Sarah O'Connor

Book Review: Valley of the Birdtail by Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii)

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August 25, 2024

“Reconciliation is a process, and that process must begin with an honest assessment of our history,” (Sniderman and Sanderson, xiii).

The small town of Rossburn and Waywayseecappo reserve have neighboured one another for nearly as long as Canada has been a country. The two communities are divided by a beautiful valley and years of racism. In Rossburn a town of Ukrainian immigrants where more than a third of adults graduate university while less than a third of adults have graduated high school in the Waywayseecappo reserve. Sniderman and Sanderson follow two families, one white and one Indigenous over multiple generations to show the story of Canada, and the ways that prejudice and inequality builds in communities. Continue reading

Substack – In My Blue Period

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August 21, 2024

Sometimes I forget that my hair is blue. Or I guess it’s not that I forget that it’s blue but I forget that it’s a part of me altogether. I’ll be walking down the street or sitting at the desk at work when a stranger or customer will tell me that they like my hair, or else they’ll squint their eyes at me before asking how often I have to keep it up before I remember that it’s blue. At one workplace I was nicknamed “Blue-Haired Sarah,” because even though I was the only Sarah who worked there everyone knows a Sarah, but not everyone knows a Blue-Haired Sarah.

Read the full post on my Substack.

Book Review: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

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August 20, 2024

“A summer away from everything, where I could read my books without worrying about being called a freak and swim whenever I wanted to, felt like heaven,” (Fortune 32-33).

Persephone Fraser seems to have an idyllic life. She’s made a name for herself as an editor at a popular Toronto magazine and owns a nice apartment in the city, but she keeps everyone at a distance. Once her life was spent traveling to Barry’s Bay for the summer and befriending and falling in love with Sam Florek, but after messing it up twelve years before she can never go back. Until one day Percy gets an unexpected call and heads back to Barry’s Bay, the lake, back to Sam Florek wondering if she might be able to finally be honest with him after what happened so long before.

Book Review: The Other Lola by Ripley Jones

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August 13, 2024

“Lola was gone before she ever went missing,” (Jones 1).

After Cam and Blair solved the missing murder case of what happened to Clarissa Campbell, they’ve sworn off amateur sleuthing. Being doxxed online, violently threatened, and getting sued can do that to a girl. That is until Mattie Brosillard, a freshman at their high school, begs them for help. Five years before Mattie’s older sister Lola disappeared without a trace and care, but now she’s back, only Mattie is convinced that the Lola who returned isn’t their sister. But nobody believes Mattie, not their stoned brother Luke, nor their right-winged mother, even Cam and Blair think Mattie’s story is wild, but shockingly Blair thinks they should help Mattie with the case much to Cam’s chagrin. But did something happen to Lola, or is Mattie just having trouble accepting that their sister has actually come back? Continue reading

Book Review: Watermark by Christy Ann Conlin

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August 8, 2024

“Many times there are no reasons that will ever make sense,” (Conlin, “Occlusion,” 145).

Watermark is an absolutely astounding short story collection. Conlin writes characters that are so intriguing, who you both root for an try to understand, whose stories you desperately want to know. I love how some of the characters pop up or are mentioned in other stories and adored the love that Conlin has for Nova Scotia. This is such a strong short story collection and I can’t wait to read more of Conlin’s work!

Read my thoughts on all the stories below: Continue reading

Book Review: Bad Graces by Kyrie McCauley

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August 6, 2024

“I once read somewhere that no man is an island. But I think maybe girls are,” (McCauley 35).

Liv Whitlock has never known what home is. She and her twin sister have moved from foster home to foster home because of Liv’s own “volatile and violent” behaviour, but finally they’ve found a home with the Millers who love Liv’s sister Everly, and tolerate Liv. But Liv is tired of not being wanted and after using her sister’s transcript’s, wins a prestigious internship on a movie production Shakespeare’s The Tempest set to film in Alaska. Liv joins infamous producer Vincent Bellegarde on a luxury yacht with pop star Paris Grace, actress sisters Effie and Miri Knight, Olympic Gymnast Rosalind Torres, and social media influencer Celia Jones and tries to find her place among them when a storm strands the girls on a small strip of island. As the girls work together to prevent starvation and death by exposure, they feel something watching them in the forest, and after some injuries find their bodies changing in strange ways. What is wrong with the island they’ve found themselves on? Will they ever be rescued? Continue reading

Book Review: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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July 30, 2024

“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation,” (Tartt 3).

Richard Papen reflects back on his time as a student at Hampden, an elite college in Vermont where he studied in an elite class of six students with a charismatic classics professor. Richard is enchanted by his wealthy classmates, willing to do anything to become their friend and fit into their world, even if it means doing the unquestionable. Continue reading

Book Review: The Long Defeat by Patrick Connors

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July 25, 2024

I received this book from River Street Writing in exchange for an honest review.

“We are all having / the same nightmare, overcome / by an invisible, relentless enemy / completely unable to protect ourselves,” (Connors, “Virus”).

Patrick Connors newest poetry collection covers a variety of themes mostly connected to the Covid-19 pandemic. Connors touches on topics of isolation and loneliness, the Black Lives Matter movement and the wildfires that polluted the air-quality in Ontario for many days, loss of employment, the U.S. presidential election, as well as the complicated grief associated with the death of his father and his own self-reflection of himself. Continue reading

Book Review: Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

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July 23, 2024

“Perhaps you don’t know this, my dear, but theatre can be very dangerous,” (Hammad 162).

Actress Sonia Nasir comes to Haifa to visit her sister Haneen. It’s her first visit back since the second intifada, and she finds the Palestine of the present much different than her memories of her childhood visits. While staying In Haifa Sonia meets Haneen’s friend Mariam who is directing a production of Hamlet in the West Bank and Sonia finds herself forced into the role of Gertrude, learning the plays lines in classical Arabic, and spending time in Ramallah. As opening night nears, their production draws the attention of violent obstacles as Sonia starts to open her eyes to the changes happening around her. Continue reading

Book Review: Gay Girl Prayers by Emily Austin

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July 21, 2024

“If they try to strip you / of your technicolor robes / show them how the sun/ the moon / the stars / all kneel to Queens,” (Austin, “Genesis 37).

Someday, I will be smart enough to write about poetry. But until then, you’ll have to deal with this. Continue reading