This was a reread for a book club, and I'm really glad that I got the chance to do a deep reading of it. It's about Aza, who has contamination OCD, as she looks for a missing billionaire, falls in love, hangs out with her best friend, and struggles with her mental health. I have never read a book that captures the feeling of an OCD spiral so well, especially the cyclical nature of it. It's funny and realistic and poignant, and it sparked great conversations at our meeting.
This book revolves around three Filipina maids working in Singapore and their experiences as domestic workers in a wealthy country. They each have their own backgrounds and situations, but all face discrimination, abuse, and neglect in different ways. A central point is that a fellow maid gets charged with murdering her employer, even though the maids know she wasn't home when it happened, so in between work they do some investigating. I found it really eye-opening, and was a clear-eyed view of life in this particular situation. The book is definitely character-driven, but I was invested in both the mystery and their personal experiences, so was always happy to keep listening to the audiobook.
Egg Murakami is 8 years old, and hers is the only Japanese-Canadian family in their small prairie town. Bookish and bullied, she's just trying to understand her world after her older brother died in an accident. Her father won't leave the ostrich barn and her mother is drinking, so her older sister tries her best to take care of her, even though she has her own struggles as she gets outed as a lesbian. Child narrators can be grating, but for whatever reason, this time it really worked for me. The way Egg's mind skips around, holding onto images and events and books to make sense of her world... It really felt like a glimpse into the mind of a child. Great stuff in here about sister relationships and the racism they face as minorities too.
I love Canas's books that are a perfect blend of horror and romance, and her newest book didn't disappoint! Alba is the adopted daughter of rich Spaniards living in Mexico who want to marry her off to someone wealthy, but she asks her close friend to have a marriage of convenience with her instead. To convince them of her sincerity, she goes with him to spend a few months at the family mine, where she immediately starts to feel strange. There she meets her fiance's cousin, who's looked down on for being a criminal, but he's the only one who suspects that something is possessing her and is willing to help. It's super creepy and occasionally gross and bloody, and I loved it.
Another reliable author coming out with a banger of a new book! This might actually be my favourite book of hers so far. Lucy has grown up with her white dad and not knowing anything about her mom, including that she was Native American. When her father also dies, she is left in the foster care system. A few years later she experiences an explosion at her workplace and is taken care of by Daunis and Jamie, who claim to know her mother. As she recovers and hides from the people who tried to attack her, we learn about what happened to her in foster care and what lead her to this point. This is extremely readable and propulsive, with great characters and complex relationships. Every time I sat down with it, I was completely sucked in. And while ultimately hopeful and about the power of community, it can also be heavy and heartbreaking. You can read it without reading The Firekeeper's Daughter first, but reading that first does add to the experience!
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