbored similar feelings of confusion and mystery towards the September pick as well, for some members either struggled to get through it, due to the lack of visibility, or truly because others lost interest, which I will say I found myself to be a passenger in both boats at times.
Stay tuned for the latter half of 2021's Quarantine Book Club findings...
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