book reviews: chronicle of a death foretold and betty-anne's helpful household hints, volume 2

chronicle of a death foretold

i still don’t really know what to think of this book. for a long time while reading, i was SO lost. and then, eventually, i started to realize that that sensation was being created on purpose. the book’s scenes sort of flow together in a strange, swirling river of specificity, time shifts, and the wavy lines between truth and “truth”. it is fascinating to me that this book essentially takes places all in one day. i’m reading this book as a part of a book club at work and i’m not totally what i’m supposed to get out of it for that context, but i have been pleasantly surprised by this short read. the foreshadowing starts from page 1 (well, really, from the title which is pretty on-the-nose) and at first i was annoyed by it. but in the last two chapters, i saw everything come together and it was super excellent. 5*****

betty-anne’s helpful household hints, volume 2

so my friend, annemarie, got me this book, mostly as a joke (i think). at first i was only gonna read it to honor the gift, but two things emerged. first: this book was a fascinating window into gender dynamics during the 1980s. the way the author writes about who was expected to do what in the household is striking. i knew/know sexist gender roles are a thing and were more of a thing in recent american history. but DAMN i didn’t know it was like THIS. second: there actually were a good number of tips in the book, hah! i marked it all up and someday, sometime, i’ll type up the quote from it… someday…

words / writing / post-processing
259w / 8min / 11min