June Reading Roundup

It's eight days late but here is last month's reading round up — although the photo is missing 'Come and Get It' by Kiley Reid, which I've already lent to my mum. Here goes!

Until August — Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I'm sorry to say this is the first book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I've ever read – starting with his unfinished final novel is perhaps controversial but I was too curious.

'Until August' follows Ana Magdalena Bach, a happily married woman who, once a year, travels alone to the island where her mother is buried and, for one night only, takes a new lover.

I enjoyed this book — if the blurb made it sound like it would be centred around a series of passionate encounters, the actual story felt incredibly honest. Reality rarely lives up to Ana's expectations, and the scenes in which she tries to manufacture the kind of encounters that really only happen by chance were truthful and real. It's not a novel you get lost in, but it's convinced me I need to (finally) read one of the Marquez heavyweights on my bookshelf.

Come and Get It — Kiley Reid

'Such A Fun Age', Reid's debut novel, was brilliant so I had high hopes for her follow up — it juuuust about lives up to these. 'Come And Get It' centres on a college dormitory, in which RA Millie invites journalist and author Agatha to interview some of the residents as part of her research for an upcoming book about weddings. On meeting a group of three students, Agatha instead shifts her focus to their flippant attitude towards money, and so begins a fairly exploitative series of eavesdropping sessions and follow up interviews which Agatha edits, repackages, and sells to Teen Vogue.

Reid's dialogue is the highlight of the book — much like Agatha, I also loved listening in on the conversations between Tyler, Casey and Jenna. The characters are well-crafted, and I was equal parts frustrated and sympathetic to see them wandering blindly into trouble despite their good intentions. The squabbles and revenge plots between the different factions in the dorm spiral as the book progresses, with every character culpable in some way.

If I had a criticism, it's that too much is going on — Reid is tackling so many intersecting issues around money, relationships, race, mental health, exploitation by those in power of those without it, but because she's covering so much ground none of these issues really seem to reach a concluding moment. I felt a little dissatisfied by the ending, as though some plotlines had been too hastily wrapped up.

That said, I really enjoyed reading this and I definitely count myself as a Reid fan!

Close to Home — Michael Magee

'Close to Home' follows Sean, a young English Literature graduate back home in Belfast with no plans, no direction, and a seemingly bottomless appetite for self destruction. One night, at a party surrounded by mocking strangers, he snaps and lashes out. The consequences of this mistake shape the 280 pages that follow.

This is a BRILLIANT book. Magee has a beautiful eye for detail and he paints an unflinching, heartbreaking picture of a traumatised community still reckoning with its own pain. Sean is so quickly sucked back into old patterns, old friendships, old behaviours, yet I also found myself surprised every time he encountered kindness from strangers. He's a hugely sympathetic character, even if you want to shake him sometimes.

I urge you to read this book — Magee is a phenomenal writer and I can't wait to read what he writes next.

Study for Obedience — Sarah Bernstein

A young woman moves to a remote, unnamed country, and soon after her arrival unexplained events begin to happen, turning the community against her. I loved the premise of this book, but honestly I didn't enjoy the execution.

We're following the narrator's thoughts throughout, which in this case makes for a claustrophobic read. In places it feels like an old folktale, before timely references to online streaming services bring us back into the present day — this sense of being unable to position yourself in time or place was cleverly done. Bernstein builds a steady sense of foreboding and threat, but the action is light on the ground and I found the narrator to be uncomfortable company for much of the story.

This is, of course, intentional, and I suspect this is the kind of book that I'd fall in love with if I was teaching it, and could spend hours pulling it apart and admiring Bernstein's choices. As a summer read, however, I'll admit to being glad I finished it.

That's June over and out! I've started July by returning to one of my favourite writers, Evie Wyld, and I am fully intending to read some non fiction this month. Recommendations always welcome, and see you in three weeks.