andtheIToldYouSos

I broke my arm at the Stature of Liberty, Alex

andtheIToldYouSos's Reviews:

things that weren’t yours to lose

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

March 14, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

I felt the air being knocked out of my chest on more than one occasion while sinking into Arcadia. Lauren Groff’s prose is sparse and beautiful, and there’s no way for me to accurately describe it without further muddying it into oblivion. She tells only what needs to be told; moments are fleeting, endings are organic, and jumps through time are poignant and crushing. I felt the ache of nostalgia for things that I have never experienced. I felt long-gone youthful optimism harden and calcify into flinty reserve and resolve. I felt the warmth of each character’s body as the pushed, […]

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Arcadia by Lauren Groff

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3/14/2019 | andtheIToldYouSos's CBR11 Review No:7 |

telling over showing: the novel

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

March 10, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos 9 Comments

This novel is the literary embodiment of the kid who sat in the front row of your lecture course and had a long-winded comment to add to every. single. statement. made by your instructor. Not only do we go on a botanical exploration in the late 1700s- we go with CAPTAIN COOK! Not only do we supply pharmaceuticals to explorers- we sell to LEWIS AND CLARKE THEMSELVES! Not only did we happen upon the theory of evolution, but we BEAT DARWIN TO IT! These aren’t even the most egregious examples- all 512 pages of this self-important doorstop are chock-full of […]

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The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

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3/10/2019 | andtheIToldYouSos's CBR11 Review No:6 |

true story: my parents were called in for a meeting with the guidance counselor when I wrote a poem about bog sacrifices in third grade

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

February 11, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

…which I learned about from reading Spider magazine. Ghost Wall kicks off with a young woman being led to the peaty gloom before snapping back to a modern teenager forced to reenact the Iron Age with her father and the massive chip on his shoulder. Clocking in at a mere 130 pages, Ghost Wall bridges the expanse from ancient Britons to bored college students. Sarah Moss’s prose is sparse but lush; months worth of meditations shift and shimmer through the fog of just 130 pages. A theme reigns supreme throughout this expanse: a woman’s worth can only be described through her purity. Parents, professors, students, […]

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Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

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2/11/2019 | andtheIToldYouSos's CBR11 Review No:5 |

eeeugh. gross in so many ways.

The Innocent by Ian McEwan

February 10, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos 9 Comments

TRIGGER WARNING: sexual violence- and other terrible things What started out as a fairly mild story of a man who is a:not good at his job and b: not a terribly interesting person lurched suddenly downhill into a dirge of rape fantasy, sexual violence, murder, and dismemberment. “Eeeugh” was putting it lightly. I’m not one to tell you, dear reader, what to do- but I strongly suggest avoiding this garbage fire. I am normally drawn to post-war drama- especially involving espionage and intrigue- but I was led astray on this adventure. I have also sought out McEwan in the past; […]

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The Innocent by Ian McEwan

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2/10/2019 | andtheIToldYouSos's CBR11 Review No:4 |

“There are new monsters now”

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

January 20, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

This novel sneaks up on you. You’re lulled into comfort with descriptions of old video rental places, suburban living rooms, and the polite peace of the Midwest before being startled awake by sudden glances of violence and fear. These shocks originate from movies. Movies within movies. Were they intended for you to see? Why are they here? Who spliced an almost still image of heavy breathing and a woman with a bag over her head into She’s All That? Uncertainty creeps around every corner- breeding fear, confusion, and an overwhelming urge to know more. The young people of Universal Harvester are driven by […]

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Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

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1/20/2019 | andtheIToldYouSos's CBR11 Review No:3 |

an exercise in lying to liars

Transcription by Kate Atkinson

January 11, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

What began as a slow and cold (le Carré-esque) waiting game grew into a white hot flash of deceit, anxiety, and dangerous thrills. I cannot claim to know the full horrors and trials of World War II- nor can I draw a true comparison between that dark time and the present, but the world of this book is a different world from our current version. One constant remains: the truth is subjective. In 1940 a young woman is recruited into the fold of MI5. Europe is falling, Britain is in peril, and…notes need typing. I found myself wrapped up in […]

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Transcription by Kate Atkinson

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

1/11/2019 | andtheIToldYouSos's CBR11 Review No:2 |

you will falsely remember being told about Melmoth by your grandmother’s mother when you were very small

Melmoth by Sarah Perry

January 2, 2019 by andtheIToldYouSos 10 Comments

There is something immediately nauseating – hear me out- about this book. You can be nauseous when you feel ill, when you ride a roller coaster, when you are nervous, or when you eat too many sweets. There is a feeling of hopeful dread that climbs over you (and all of the characters within) before you have finished reading the first page. There is a feeling that you have been here – in a cafe in Prague, under an overpass in Manila, in a field on a river on the edges of Bohemia- and that you have heard these stories […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

Melmoth by Sarah Perry

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

1/2/2019 | andtheIToldYouSos's CBR11 Review No:1 |

Manimama on Book Club Discussion Post: Good OmensI think you hit the mail on the head here!
blauracke on Book Club Discussion Post: Good OmensAgreed, it was probably written at exactly the right time. I guess it's going to be interesting to see how this will work in the...
faintingviolet on Book Club Discussion Post: Good OmensI agree with you on #7, I think the way in which the book pokes at religion would be handled differently now, and in some...
MarkAbaddon on Book Club Discussion Post: Good OmensI think everyone would agree with that statement, I commented on it myself. It felt like it was included because it may have been expected...
Markabaddon on Book Club Discussion Post: Good Omens#1 I loved this book. It is one of the few instances of a collaboration where I cannot tell who wrote any particular passage. The...