“Whether we realize it or not, we often find ways to alleviate feelings of existential aloneness through the seeking of unity…Food, entertainment, success, sex, relationships, busyness, gossip — there are plenty of ways to divert our attention from the unavoidable, terrifying aloneness of human existence,” (Bolz-Web, Nadia, 21). Sex has long been a taboo subject in …
After getting a call from her estranged, dying mother to come home Vera Crowder does, because that’s what a good daughter would do. But home means the Crowder House, the house her father built, and though Vera felt much comfort there growing up it has it’s own bodies buried there, literally. Because Vera is the …
“Shame is a way of life here. It’s stocked in the vending machines, stuck like gum under desks, spoken in the morning devotionals,” (McQuiston 288). Four years after moving with her moms from sunny California to False Beach, Alabama and attending Willowgrove Christian Academy, Chloe Green is so close to winning she can almost taste …
“they bisect the frozen river, vacant lots, the barren school field — all roads lead to the Pit.” – Desire Paths (Borin 3). I was lucky enough to get to visit The Westminster Hotel, or as it’s affectionately called The Pit, when I visited Dawson City last fall. When my dad had visited the previous winter he …
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. “An act of faith. Faith—true faith—does not come without grappling in the shadows; faith never comes free from doubt” (Rauch 100). Sara Rauch is in a long-term relationship with a woman when she begins a low-residency MFA. While there, she finds …
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. “From baby teeth to virginity, to live is to regularly suffer loss,” (LaRocca 1). Mara is grieving after her father’s sudden death and is surprised when her cruel mother welcomes a new guest into their home who claims he will protect them. …
“It sounds wild, I know, but racism is a spectrum and they all participate in it in some way. They don’t all have white hoods or call us mean things… But racism isn’t just about that – it’s not about being nice or mean. Or good versus bad. It’s bigger than that,” (Àbíké-Íyímídé 166). At …
“It’s a terrible story and one way to tell it is this: two girls in love and a fog of wasps cursed the place forever after,” (Danforth 5). In 1902 at The Brookhants School for Girls Clara and Flo, two young lovers, are found dead in the Tricky Thicket having been stung by a swarm …
Sarah O'Connor 