Book Review: The Pisces by Melissa Broder ★★★

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“Yes, it certainly seemed like the human instinct, to get high on someone else, an external entity who could make life more exciting and relieve you of your own self, your own life, even just for a moment. Maybe once that person became too real, too familiar, they could no longer get you high – no longer be a drug – and that was why you grew tired of them.”

This book was so bizarre. For some reason, I have been drawn to the cover and the concept of it since it came out and when I heard that Whitney from WittyNovels on Youtube liked it, I decided to give it a try.

I actually really enjoyed a lot of what I read here (in a disturbing, introspective kind of way). The writing is fantastic, the story and the characters very unapologetic. And it is truly out there. I wanted to give it 4 stars for most of the book, but somewhere near the ending, I settled on 3.5 stars, overall.

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Book Review: Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk ★★★★★

Survivor: A Novel

“Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden maybe get so boring that eating the apple was justified?”

Funny, biting, harsh, satirical, absurd, poignant, real, nonsensical, dark, humorous, genius! This is what I love from Chuck. This is the Chuck that I look for when I want a slice of razor-edged, existential pie for breakfast. He soothes that ragged, sometimes consuming dread that most people feel from time to time. He just slaps on a balm of laughter and violence, and tells you to buck up and, honestly, it totally works. I love his books and Survivor is one of my new favorites for sure.

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Book Review: The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon ★★★★

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“Perhaps her mind would go on flexing psychic muscles that no longer existed; would be betrayed and mocked by a phantom self as the amputee is by a phantom limb. Someday she might replace whatever of her had gone away by some prosthetic device, a dress of a certain color, a phrase in a letter, another lover.” 

I finally got around to reading this book and I am so glad I did! Don’t you just love the feeling of finally being able to move a book from your TBR pile to your read shelf? Mmm it’s a good one. That being said, this was a bit of a difficult book to review. While only being about 150 pages, this little novel was chock full of dense language, insane conspiracies, crazy characters, and nonsensical dialogue. So, basically, it had all of the characteristics that I love about a satirical, postmodern, meta social commentary, parody fest. Woo!

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