After getting stuck in an elevator with Drew, Alexa agrees to be his plus-one to his ex's wedding. Their fake date blossoms into an intense physical aAfter getting stuck in an elevator with Drew, Alexa agrees to be his plus-one to his ex's wedding. Their fake date blossoms into an intense physical attraction, and later, an emotional one. Alexa is chief of staff for the mayor of Oakland, and Drew is a pediatric doctor living in L.A., and they both find ways to make long-distance work. This book is sexy, a literary rom-com that I happily indulged in.
Guillory's narrative skills elevated this book in so many ways. It was saturated with love and lovers and lots and lots of sex, but there were so many levels to everything. This book is more than just a romance novel. It deals with sociopolitical issues (however lightly), family drama, and emotional healing. Even more, Alexa is black and Drew is white, and this isn't just swept under the rug. Alexa points out Drew's privilege and he has to come to terms with it.
In the narration, the perspective shifts slightly from Alexa to Drew and back again during this romantic entanglement, a technique that adds texture to this story.
This book is difficult to put down. When it ended, I re-read the first 100 pages because I had a hard time letting go. It was yummy, and when it was done, I had a distinct the-cake-is-all-gone feeling. I highly recommend this book.
When I tell you I was sad that the novel had to end, believe me. It was...more
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique is a masterpiece. I do not say this lightly. It is now part of my personal canon.
Land of Love and DrowniLand of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique is a masterpiece. I do not say this lightly. It is now part of my personal canon.
Land of Love and Drowning is a complex story with lots of interwoven pieces. It follows the lineage of Antoinette, a woman from Anegada—literally the land of drowning, deserts her lobster fisherman intended for Arthur Owen, a ship captain. The two have two daughters, Eeona and Anette, and Owen Arthur has a son Jacob Esau by another woman. The lines between familial love and romantic love are blurred and crossed in this book, and it make for a rich, out-of-the-box, beautiful narrative. The Caribbean’s history comes alive in the text, even in moments when the story doesn’t follow real life events exactly as they happened.
The book will swallow you, but you will not drown if you know how to swim. The imagery, the language, all mermaid beautiful. The language was my favorite. The prose was poetic, ebbing and flowing like the sea at crescent moon. The whole story was a poem. Tiphanie Yanique is a masterful storyteller skilled at maintaining tension between characters, settings, and histories. She moves so smoothly, almost like the sea itself during crescent moon. She shows the reader the future in a narrative grounded in the present. She tells you what is going to happen, but doesn’t give anything away. It’s a marvelous balancing act, and it makes it seem as if we’re living in past, present, and future all at once, which is kind of what it’s like when I’m reading Caribbean stories.
All the good feels I ever get from reading a book were amplified with this one. This is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2017. I can’t wait to pick up more books by Tiphanie Yanique....more
My favorite things about this collection is Morgan Parker's lack of fucks. This collection is beautiful and vulnerable and unafraid of being perceivedMy favorite things about this collection is Morgan Parker's lack of fucks. This collection is beautiful and vulnerable and unafraid of being perceived as "too needy" or "too aggressive," which I aspire to in my real life life. Even though Beyoncé is invoked in the title of the collection, the book isn't really about her. It's about black women the world over, living in a world that only sporadically loves them back....more
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