Short Story Sunday: Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay
Graceful Burdens
Series: Out of Line
Author: Roxane Gay
Narrator: Samira Wiley
Published: September 1, 2020
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: June 8, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
From New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay comes an unforgettable tale of nightmarish bureaucracy in which genetic profiling has redefined the “unfit mother.”
A trip to the library prompts one woman to question her fate in this galvanizing short story. For a woman like Hadley, deemed not acceptable to procreate, there’s only one recourse. Unlicensed for motherhood, she can alleviate her grief and frustration at a “baby library,” where a curiously endless supply of infants is available for a two-week loan. But the borrowed life that serves as a temporary balm leads to a journey of self-discovery that will forever change the direction of Hadley’s future.
Roxane Gay’s Graceful Burdens is part of Out of Line, an incisive collection of funny, enraging, and hopeful stories of women’s empowerment and escape. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.
Jessica’s Review:
This story takes place in a dystopian world where women are evaluated to determine whether or not they will be permitted to have children. They undergo testing at age 16 to see if they will be allowed to procreate. We see both sides of this world through Hadley who is unlicensed to have children and Seraphina who is licensed.
There are libraries in this world where only women can ‘borrow’ a child for up to two weeks. These children are no longer ‘borrowable’ once they hit three years old. Hadley checks out a baby girl as only girls can be ‘borrowed’. We also see Seraphina who has children but doesn’t really want them. It still seems like the ‘grass is greener on the other side’ even in this dystopian world.
I can’t say much more than this because it would give away what happens in the short story. There is much more that could be done with this story: It is another one I would like to see expanded because of the direction it goes in. It is an intriguing story that also makes you think.
Book Review: The Ice Queen by Nele Neuhaus
The Ice Queen
Series: Bodenstein & Kirchhoff #3
Author: Nele Neuhaus
Published: January 13, 2015
352 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
The body of 92-year-old Jossi Goldberg, Holocaust survivor and American citizen, is found shot to death execution style in his house near Frankfurt. A five-digit number is scrawled in blood at the murder scene. The autopsy reveals an old and unsuccessfully covered tattoo on the corpse’s arm—a blood type marker once used by Hitler’s SS. Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver Bodenstein are faced with a riddle. Was the old man not Jewish after all? Who was he, really? Two more, similar murders happen—one of a wheelchair-bound old lady in a nursing home, and one of a man with a cellar filled with Nazi paraphernalia—and slowly the connections between the victims becomes evident: All of them were lifelong friends with Vera von Kaltensee, baroness, well-respected philanthropist, and head of an old, rich family that she rules with an iron fist. Pia and Oliver follow the trail, which leads them all the way back to the end of World War II and the area of Poland that then belonged to East Prussia. No one is who they claim to be, and things only begin to make sense when the two investigators realize what the bloody number stands for, and uncover an old diary and an eyewitness who is finally willing to come forward.
Nele Neuhaus’s The Ice Queen is a character- and plot-driven mystery about revenge, power, and long-forgotten and covered up secrets from a time in German history that still affects the present.
Kim’s Review:
Dang, these European mysteries are complicated!! That’s the main reason I gave it 4 stars; there are so many names!! It felt like the story got all muddled in the beginning and took so many pages just to unmuddle it again! Thankfully, once I got about a third of the way through, things started to unravel and make sense. If you can keep the characters straight, this is actually a pretty good mystery. It kept me guessing almost until the end. I was very impressed with the resolution! I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t say anything more! It is the 3rd book in a series, which I didn’t know when I started reading it, but it was an issue. An occasional comment that didn’t make sense, but nothing to do with the plot. The main characters were actually pretty likable and had interesting arcs. They weren’t perfect by any means but the fact that I came out still liking them says a lot! So overall, a pretty good book that I would recommend!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaverbøl and Agnete Friis
Invisible Murder
Series: Nina Borg #2
Authors:
Lene Kaaverbøl
Agnete Friis
Published: October 2, 2012
339 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Scavenging hospital ruins in northern Hungary, two Roma boys stumble on something more valuable than usual black market finds. The chain of events threatens many lives. In Denmark, Red Cross nurse Nina Borg puts her life and family on the line when she treats Hungarian Gypsies living illegally in a Copenhagen garage. What are they hiding? What makes them so sick?
Kim’s Review:
Meh. I bought this book because it promised an old Soviet hospital, but it only showed up for a couple pages. So yeah. The rest was just kinda meh. The characters were the most interesting part, but even they were kinda flat. And just when I thought everything was gonna explode, it just fizzled. The resolution was incredibly anticlimactic. Plus, the motivation for the entire book was political, but not even interesting political. Basically just a Karen who had too much time on her hands … and I’m not even kidding. Did it hold my attention? Mostly, which is why it’s getting 3 stars instead of 2. But would I recommend it or even say that I enjoyed it? Nope, not really.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
