The Deuce: I read Wild and think I liked it, but don’t remember any details beyond the main plot.*

It’s a very good novel about contemporary Indian society. Managed to provide a very broad view of issues through a small scale, domestic story. While it was very definitely a novel of ideas, I felt the surface plot of the individual human drama was actually stronger. Tried just a bit too hard to shoehorn in some issues, leading to a few bits of clunky exposition, but more than balanced with some really remarkable moments and excellent psychological insight. I’d definitely read more of her stuff based on this (this is her first novel).

Also read a novella, Rizzio, by Denise Mina, dramatizing a key turning point in the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. Did a good job humanizing the characters and giving color to the historical drama.

And finally, a collection of sort of linked stories, It’s the end of the world, my Love, by Alla Gorbunova. I really like the first third or so, where the stories were more tightly linked in terms of setting, theme, and character. They gave a really strong depiction of life in Russia in the 90’s and early 2000’s. The later stories that became more fantastical were ok but didn’t really hang together well with each other or the earlier parts.

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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12262741-wild

I did not like the book. I thought a book about going off for months to hike alone and deal with life and trauma would be about self-discovery. It was not. Maybe she learned about herself later in life and did deeper digging afterward, but she did not seem to make progress on herself during this trek.

The review by Libbie Hawker is pretty on point.

However, I did like The Sentence
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56816904
The author read the audiobook I had, which helped a lot because her voice conjures a Minnesota + Native American person. It could have done without the sidetracks for COVID and George Floyd, but all-in-all I liked it a lot.