spacecadetlav
escapism type shiii
1715 points
I really enjoyed Marisa’s commentary. I read it at a time a lot of sentiments hit close to home, so a lot of those themes ended up weighing heavy on me. There was a liberation found in hearing her thoughts and going, “That’s too messed up for me to say out loud, but yes!” It’s heavy on the commentary, with a verrry slow plot. I recommend if you need a short, anti-corporate lit fic.
spacecadetlav finished a book
2d
Discontent
Beatriz Serrano
From a dazzling new international voice, an audacious, darkly funny novel about a young woman whose carefully crafted office persona threatens to crack when she’s forced to attend her company’s annual retreatOn the surface, Marisa's life looks enviable. She lives in a beautiful apartment in the center of Madrid, she has a hot neighbor who is always around to sleep with her, and she’s quickly risen through the ranks at a successful advertising agency. And yet she’s drowning in a dark hole of existential dread induced by the banality of corporate life. Marisa hates her job and everyone at it. She spends her working hours locked in her office hiding from her coworkers, bingeing YouTube videos, and getting high on tranquilizers. When she has the time, she escapes to her favorite museum where she contemplates the meaning of life while staring at Hieronymus Bosch paintings, or trying to get hit by a car so she can go on disability.But Marisa's dubious success, which is largely built on lies and work she's stolen from other people, is in danger of being exposed when she's forced to go on her company’s team-building retreat. Isolated in the Segovia forests, haunted by the deeply buried memory of a former coworker, and surrounded by psychopathic bosses, overzealous coworkers, flirty retreat staff, and an excess of drugs, Marisa finds herself acting on her wildest impulses and is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral.
spacecadetlav DNF'd a book
1w
Herc
Phoenicia Rogerson
This should be the story of Hercules: his twelve labours, his endless adventures…everyone’s favourite hero, right? Well, it’s not. This is the story of everyone else: Alcmene: Herc’s mother (She has knives everywhere) Hylas: Herc’s first friend (They were more than friends) Megara: Herc’s wife (She’ll tell you about their marriage) Eurystheus: Oversaw Herc’s labours (Definitely did not hide in a jar) His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his lovers, his rivals, his gods, his victims. It’s time to hear their stories. Told with humour and heart, Herc gives voice to the silenced characters, in this feminist, queer (and sometimes shocking) retelling of classic Hercules myth. Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and Joanne M. Harris.
spacecadetlav started reading...
2w
Discontent
Beatriz Serrano
From a dazzling new international voice, an audacious, darkly funny novel about a young woman whose carefully crafted office persona threatens to crack when she’s forced to attend her company’s annual retreatOn the surface, Marisa's life looks enviable. She lives in a beautiful apartment in the center of Madrid, she has a hot neighbor who is always around to sleep with her, and she’s quickly risen through the ranks at a successful advertising agency. And yet she’s drowning in a dark hole of existential dread induced by the banality of corporate life. Marisa hates her job and everyone at it. She spends her working hours locked in her office hiding from her coworkers, bingeing YouTube videos, and getting high on tranquilizers. When she has the time, she escapes to her favorite museum where she contemplates the meaning of life while staring at Hieronymus Bosch paintings, or trying to get hit by a car so she can go on disability.But Marisa's dubious success, which is largely built on lies and work she's stolen from other people, is in danger of being exposed when she's forced to go on her company’s team-building retreat. Isolated in the Segovia forests, haunted by the deeply buried memory of a former coworker, and surrounded by psychopathic bosses, overzealous coworkers, flirty retreat staff, and an excess of drugs, Marisa finds herself acting on her wildest impulses and is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral.
Herc
Phoenicia Rogerson
spacecadetlav started reading...
2w
Herc
Phoenicia Rogerson
This should be the story of Hercules: his twelve labours, his endless adventures…everyone’s favourite hero, right? Well, it’s not. This is the story of everyone else: Alcmene: Herc’s mother (She has knives everywhere) Hylas: Herc’s first friend (They were more than friends) Megara: Herc’s wife (She’ll tell you about their marriage) Eurystheus: Oversaw Herc’s labours (Definitely did not hide in a jar) His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his lovers, his rivals, his gods, his victims. It’s time to hear their stories. Told with humour and heart, Herc gives voice to the silenced characters, in this feminist, queer (and sometimes shocking) retelling of classic Hercules myth. Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and Joanne M. Harris.
I liked the atmosphere, and the characters were fun to look into. The anticipation certainly builds, but I was very not cool with the ending. It works for some people, I just need a little more than what it gave.
Romance didn’t land - the two FMCs had no chemistry. Their ending felt incredibly forced.
A lot of the major character deaths were downplayed, and the logic just didn’t make sense. Why was everyone so sure death row was the punishment for pushing someone down a flight of stairs? Also as Saffi and Dimple find common ground, no they don’t! Their pasts are so incompatible.
You know… I struggled to get into it. I found it a bit slow at first. I kept waiting for the shift into “weird girl lit,” but it definitely delivered on creating those stakes.
I most definitely recommend for anyone who enjoys reading a controversial FMC with a love of theatre production. It really captures that “swept away” feeling when being part of a cast and crew.
I really liked the introduction of quests! There were some chilling moments in the last hundred pages that really set the tone for the rest of the series moving forward.
I was hooked from beginning to end. This was such an unsettling read, with controversial POVs from Remy and Alicia. (One was definitely more insufferable than the other). There’s a lot to deep dive with this book, most notably about the pedestal we tend to put others on through glamorized, carefully curated posts on social media. What I appreciated most about this read was that the suspense built had a satisfying payoff. I felt the stakes present as things took a turn towards the end.
spacecadetlav finished a book
2w
A Touch of Jen
Beth Morgan
Remy and Alicia, a couple of insecure service workers, are not particularly happy together--but they are bound by a shared obsession with Jen, a beautiful former co-worker of Remy’s who now seems to be following her bliss as a globe-trotting jewelry designer. In and outside the bedroom, Remy and Alicia's entire relationship revolves around fantasies of Jen, whose every Instagram caption, outfit, and New Age mantra they know by heart. Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Once there, Remy and Alicia try (a little too hard) to fit into Jen’s exalted social circle, but violent desire and class resentment bubble beneath the surface of this beach-side paradise, threatening to erupt. As small disturbances escalate into outright horror, Remy and Alicia tumble into an uncanny alternate reality, one shaped by their most unspeakable, deviant, and intoxicating fantasies. Is this what “self-actualization” looks like? Part millennial social comedy, part psychedelic horror, and all wildly entertaining, A Touch of Jen is a sly, unflinching examination of the hidden drives that lurk just outside the frame of our carefully curated selves.
A Touch of Jen
Beth Morgan
