Book Reviews | Sarah O'Connor

Book Review: From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle

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October 13, 2023

“lost and alone,/wandering./i swill back the pain; it burns and it belches/rage and despair/leaving only a windigo/who cannibalizes himself,” (Thistle, 157, “Windigo”). Jesse Thistle recounts his journey of recovery from drug-addiction. He remembers his brief time in the foster-care system with his brothers, moving to Ontario with his paternal grandparents, until he finds himself homeless. …

Book Review: My Body Is Distant by Paige Maylott

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September 30, 2023

“I’m no longer sure which is worse: surviving and living the rest of my life as a lie, or wasting away in this apartment and dying from this cancer,” (Maylott 35). Paige Maylott’s debut memoir is an honest exploration of transition and discovery. Finding solace, community, and love in online communities and games, Maylott comes into …

Book Review: Daughter by Claudia Dey

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September 26, 2023

“To be loved by your father is to be loved by God,” (Dey 17). Despite everything, Mona Dean can’t stay away from her famous writer father Paul Dean. Not when he left her mother and sister when she was eleven, not when he ignored the abuse his new wife, Cherry, dealt against her and her sister …

Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

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September 24, 2023

“At seventeen, Lenora Hope/ Hung her sister with a rope/ Stabbed her father with a knife/ Took her mother’s happy life/ ‘It wasn’t me,’ Lenora said/ But she’s the only one not dead,” (Sager 9-10). Kit McDeere is familiar with the childhood chant of Lenora Hope, the young teenaged girl who all those years ago was …

Book Review: Rouge by Mona Awad

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September 22, 2023

“Of course that’s you, the jars seem to whisper. Who else would it be?” (Awad 230). Mirabelle Nour’s mother is dead. Travelling from Montreal to Southern California, Mira needs to get her mother’s estate in order, find a way to pay off her mother’s astronomical debt, all while maintaining her skincare routine. But when she’s invited …

Book Review: Enter the Body by Joy McCullough

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August 26, 2023

“I won’t/ be used/ without consent./ You think me/ easy to ignore./ Perhaps I am./ But only notice me/ when you have use/ and I will scream/ so loud I’ll wake the dead,/ and they might have/ some words for you” (McCullough). Cordelia, Ophelia, and Juliet gather beneath the trapdoor of the stage to retell their …

Book Review: Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury

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August 15, 2023

“You’re searching for something profound. Something to tug at your heartstrings…The house is an animal. And it wants to feed,” (Samsbury 234). Daisy can see the dead. It’s an ability she’s had all her life which makes living in ghost-filled Toronto difficult. She usually has a handle on it, but when her boyfriend suddenly dumps her …

Book Review: You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

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July 30, 2023

“‘I’m the final girl…Guaranteed to survive the night,” (Bayron 49). Charity Curtis loves her summer job playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake, where a popular slasher horror movie, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake, was made. Guests come to Camp Mirror Lake and pay to be scared in recreated scenes from the movie in …

Book Review: Such Is My Beloved by Morley Callaghan

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July 28, 2023

“‘If I start hating prostitutes where am I going to stop?…All around us there are all kinds of people prostituting their souls and their principles for money. I know people in this city who prostitute our faith for the sake of expediency. I watch it going on all around and wonder how corrupt our faith …

Book Review: Blind Spot by Maud Rowell

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July 26, 2023

“I truly believe there is value in learning about blindness for everyone, because making our world more accessible benefits all its citizens, not just the few for whom it is critical,” (Rowell 11). Blind author Maud Rowell challenges readers to rethink blindness and disability, educating readers on blind explorers, artists, scientists, and many more who have …