probably witten to impress an MFA cohort

Book equivalent of a bingeable, poorly made, guilty pleasure Netflix show

To answer the obvious question everyone’s curious about: Yes, Liz made plans to kill her lover Rayya. No, she did not do it. And yes, the backlash was overblown and you need to read the memoir to understand. This is an account of grief, addiction, codependency, personal liberation, terminal illness, and obsessive love. What happens when you lose yourself in another? What happens when that person destroys themselves, and almost takes you with them? When can we blame people for their toxic behavior, and when should we extend empathy? Liz is incredibly raw in her story, her vulnerability is at times shocking, and I think we can all benefit from showing her a bit of gratitude for giving us this very human and exposed work of art rather than chiding her for not handling a horrible situation perfectly.

The most nuanced, emotionally raw account of the trans experience I've ever had the pleasure of reading. High brow in the best way, there is no hand holding as we dive into trans + gender theory. The author is trans herself and I am so grateful to her for the vulnerability expressed in these pages

READ THIS RIGHT NOW. A made up murder mystery, where the characters are all real historical figures (including Catherine de Medici and Michelangelo) writing letters to each other. There is zero narration after the first 3 pages; the story unfolds through the letters sent between the characters, and we play detective along with them to figure out who murdered Pontormo. BRILLIANT STUNNING INNOVATIVE

I devoured this in two days, staying up nearly all night to finish. Don't even bother reading the synopsis - this book takes so many turns you'll never know what's coming, and it 100% captured my attention. It takes a while to get into as we figure out what kind of story this is going to be, which did detract from my enjoyment a bit, but the overall experience was fascinating and thought provoking.

This is a near perfect book; part complex + believable romance, part political critique, Alix E Harrow manages to weave an intricately thought out time travel tale into a manageable 330 pages and leave us absolutely emotionally devastated. This one benefits from a reread; there are so many theories and strings to pull at, from the cost and corruptive nature of power to the sacrificial nature of love. The themes are massive yet are presented in a way that feels fluid and impactful. There were some pieces of the time travel logistics that didn't totally add up for me, and some elements of the romance that I had a hard time buying into, which is why this isn't a full five stars, but I deeply admire this work and would recommend it to anyone.

PS Highly recommend reading the short story "Six deaths of the saint" by Harrow before diving into this!

Like watching a hallmark Christmas movie, except it takes 5x as long to finish