May Book Reviews
White Chrysanthemum, The Safekeep, Conversations with Friends and The Lovely Bones
White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
Korea-Japan historical fiction (comfort women), coming-of-age, family, drama, emotionally intense
I couldn’t put this book down—not because it was easy to read, but because it was impossible to look away.
From the moment we’re introduced to the main characters- Hana and Emi, sisters- you feel something so pure and real about them. It doesn’t feel like reading a story. It feels like these women are with you, taking you on the heartbreaking journey of what it meant to be a Korean girl stolen into sex slavery, and the rippling impact it had on their families and future generations.
This is an emotionally heavy story with unnerving details of what many young Korean girls endured and the lingering consequences that still exist even today.
Hana, the eldest of the two, is taken by Japanese soldiers during the Japanese occupation in WWII and forced into sexual slavery. The narrative alternates between Hana’s harrowing experiences during the war and Emi’s perspective in her elderly years as she searches for the sister she lost decades before.
DISCLAIMER: The author doesn’t hold back on the details and sheer brutality of what this point in history consisted of. This is not an easy read—nor should it be.
If you want a novel that will stay with you long after the last page, this is it.
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Historical fiction (post WWII), romance, suspense, family, home and belonging
Straight off the bat, these characters were annoying as hell- the entitlement, stubbornness, sense of superiority and overall bad vibes irritated the crap outta me. And yet, I couldn’t just stop and put the book down. I wanted-no, I needed– to know why these characters were the way they were.
They seemed to despise each other, yet somehow remained tangled in a quiet dependency. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out, their shallow exteriors start to crack, revealing the complexity and weight underneath. I don’t know how she did it but the author created such tension and suspense in moments that, at face value, are meaningless but keep you reading to uncover the truth of it all.
We follow the story of Isabel, a meticulous recluse who’s devoted all of herself to maintain and preserve her late mother’s house. She finds her carefully structured life disrupted by the arrival of her brother’s girlfriend, Eva. Eva differs to Isabel in every possible way making their time together feel suffocating and altogether unwelcome. Isabel’s growing disdain for Eva begins to warp into a consuming obsession. As tensions rise and they find themselves trapped in close quarters, long-buried emotions and truths come to light—leaving them, and the reader, quite unsettled.
Conversations With Friends by Salley Rooney
Female friendships, romance, self-discovery
I know this author’s all over socials right now, but honestly? This was such a disappointing read.
Having just finished The Safekeep I kept reminding myself that infuriating characters can have more depth to them. This book was not the case.
Basically these uni girls- Frances and Bobbi- end up befriending a married couple in their mid-thirties (kind of weird), and they end up spending a lot of time together (super-weird). We follow Frances (the narrator) as she makes a series of questionable choices that lead absolutely nowhere. By the end, I felt like she hadn’t grown or changed or anything at all. She’s selfish, immature and insecure—which I get, she’s in her early twenties—but nothing seems to change along the way. I found myself wondering what the hell the point of this book even was?
If you’ve read it and actually enjoyed it, I’d genuinely love to know what I missed or what perspective I should’ve taken instead. Maybe I’m just not the right reader for it—but as it stands, I do not recommend this one.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Tearjerker, grief, coming-of-age, family relationships, supernatural, heaven
Buy yourself a fresh box of tissues-or maybe two-and get ready for an emotionally wrecking story with this one!
The journey that this book took me on was surreal. I’m actually struggling to find the words to convey just how hauntingly beautiful it all was. I cried for many different reasons while reading it; injustice, despair, heartache, loss, understanding, love, growth… and more. It’s one of the few books that shifted my heart and I know it will forever stay with me.
Susie Salmon is a young girl who was murdered. Now, this isn’t a spoiler because that’s how the books starts off. Susie takes us through her life—from her earliest childhood memories to the moment her life is stolen from her. We learn who she was: her dreams, her quirks, what she loved, and what shaped her. We move along side her from the ‘in between’-not quite heaven but not quite earth either. As she observes her family and friends coping, collapsing, healing, and changing, we’re taken on a journey that’s as much about life as it is about death.
This story lingers—not because it’s sad, but because it reminds you of how precious, complicated, and beautiful life really is.
