JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Hunger by Roxane Gay

From the bestselling author of Bad Feminist: a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.

In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her own past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself.

With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.

Hunger is a memoir that is unapologetic and searingly honest, and evokes heartbreak, admiration and respect from its readers. Roxane Gay is a brilliant memoirist, pulling apart her life in carefully selected sections to allow the reader to delve into her life and better understand how she has become who she has become.

People might notice many things about Roxane – she’s talented, intelligent, honest and brave. But at the same time, Roxane acknowledges that people always notice her weight. Roxane acknowledges that she is morbidly obese, and she is also very tall at 6 foot 3 inches. In Hunger, Roxane wants readers to know that everyone has a story and everyone has a history. Not everyone has come from the same place and not everyone has gone through the same experiences. Roxane’s path has been laid out before us in this book.

“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.”

When Roxane was 12, she was the victim of a horrific gang rape at the hands of her boyfriend and his mates. Roxane didn’t know how to come to terms with what happened with her, and she kept the rape a secret for years. She dealt with the assault by eating. She turned to food as comfort.

Hunger oozes a punctual, academic tone. Roxane focus on events and key moments more so than her feelings or emotions about those said events. Roxane is stating what happened to her and how that effected her. She is telling the reader about the key moments in her life, and how they became a catalyst for the later events in her life.

“I am shoved in public spaces, as if my fat inures me from pain and/or as if I deserve pain, punishment for being fat. People step on my feet. They brush and bump against me. They run straight into me. I am highly visible, but I am regularly treated like I am invisible. My body receives no respect or consideration or care in public spaces.”

What happened to Roxane was awful, and I think it’d be really difficult to find someone who read Roxane’s story and didn’t feel heartbroken for her. How she felt afterwards was equally as hard to read about. In a later chapter, Roxane talks about how her boyfriend at the time (who was the ringleader) now has a high-paying, executive job and sometimes she looks him up online to check up on him.

An underlying element of this book that builds and builds quite subtly is Roxane’s determination and passion for writing. Even when she was at her darkest, she would spend hours at her computer writing stories and submitting them. Even when she had no money and no job and no prospects, she was working on her writing. It was actually really inspiring to read about that in her story. Amidst all the horror in her life, she still had the drive to write. There was still something there helping her and pushing her to succeed.

“For so long, I closed myself off from everything and everyone. Terrible things happened and I had to shut down to survive. I was cold, I’ve been told. I often write stories about women who are perceived as cold and resent that perception. I write these women because I know what it’s like to have so much warmth roiling beneath the skin’s surface, ready to be found.”

Hunger is brilliant. It’s so brave and so honest, but it’s also a fantastic read. I finished the book so quickly because of how engrossed I was in Roxane’s story. I really can’t fault this. PLEASE go buy this.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hunger
Roxane Gay
June 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

The Shark Club by Anna Kidd Taylor

On a summer day in 1988, two extraordinary things happen to twelve-year-old Maeve Donnelly. First, she is kissed by Daniel, the boy of her dreams. Then, she is attacked by a blacktip shark.

Eighteen years later, Maeve is a world-travelling marine biologist studying and swimming with the very animals that once threatened her life. Maeve is fearless in the water. On land, however, Maeve is haunted by painful memories, and indecisive about the path her life will take. When she returns to her childhood home on the small island off Florida’s coast where she grew up, she finds that her twin brother may be about to make it big as novelist, using her love life as his jumping-off point.

Will she confront her feelings about her brother’s betrayal – and forgive her childhood sweetheart, Daniel, the missteps of their youth? Or will she dive headlong back into her research and open her heart to Nicholas, the handsome colleague who shares her passion for the ocean?

The Shark Club is a bittersweet story about the power of forgiveness and the promise of true love. Ann Kidd Taylor is a talented writer, with beautiful imagery and description and a real knack for evoking certain feelings and emotions out of the reader.

“Tucking away a long strand of hair that floated in front of my scuba mask, I kicked through the blue-green waters of Bimini on the last day of my research term, keeping watch for Sylvia, a five-foot, four-year-old lemon shark I’d named for oceanographer Sylvia Earle.”

The book is part romance but also part mystery, when someone on the small island is running a shark finning operation and Maeve is determined to find out who it is. There’s definitely a bit of environmental activism coming through in the book, but not the ‘beat you over the head’ kind of activism where you feel like the author is preaching at you.

“It happened near here, didn’t it?” he asked.
‘Less than ten miles. A hundred sharks were slaughtered for their fins, and I’ve heard nothing about an investigation and only one news report – a TV reporter asked some guy on the beach about it and he basically said the best shark was a dead one. This is what we’re up against.’

The Shark Club is rich with description and setting, and Ann Kidd Taylor captures the world of underwater animals wonderfully. It’s clear that she’s done her research.

Most of the characters in the book are flawed. Maeve can’t stick up for herself when she needs to, and lets old feeling resurface. And her brother just floats between jobs and doesn’t have the drive to really stick it out or put enough effort in.

I do have a couple of pet peeves about the book. At only 274 pages, Ann Kidd Taylor doesn’t allow the reader to really understand all of the characters. There felt like gaps in the story and the plot moves a little too quickly.

“He walked toward me and didn’t stop until he was kissing me. Everything came back with strange suddenness. Memories, the old feelings, the believing, the wanting. And then a sort of deja vu.”

I found it a little unrealistic that Daniel’s daughter would have such a keen interest in sharks and would therefore bond so heavily with Maeve. I also found it unrealistic that Maeve would feel like she has to be friends with this young girl (she really should’ve told Daniel to stick it). And finally, it seemed awfully convenient that Hazel’s mother had recently just died.

I would have preferred it if Nicholas didn’t exist in the novel at all and instead, Hazel’s mother did. I think it would’ve made for a better love triangle and a more engaging power dynamic. After all, Nicholas is gone for most of the book anyway so he’s not there long enough for the reader to really get to know him. It doesn’t make us want to fight for him when Maeve has to decide which guy to stay with.

The Shark Club feels a bit like literary chick-lit, so I’d recommend this book to those of you who love a romance story with a bit of mystery on the side.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Shark Club
Ann Kidd Taylor
June 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

The Ones That Disappeared by Zana Fraillon

Kept by a ruthless gang, three children manage to escape from slavery. But freedom isn’t just waiting on the outside.

Separated, scared and looking after a small child, Esra will do whatever she can to reunite with her friend Miran, who was captured by the police – the police who she mustn’t trust.

Hiding in the shadows of the forest, Esra is found by a local boy, a boy with his own story. Together they will create a man out of mud. A man who will come to life and lead them through a dark labyrinth of tunnels until they finally have the courage the step above ground. Until they finally have the courage to speak their story. Until they finally have the courage to be free.

The Ones that Disappeared is the latest YA novel by the Carnegie-shortlisted author Zana Fraillon. It’s a powerful tale about three trafficked Syrian children searching for freedom and hope. Across the world, millions of children are the victims of human trafficking. Zana takes an issue that people no doubt think is ‘far away’ and brings it into our hands. The book is set in Australia.

‘Be careful girl,’ he said, his voice growling like Orlando’s dogs. ‘Most people won’t tolerate a mouth like that. Better hope I don’t tell Orlando he needs to shape you up. Better hope I don’t tell Orlando he should sell you on. I know people who would pay a good price for a girl like you.’ Then he jammed my face into the bricks and held it there, watching.

This book follows three trafficked children: Esra, Miran and Isa. They have done different types of jobs since leaving their families and their home, and they’ve often suffered beatings if their work was not deemed to be of an acceptable standard.

Their job is to take care of opium plans, but then something goes wrong — a fire starts and the police turn up and Miran gets captured. Esra and Isa run away along the river, taking shelter in a cave.

“I move back to the wall and pull Isa over me, my arms wrapping him tight. I look at Skeet again, his face burning into my brain. His toad opens an eye and stares straight back. I won’t tell him, this boy, this Skeet, that when he talked of his circus, filled with toads, it made me remember.”

Zana’s writing is poetic and lyrical, with flowing sentences and brief but realistic dialogue. It’s a short read, despite the topic that the book explores. There’s a bit of magical realism in the book. Esra and Isa meet a young boy – Skeet – who is ignored by his alcoholic mother, and the three of them craft out a Riverman from things they find along the bank. And then the next day, that Riverman is real and he leads them down into the tunnels of the town in an effort to save Miran from their captors.

This is a book about survival and bravery, but also about hope and courage. Esra and Isa are desperate for freedom and Zana shows us that it’s worth fighting for what you want, even if what you’re fighting for is something that is a basic human right. And Skeet is searching for something more. At times, it feels like he’s searching for family. And at other times you feel like all he wants is love and someone looking out for him.

This book is daring because young audiences may struggle to grasp the scope of these experiences in the world, however, Zana has done a wonderful job of taking the issue of child slavery and presenting it to readers in an accessible way. There are some fantasy/magic realism elements to this book, particularly with the Riverman who comes to life. But the book is also very literary and poetic. This book gives voice to the often forgotten victims of child slavery here in Australia.

I stand up, my hand on Isa’s shoulder and look down at the voice. He’s old. A white beard, knotted and dirty, and a jacket wrapped tight protecting him from the rain. He’s standing with his hands on his hips, staring at us with hard in his eyes.

The Ones That Disappeared does drag a little bit in the middle, with slow pacing and some stagnant conversation that allows the reader’s attention to slow. But Zana is not glamourising anything and her intention is to shine a light on trafficking and how scary and dangerous it is for these children.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Ones That Disappeared
Zana Fraillon
June 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

Trans Like Me by CN Lester

What does it mean to be transgender? How do we discuss the subject? In this eye-opening book, CN Lester, academic and activist, takes us on a journey through some of the most pressing issues concerning the trans debate: from pronouns to Caitlyn Jenner; from feminist and LGBTQ activists, to the rise in referrals for gender variant children – all by way of insightful and moving passages about the author’s own experience.

Trans Like Me shows us how to strive for authenticity in a world which often seeks to limit us by way of labels.

Trans Like Me breaks down the stereotypes and misconceptions about trans people. It sheds light on society’s incorrect terminology and treatment of trans, and it also highlights (and condemns) how the media can incorrectly position them.

“The question I am most often asked about being trans – on the internet, in the pub, on the bus, at work – is the one I most dread answering. Sometimes it’s delivered through euphemism, sometimes crudely, and worst of all by a groping uninvited hand. Have you…you know? or so you’re…post or pre-op?”

CN Lester is trans and works as an academic, and this book shows impeccable research. Almost every point CN makes is backed up with an example or a fact or a statistic. CN dedicates a chapter to Caitlyn Jenner and how Bruce Jenner’s transition changed how others view transgender people (both in a positive way and a negative way – CN has some concerns about Caitlyn that they mention in the book).

There are a lot of aspects of modern society that CN Lester delves into. They talks about popular TV shows and movies and how they misrepresent transgender people, mentioning CSI in particular because of how many episodes of the show have featured the transgender character as the victim:

“The inclusion of marginalised trans women as jokes or victims only is not a new trend.”

This book is extremely well-written, presenting a fool proof argument for almost every chapter but also making sure to focus each chapter on different things so the reader doesn’t find themselves bogged down with too much information. CN Lester also talks about labels and the correct terminology for certain identities:

“Crucially, when talking about young people, the term ‘gender non-conforming’ is used, rather than trans. A gender non-conforming child could be a child challenging traditional ideas of gender expression: a little boy who is adamant that he wants to wear dresses and be a princess.”

I found out so much about transgender representation in film and TV, and also how they’re presented in the media. I found out a lot about how they like to be seen or viewed or spoken to, and there was a lot in the book about well-known trans people throughout history who accomplished certain things or who became a pillar for those struggling to come to terms with who they were.

At times this book felt a bit too much like an academic essay, with so many sources sighted and so many examples noted. What I would’ve liked from this book was more of a sense of CN Lester’s own experiences. I got to the end of the book and felt like I didn’t know much about the author. I didn’t know much about their journey, but rather what they observed of others and how those others were perceived.

CN doesn’t mention much about their own experiences (only what is said in the beginning and then dropped in throughout the book) and CN doesn’t mention much about trans friends either. Most of the examples given are of famous trans people or well-known personalities from history. Some of them died long ago. And although this is an interesting read, it felt a little heavy at times. I would’ve liked for CN Lester to have put a bit more memoir into this book to dilute the academic nature of it all.

If you’re a trans person then you’ll love CN Lester’s determination to strive for authenticity in modern society. If you’re not trans, you’ll learn a lot from this book. It’s thick with study and statistics at times and it’s very heavy on the academia, but it’s still very informative.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Trans Like Me
CN Lester
June 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan

Authors Brian Conaghan and Sarah Crossan have joined forces to tell the story of Nicu and Jess, two troubled teens whose paths cross in the unlikeliest of places.

Nicu has emigrated from Romania and is struggling to find his place in his new home. Meanwhile, Jess’s home life is overshadowed by violence. When Nicu and Jess meet, what starts out as friendship grows into romance as the two bond over their painful pasts and hopeful futures. But will they be able to save each other, let alone themselves?

We Come Apart is a YA novel written in verse form, telling the story of two teenagers whose lives may be very different but both teenagers are feeling lost and alone.

Jess’ step dad abuses her mother and her brother skips out on them to live with his girlfriend. Nicu is a Romanian immigrant who is new to London and his family are lining up a wife for him. It’s his culture, he explains to Jess. But Nicu doesn’t want to marry a stranger and he doesn’t know what to do about that.

I am fifteen
and man now,
so my working in lorry van
make much sense.

Real reason we come to
England
is because I am
older,
and cannot be without
working
wealth,
or
wife.
-NICU

When the two of them meet doing community service, they become friends. They seem to bond over their broken homes and their troubled consciences, and Jess starts to separate from her friends at school. She’s popular, but they all treat Nicu terribly and she doesn’t want to stand around and watch. The boys make threats to Nicu, and they scare him in the change rooms.

I’ve been stealing stuff for ages,
Can’t remember the first time any more,
but it was way before
I started secondary school.

Small stuff back then —
other kids’ rulers,
fags from Mum’s bag.
-JESS

The style of writing in the book makes this a really quick read. You can flick through the book in one sitting. Because this is poetry and not prose, there is a lot more left unsaid than said, but I’m sure that this was the intention. The placement of each word is almost as important as the words themselves, conveying meaning in their positioning and drawing focus to emphasis.

Nicu’s story seems timely, no matter where in the world you live. In most schools, there are always going to be children who have arrived from another part of the world. Perhaps their English isn’t that great, or their religious or cultural practices are a little different from the other kids. We Come Apart highlights the bullying and racism that can go on in high school when an international student arrives.

At school I am
The boy worse than death.
Me,
the boy people won’t waste breath on.
-NICU

Both the characters are wonderful. Jess is snappy, bossy and withdrawn, and Nicu is approachable, friendly, and overly trusting. They seem like unlikely friends, but the hardships in their lives allows them to bond and forge a friendship and then a relationship.

Their relationship is not the main focus of the story, but pivots around many other elements of the book.

Shadows moving behind the front door.
A leg.
A head.
and I hear it too.
A thud.
A Scream.
And when I go in
Mum’s lying in the hallway,
blood seeping into the rug,
Terry standing over her,
his phone on the hall table.
-JESS

Don’t let the verse format of the book scare you off reading it. I’d recommend this to young adult readers, but also to people who are readers of poetry.

We Come Apart
Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan
February 2017
Bloomsbury Publishers Australia

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