The Guts Family

A Queer Coming of Age Contemporary Fable

Revisado: 02-25-24

This coming of age queer story has many lovely parts but, the story was hindered by the character Gale (the bird) who has an insufferable voice and sophomoric lines. For example, every time the main character gets an erection, Gale says “charge!” This compelling new age fable would be better served with replacing Gale with a more clever and interesting character.

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Tartt is a Master of her Craft

Revisado: 02-01-24

Donna Tartt is an eloquent writer with a talent for captivating the reader, and drawing her directly into the center of the story. The characters in Goldfinch are well developed, with layered and nuanced internal worlds. She captures themes of death, meaning, trauma, and substance use with empathy and compassion. Tartt’s maturity as a writer is illustrated in her ability to shift between time periods throughout the text, without convoluting the narrative.

The story was made even better through the performance, which was exceptional! The character’s voices were easy to differentiate and the reader nailed Boris’ unique blend of accents (Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and English), not an easy feat!

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Poignant and Captivating

Revisado: 01-17-23

The Crying Book is a captivating book that says a lot in a brief and poignant way. Christle explores grief, despair, and trauma while simultaneously examining crying from several perspectives (e.g., biological, cultural, social, relational, and psychological) through the use of research, literature, poetry, and academic works. Christle eloquently oscillates in and out of these psychic spaces revealing the edges of these experiences, along with her humanity. The narrator, Elizabeth Cottle, thoughtfully reads Christle’s work, pausing when necessary and keeping a decent rhythm and tone.

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Exceptional story telling

Revisado: 07-27-22

This text is one of Yanagihara’s best; it is organized so that each chapter is written from a different character’s perspective, during a different period of time. Yanagihara masterfully braids the chapters/storylines together, which builds to the slow unfolding of the broader plot. The text is
set against the backdrop of a dystopian future that is eerily within reach. The prose is sophisticated and lyrical, and at times, even poetic, and the characters are nuanced and relatable.

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