Book Review: Bellies
October 4, 2023
Through understated prose and a deep care for her characters, Dinan explores the challenges and rewards of being vulnerable
Through understated prose and a deep care for her characters, Dinan explores the challenges and rewards of being vulnerable
A brilliant balance of the author’s signature philosophical musings as well as wonderful characters and storytelling.
I loved this clever, meandering, explorative and delightfully messy novel about academia, memory, and identity.
Mcphee-Browne trudges up an array of emotions without ever becoming pretentious, creating the most perceptive and vulnerable novel…
The characters are complex and relatable, and their struggles in this nightmarish world evoke deep empathy.
The prose is incredibly understated. It’s stripped back, slowed-down and focused on small moments surrounded by empty space.
A heartwarming yet realistic novel about devotion, war, and the lengths people go to for love. Based on a true story.
Hilarious, wise, sometimes surreal, deeply emotional, this is some of the best writing about loss I’ve ever read.
I inhaled this warm, funny and occasionally heart-breaking novel about found family set between worn-torn England and sumptuous Italy.
Clark skilfully explores teenage friendship and manipulation, 2010’s internet culture, and the politics of class with a sharp eye.
Love, identity, grief, immigration and belonging are explored tenderly. I loved the music that was woven through the writing
There’s no traditional story arc here, she paints impressionistic moments join together to create a picture of our anxious and absurd times.
It interweaves fairy tales and biblical narrative to reflect the interconnectedness and confusion of faith and identity.
Eng is a mesmerizing writer – his graceful, atmospheric prose weaving characters, storylines, times, and places with aching poignancy.
McCracken delights in human absurdity and the slippery art of writing about your family – be it fiction or memoir, or both at once.
The story is told through the eyes of two female protagonists on the opposite spectrum of society, and as I read their stories, I found myself engaging with each one.
The twin sister’s story highlights the conflicting feelings of being too much and also not enough; of being so close to someone and yet so far apart; of loving a person overwhelmingly but still resenting them greatly for their presence and their absence.
A beautiful insight into the vastness of our small world and the impact that one event can have on many individuals.
Not only does it have important questions to ask about history, about art, about land, and the blundering colonial project generally – it’s also a gripping story bursting with a vivid array of characters, vibrant scenery and a good peppering of humour.
Rebecca F. Kuang has produced a gripping, hilarious satire – especially for anyone involved in or curious about the book trade.