New Releases and a New Doctor Who!

Trust is Pulitzer-nominated Diaz’s second novel. It’s actually four stories told in distinct styles and voices about capitalism, gender, love, and mental illness. The first, “Bonds,” has been likened to writings by Edith Wharton and follows a fictional character based on Andrew Bevel, and is written by Harold Vanner. Bevel survived the Wall Street crash of 1929 and became one of the richest men in the U.S.— and is, himself, also fictional (little bit of a story within a story, Book-ception situation going on here). Well, Bevel doesn’t care for Vanner’s portrayal of his life, and writes an unimaginative memoir in response (the drama!), which supplies the novel with its second story. The third is written by the daughter of an Italian anarchist in exile (more drama!) who is hired by a super messy Bevel and swallows her own ethics to help the magnate come for Vanner. The last story is from a journal written by Mildred, Bevel’s wife who suffered from mental illness, and whose writings give the story a bit of a twist.

If it seems a little confusing, it is a bit at first, but will make sense once you read it. It’s essentially giving multiple angles on a story of how one man came to be so rich even while the rest of the country entered into a depression, and all the people who were sacrificed for that to happen.

Siren Queen is about Luli Wei who is desperate to be a star in 1930s Hollywood. The industry she fights so hard to be a part of is one in which young female stars like her and her lovers are sacrificed and controlled. And one in which the only roles for outsider Chinese American girls are monsters. No matter, she plays the game and takes the roles given to her, navigating a world of dark and ancient magic.

Confession: I’m a Nghi Vo simp and am always down for her beautiful writing and magic realism, so there’s that…

Fuyuko Irie is a woman in her 30s who sees herself in a reflection one day and realizes that she’s not quite where she’d like to be in life (which reminds me of this). As a freelance editor living in a city where it’s hard to meet people, her social life only extends to interacting with her editor, Hijiri. She decides to stop making excuses for herself and steps outside of her comfort zone. By going to sign up for a class, she meets a man named Mitsutsuka who she starts meeting at a cafe regularly where they have conversations about the science of light.

As Mitsutsuka helps Fuyuko develop the changes she wants in life, so too do the women she knows, who are all quite different from each other. There is her editor, Hijiri, who is pro-sex and assertive, the more traditional Kyoko who dispproves of Hijiri, and Norioko whose marriage is in shambles. With poetic writing, Kawakami offers reflections on the nature of living and perception and how there’s no one right way to live as a woman.