Tag Archives: autofiction

Reading the Stella Prize longlist – Hospital by Sanya Rushdi

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I’m keeping my 2024 Stella Prize reviews brief, otherwise I simply won’t get through them before the shortlist is announced on April 4.

I read Hospital by Sanya Rushdi in one afternoon. It’s a novella (124pp), and although the cover clearly states that it’s fiction, the main character has the same name as the author, and it’s written in the first person… so… autofiction? I don’t want to assume but I have read that it’s based on true events. And that’s important to note because the story focuses on Sanya’s third admission into a psychiatric ward. Continue reading →

The Modern by Anna Kate Blair

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A few weeks ago, my brother and I had a discussion about the Romans – as in, “How often do you think about the Romans? Daily?” Apparently it’s a thing, especially for men. For the record, I think about the Romans approximately twice a year, and it’s usually in relation to aqueducts.

Anyway, I was reminded of the conversation as I read Anna Kate Blair’s debut, The Modern, because the main character, Sophia, thinks about postmodernism and modernism all the time.

I was searching for answers about my future, feeling out of sync with postmodernity, but they were playing Pokémon Go. Continue reading →

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

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I spent the first half of Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This thinking “What…?” (similar reading experience to Fun Camp by Gabe Durham). And at some point I updated my progress on Goodreads by noting that I didn’t think I was cool enough for this book… because what the hell was going on? And then SUDDENLY it shifts gear, and the first part of the book sits in stark contrast to the second.

Something in the back of her head hurt. It was her new class consciousness. Continue reading →

Drawing a Line Under 2020 Reading – Part 1

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These books deserve thorough reviews but I also really want to be done with 2020. So, for the sake of completeness, quick reviews of the books I read in November and December last year – Continue reading →