Audition by Katie Kitamura

Wednesday, July 30, 2925--San Antonio

Audition by Katie Kitamura is what I consider to be an intellectual novel--one that is constructed in a way that the reader has to think, question, reason, etc.  I almost didn't read it because some of the comments I read made it sound as if it might be confusing.  But I picked it up and never wanted to stop reading it although I never got really excited about reading it.  It has characters that are interesting, but ones that grab you and make you love them.  And it is beautifully written. At 50% when I had ideas of where the story might be going, there was instead a major turn.  At 75% when I was guessing what was really happening (which turned out to be true), it was announced in the news that the book had been longlisted for the Booker Prize this year--the only nominee I have yet read and one that maybe deserves to be shortlisted in a few weeks or months when as they pare down the list to the most deserving.  In the final 5% of the novel there was an added surprise.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

Monday, July 28, 2025--San Antonio

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White is a magical fantasy novel.  It takes place in a empire ruled and powered by an all-powerful god/goddess with supernatural gifts.   There are several provinces with each ruled by a "Blessed" who passes the ruling down to one of his/her children who receive their blessing (their own unique power that manifests usually before adulthood).  At the time of the story, the god ruling the empire, who uses much of his strength to maintain a wall to keep enemies of the empire from overrunning it, is growing old and weak.  The goddess who will take over from him, is bringing all of the children/young adults who have received their blessings on a traditional voyage to a sacred mountain so they can officially be enshrined as the new leaders of their individual provinces.  But there are problems in this land.  It is expensive to keep it safe from its enemies.  Some provinces are richer than others.  Some of the blesseds are considered to be lesser than others.  Some have ambitions to change the system.  And murders start occurring on the voyage.  The protagonist is from the lowest of the low provinces.  He hates the whole system and makes no attempt to hide it.  He is also humorous, so he is not taken seriously.  He is pudgy.  And he is gay and in love with one of the other blesseds who is ignoring him and has become engaged with a female.  But he is also curious and intelligent.  As the murders stack up, he and two others among the lower cast blesseds team up to try to figure out what is going on--who is doing this and why.  It's a fun premise.  The statements and thoughts of the protagonist are often laugh-out-loud funny.  The love story is one that the reader wants to succeed.  But the structure of the story has problems.  Maybe that is because it supposedly started on TikTok--brief entries that became so popular it was turned into a book.  I was enjoying reading the book throughout; it was after I had finished that I started realizing its weaknesses.  I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5 overall with a rating of 4 out of 5 for the pleasure of it having such a funny and interesting main character.  

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich

Sunday, July 20, 2025--San Antonio

I paused about 20% of the way into The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich and read a novel I had had on hold that became available.  I just had not felt "involved" in the Erdrich book.  After finishing the other novel, I returned to this book, though, and found myself really enjoying the story as it went along.  It was quite compelling and entertaining until about the 85% point.  Then I found it less interesting again.  I had previously read The Round House by her, and had found it to be "almost perfect," and I had read 20% of The Night Watchman by her and quit the book completely  Overall, I'm glad I read this latest book, however I can't give it a better rating than 3 1/2 stars out of 5. 

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

Tuesday, July 15, 2025--San Antonio 

I wanted to enjoy The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong more than I did.  The "story" didn't start until too many pages in--pages that I kept thinking, "Why am I reading all of this?"  Overall, the book seems a bit of a hodgepodge.  A review I read suggested it was if an editor never handled it and the company just published it as originally written.  Vuong is talented with words, but I have to agree that there was too much book beyond the story.  The story was fascinating and interesting when it did come around.  Unfortunately, I am a bit tired of the level of drug abuse that characters in modern novels display, though.  And, although the characterization of Sony as a young man dwelling constantly on the Civil War is realistic in terms of what I know about symptoms of autism, I have encountered such characters too often in TV shows and books recently.  It's easier to like spending so much time with them if they are loved family members, I'm sure.  As a casual reader, I got too much of a dose of Sony in this book.  I wonder how much of this book is true to Vuong's own life?  If much of it is, he should write a sequel explaining how he turned his life around--moving on from the person he was at the end of this novel (dependent on drugs, lying to his mother about being in medical school, finding a way to support himself while becoming the author he desired to be to be, etc.  I rate this book at 3 1/2 stars out of 5.