I'm so impressed with the amount of thought, research, background reading, etc., that you put into this excellent video. Thank you, Kim! Booktube is so lucky to have you.
The book on opioids you described reminds me of a great doc-series on Netflix called, The Pharmacist. I highly recommend if you haven't already seen it.
_Hurricane Season_ is not a book I had considered reading because of the brutality, but your discussion of the author’s reasons for writing the book may have changed my mind.
Empire of Pain has already been on my radar, but after your review I am definitely sold! I read Heart Berries as a physical copy and it has been a five star read for me. I share the experience that I am wondering if the audio narration sometimes influences my rating too much. Love Rebecca Solnit! The Mother of all Questions has been also a five star for me! Oh, oh, still have to read Hurricane Season...
Excellent commentary and insight on Hurricane Season! I've been wanting to read this after hearing about its synopsis and its reputation with its use of strong language, but now I'd like to read it even more.
thanks for your detailed reflections on hurricane season....i've been put off the book by the references to what seemed like gratuitous violence but you're provision of context makes all the difference..by the way i love solnit and one of my best pandemic reads was "a paradise built in hell: the extraordinary communities that arise in disaster. "
Yes! Will be acquiring Empire of Pain as soon as possible - my kind of book. I am going to pick up Hurricane Season in Spanish, if possible. That topic is huge right now all over the world and especially in the colony as the numbers during the pandemic have soared here, too.
I’ve heard so much about Hurricane Season and the violence in it that I’ve been hesitant to pick it up but your excellent and thoughtful review might be the catalyst Kim.
@@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH I’m legit shocked at how well received that review is 😂 Totaly bragging now, but when Melchor shared it on Instagram I was stunned. She is incredibly lovely to talk to and the polar opposite to this book
Hi Kim, hot berries was one of my favorite books last year. The author is a poet and I had to read the book twice to realize the beauty and the truth that she put in there. I suggest you read the physical book. I write Memoir and her story, Although I am not an indigenous author, mirrors my own experience with trauma and mental illness. Aloha
I would love to read her poetry. She has important thinks to say and clearly has passion about her life experiences. The physical book may have worked better for me.
I have Hurricane Season on my radar, but haven't been in the mind frame to pick it up, because I knew of the themes. I loved Assembly, but what resonated with me is the thing you can't discuss, as it would be the spoiler. I am going to try and do some mood reading this week whilst I am off work. Enjoy your reading week. :)
Wow, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Empire of Pain. It sounds like a must. I just finished Men Explain Things to Me last week. I thought it lacked depth but I want to give Solnit another try. Mother of All Questions might be the way to go. I will definitely be getting to Hurricane Season after hearing reviews by you and Ros. Excellent stuff, thank you.
You have made me contemplate reading Empire of Pain. I am very glad you responded to Hurricane Season in a similar way to me as I felt a bit out on a limb with my reaction. I thought it was a stunning book with a very important message. Rage is the word for it. I felt that rage from the author and share it. It was a five star book for me and I want to recommend it but I know people will baulk at the violence.
Very fine reviews! I think I read Heartberries for the Reading Woman challenge, but didn't particularly enjoy it. The writing style was a bit disjointed and so didn't flow well. It seems to be a problem some poets have when switching to the novel format. I also agree it was a bit too personal in spots. I do agree the subject matter is timely. I hope she tries again, and is more successful, because she really has much to say!
I have ordered Empire of Pain. As a person with chronic pain I am sure I will find it fascinating too. I loved the writing of Patrick Radden Keefe when I read Say Nothing last year for the BTP. I was lucky that I never became addicted to narcotics and I am an RN! They never worked well either. They just masked the pain. I have an implanted pain pump and that has finally helped with the pain. I also have two neurostimulators. I just do not enjoy memoirs. They seem to frequently border on being fiction. I have two to read for the finals of the BTP but they should be good reads as they are in the finals. You are so eclectic in your reading! Have a great week!
Great reviews as always. I am really interesting in Empire of pain, sounds an important book, especially for me since I suffer from Fibromyalgia and doctors tend to pump their patients with pain killers with serious side effects. I add this one on my Tbr list. You are a very bad influence to me and my book budget 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for sharing ☺️
Hey Kim . Great review of Hurricane Season . Like you the novel got right under my skin and I listened to a lot of contextual information and interviews with the author. It's an emphatic and courageous literary statement . My feeling was that the economic disintegration of the region had brutalised the society leaving space for femicide and drug abuse . Until I read this book I hadn't read much from Mexico but now I can't get enough ...my next pick on another aspect of women's lives in Mexico is Empty Houses by Brenda Navarro , another Sophie Hughes translation .
Agree with all of what you said! I will definitely watch for Melchor's next book in English. And Hughes is a talented translator. I think the violent culture and violence against women in Mexico is a disease and you're right; economic and cultural devastation causes so many more social traumas. So many toxic cycles.
@@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH one little fact about the book . Sophie Hughes is English and I understand her English translation had to be edited again for the USA market to better reflect your particular slang ...two countries divided by one language ! (I simultaneously read the English edition and audiobooked the USA version )
I really appreciated your review on Hurricane Season (and the fact that you took the time to do some research on the importance of the book)!!! Being Mexican (living in México), I don't have plans to read the book, just because I'm surrounded by femicide and missing women news literally every day!! I just don't want to bring that into fiction as well (guilty as it might make me feel :/)... But I appreciate the praise it's gotten internationally and the awareness it (hopefully) raises! The thing that bothers me about the "it's so gross" reviews is that it IS gross, and the worst part is that it's actually happening!! You can't just dismiss it as gross without thinking how, if you felt that way in fiction, you would feel in real life! I don't know, it's complex. Anyway... thank you for your review (and the other ones as well! I was especially looking forward to your Empire of Pain review...)
You should have no guilt! A person can only be exposed so much to traumatic information. There’s enough of it in the news. As harrowing as the book was I kept feeling that if people actually go through this type of violence then I can handle a book that talks about it. It’s an important novel but it’s not for everyone. 🤓
I did not enjoy reading Hurricane Season. I agree with you on the compulsive nature of the narrative but the brutality was too much. I appreciated your thoughtful review of it and the point of the book. Being me, I would rather have the nonfiction version of the topic.
I think that art should not be responsible for telling people what is wrong or right, a book like that would be like a pamphlet. Art should be good, not necessarily politically correct. I wonder if the people who are offended by the violence, language and sex in Temporada de Huracanes watch American movies or American news or listen to American presidents? The book is great. I am reading now The Dutch House and zzz like going to Epcot after a trip to Paris.
I read Heartberries a few years ago. She’s a poet, and that was very evident in the writing. The writing style just didn’t work for me, and I didn’t end up getting the impact from that I should. She’s very in touch with emotion, and I am not, so had a hard time connecting.
PS of course I meant heart berries. What do you mean about The book being voyeuristic. Isn’t that what Memoir is? I read educated and didn’t like it because the authorial voice lacked emotion. Aloha
I'm so impressed with the amount of thought, research, background reading, etc., that you put into this excellent video. Thank you, Kim! Booktube is so lucky to have you.
Oh wow! Thank you so much! 🥰🥰🥰
I love the respect which you bring to your reading with the result that your reviews are considered, informative and fair - a genuine book lover!
Thank you so much. I appreciate that comment very much!
I have Hurricane Season but haven't picked it up yet. Great review and I will definitely get to it now.
I'd love to know what you think!
What a busy and varied collection you have here. They ALL sound good.
🤓🤓🤓
Hearing you put Hurricane Season in context like that helps a lot, thank you. I've been back and forth with it, but I just put it back on my tbr.
🤓🤓🤓
I tend to really like Solnit’s essays as well. An excellent and thoughtful discussion of Hurricane Season.
Thanks. 🤓
The book on opioids you described reminds me of a great doc-series on Netflix called, The Pharmacist. I highly recommend if you haven't already seen it.
Thanks. 🤓
_Hurricane Season_ is not a book I had considered reading because of the brutality, but your discussion of the author’s reasons for writing the book may have changed my mind.
Good. But it's a devastating, brutal read. The themes are enlightening.
Solnit rocks. I’m trying to become a completist with her works. Fun video!
Thanks! 🤓
Thanks for the review of Empire of Pain; that's one I've been interested in. Glad to hear that you thought it was really good. 👍
Definitely a good read!
I'm almost done and second Kim's review!
@@CookieR1272 Awesome. Good to know - thanks!
The Solnit (Mother of all Questions) is brilliant! Also: loved your discussion of Hurricane Season, even though the book didnt work for me.
Thanks! I’m now listening to Call Them by Their True Names. 🤓
@@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH Loved that one as well! We should read a Solnit together at some point! :-)
@ of course! 🤣🤓
Empire of Pain has already been on my radar, but after your review I am definitely sold!
I read Heart Berries as a physical copy and it has been a five star read for me. I share the experience that I am wondering if the audio narration sometimes influences my rating too much.
Love Rebecca Solnit! The Mother of all Questions has been also a five star for me!
Oh, oh, still have to read Hurricane Season...
Excellent commentary and insight on Hurricane Season! I've been wanting to read this after hearing about its synopsis and its reputation with its use of strong language, but now I'd like to read it even more.
Let me know if you get to it. Strong language is an understatement! 😳🤓
thanks for your detailed reflections on hurricane season....i've been put off the book by the references to what seemed like gratuitous violence but you're provision of context makes all the difference..by the way i love solnit and one of my best pandemic reads was "a paradise built in hell: the extraordinary communities that arise in disaster. "
I’m hoping to get to all of her collections. Eventually! 🤓🤓
Yes! Will be acquiring Empire of Pain as soon as possible - my kind of book. I am going to pick up Hurricane Season in Spanish, if possible. That topic is huge right now all over the world and especially in the colony as the numbers during the pandemic have soared here, too.
Excellent. I hope your reading experience of both is positive. Neither is an easy read.
I’ve heard so much about Hurricane Season and the violence in it that I’ve been hesitant to pick it up but your excellent and thoughtful review might be the catalyst Kim.
I thought very highly of Hurricane Season too Jo. It was full of anger and the violence was shocking but not gratuitous.
Thanks Roz, a recommendation from you both means a lot and I plan on picking it up at some point.
Hurricane Season just sucks you in. I think there is that ‘when do I look away?’ morbid curiosity about it. Loved your discussion about it
Thank you! Your review was one of the better ones I watched. :)
@@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH I’m legit shocked at how well received that review is 😂 Totaly bragging now, but when Melchor shared it on Instagram I was stunned. She is incredibly lovely to talk to and the polar opposite to this book
@@KDbooks I thought that just by watching discussions and interviews with her. She’s very interesting.
Hi Kim, hot berries was one of my favorite books last year. The author is a poet and I had to read the book twice to realize the beauty and the truth that she put in there. I suggest you read the physical book. I write Memoir and her story, Although I am not an indigenous author, mirrors my own experience with trauma and mental illness. Aloha
I would love to read her poetry. She has important thinks to say and clearly has passion about her life experiences. The physical book may have worked better for me.
I have Hurricane Season on my radar, but haven't been in the mind frame to pick it up, because I knew of the themes. I loved Assembly, but what resonated with me is the thing you can't discuss, as it would be the spoiler. I am going to try and do some mood reading this week whilst I am off work. Enjoy your reading week. :)
You too. Thanks Ange!🤓
Wow, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Empire of Pain. It sounds like a must.
I just finished Men Explain Things to Me last week. I thought it lacked depth but I want to give Solnit another try. Mother of All Questions might be the way to go. I will definitely be getting to Hurricane Season after hearing reviews by you and Ros. Excellent stuff, thank you.
🤓🤓🤓
You have made me contemplate reading Empire of Pain.
I am very glad you responded to Hurricane Season in a similar way to me as I felt a bit out on a limb with my reaction. I thought it was a stunning book with a very important message. Rage is the word for it. I felt that rage from the author and share it. It was a five star book for me and I want to recommend it but I know people will baulk at the violence.
Exactly. I have talked about it with friends and there are some who are going to try it.
Very fine reviews! I think I read Heartberries for the Reading Woman challenge, but didn't particularly enjoy it. The writing style was a bit disjointed and so didn't flow well. It seems to be a problem some poets have when switching to the novel format. I also agree it was a bit too personal in spots. I do agree the subject matter is timely. I hope she tries again, and is more successful, because she really has much to say!
I agree. I often love novels written by poets but a memoir written by a poet...hmm. Didn't work for me.
I have ordered Empire of Pain. As a person with chronic pain I am sure I will find it fascinating too. I loved the writing of Patrick Radden Keefe when I read Say Nothing last year for the BTP. I was lucky that I never became addicted to narcotics and I am an RN! They never worked well either. They just masked the pain. I have an implanted pain pump and that has finally helped with the pain. I also have two neurostimulators.
I just do not enjoy memoirs. They seem to frequently border on being fiction. I have two to read for the finals of the BTP but they should be good reads as they are in the finals.
You are so eclectic in your reading! Have a great week!
I hope you find that book interesting. Let me know. Thanks! 🤓🥰
Great reviews as always. I am really interesting in Empire of pain, sounds an important book, especially for me since I suffer from Fibromyalgia and doctors tend to pump their patients with pain killers with serious side effects. I add this one on my Tbr list.
You are a very bad influence to me and my book budget 🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for sharing ☺️
🤣🤣🤣 I say that about other Booktubers all the time! 🤣🤣🤣
Hey Kim . Great review of Hurricane Season . Like you the novel got right under my skin and I listened to a lot of contextual information and interviews with the author. It's an emphatic and courageous literary statement . My feeling was that the economic disintegration of the region had brutalised the society leaving space for femicide and drug abuse . Until I read this book I hadn't read much from Mexico but now I can't get enough ...my next pick on another aspect of women's lives in Mexico is Empty Houses by Brenda Navarro , another Sophie Hughes translation .
Agree with all of what you said! I will definitely watch for Melchor's next book in English. And Hughes is a talented translator. I think the violent culture and violence against women in Mexico is a disease and you're right; economic and cultural devastation causes so many more social traumas. So many toxic cycles.
@@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH one little fact about the book . Sophie Hughes is English and I understand her English translation had to be edited again for the USA market to better reflect your particular slang ...two countries divided by one language ! (I simultaneously read the English edition and audiobooked the USA version )
I really appreciated your review on Hurricane Season (and the fact that you took the time to do some research on the importance of the book)!!! Being Mexican (living in México), I don't have plans to read the book, just because I'm surrounded by femicide and missing women news literally every day!! I just don't want to bring that into fiction as well (guilty as it might make me feel :/)... But I appreciate the praise it's gotten internationally and the awareness it (hopefully) raises! The thing that bothers me about the "it's so gross" reviews is that it IS gross, and the worst part is that it's actually happening!! You can't just dismiss it as gross without thinking how, if you felt that way in fiction, you would feel in real life! I don't know, it's complex. Anyway... thank you for your review (and the other ones as well! I was especially looking forward to your Empire of Pain review...)
You should have no guilt! A person can only be exposed so much to traumatic information. There’s enough of it in the news. As harrowing as the book was I kept feeling that if people actually go through this type of violence then I can handle a book that talks about it. It’s an important novel but it’s not for everyone. 🤓
I’m going try Hurricane Season based on your review.
At your own risk… 🤣😳
@@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH I, too like to live dangerously. 🤓
I did not enjoy reading Hurricane Season. I agree with you on the compulsive nature of the narrative but the brutality was too much. I appreciated your thoughtful review of it and the point of the book. Being me, I would rather have the nonfiction version of the topic.
I think that art should not be responsible for telling people what is wrong or right, a book like that would be like a pamphlet. Art should be good, not necessarily politically correct. I wonder if the people who are offended by the violence, language and sex in Temporada de Huracanes watch American movies or American news or listen to American presidents? The book is great. I am reading now The Dutch House and zzz like going to Epcot after a trip to Paris.
Great points. Excellent metaphors! I DNFd The Dutch House. Bored silly.
I read Heartberries a few years ago. She’s a poet, and that was very evident in the writing. The writing style just didn’t work for me, and I didn’t end up getting the impact from that I should. She’s very in touch with emotion, and I am not, so had a hard time connecting.
I can tell that her poetry would be better and I know I'd appreciate it more.
PSS Interesting discussion of the last book. It’s very sad and terrible how women are treated in many countries Even our own.
Absolutely. What women go through can be maddening and terrifying. Simply because of gender and patriarchy.
I’m a very sensitive reader so I will skip the last book. ☺️
Yes. Good decision. 😳🤓
PS of course I meant heart berries. What do you mean about The book being voyeuristic. Isn’t that what Memoir is? I read educated and didn’t like it because the authorial voice lacked emotion. Aloha
Voyeuristic meaning the book was more strongly addressing her ex husband than the reader.
@@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH oh I see. I called that going into someone else's point of view period in writing it's a no no