KIM NGUYEN LOVE

Media Designer and Communications

Working space

WARNING: I write entirely in run-on sentences

The Q Amy Tintera 4 Stars Sometimes when I’m reading an audiobook, I just assume at the spelling of names (as opposed to just assuming at their pronunciation when I’m reading-reading a book). In this case, I thought it odd that a character would be named Lenin. Lennon, the character’s actual name, made a whole lot more sense. The book itself was an engaging post-apocalyptic trek through a lawless land. YA adventure at its finest. 3/26/23

The Q, Amy tintera

Our Missing Hearts Celeste Ng 4 Stars I hadn’t realized this book would be set against a dystopic backdrop. But it’s one just a couple tiny missteps away from our world today, so close an alternate reality that it hardly feels imagined at all. The timing is apt. The everyday evocation of the threat of Chinese apps, Chinese drones, Chinese viruses, pandemic stories of Asian Americans targeted with racist violence. The one thing our wildly divided politicos and public can agree on is the untrustworthiness of China, with our Dem President positing on what he’d do “if China threatens our sovereignty,” like a movie cowboy swaggering against the The Bad Guys. 3/28/23

Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng

The Genesis of Misery Neon Yang 3 Stars It shouldn’t be surprising that it’s been in fantasy books that I’ve found the most inclusive explorations of gender and sexuality. It is, unfortunately, a sort of fantasy to have expansive uses of pronouns, broad arrays of identity, be just generally accepted, and not have it BE the story. But, I do wish I actually enjoyed this book more. I just couldn’t get into it, kept feeling like the story was on the wrong side of right. 3/17/23

The Genesis of Misery, Neon Yang

Glory NoViolet Bulawayo 4 Stars Animal Farm is the obvious comparison, though I've never read it. And admittedly, ashamedly, I know even less about Zimbabwe's political upheavals. Easy enough to say that totalitarianism is a terror dealt with in other places by other people, in a novel played out by animals. But when I can recognize the aspirations and tactics that pave its way play out on the day's news... 3/5/23

Glory, NoViolet Bulawayo

Nightcrawling Leila Mottley 4 Stars Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta James Hannaham 5 Stars I've been feeling like universality is over-rated. Like, when I read a take on how a tragic Jane Doe is facing all the same problems as you... that just feels wrong. Like we're just mooshing a difficult book into a larger story that's easier to digest. Maybe we don't need to be able to relate for a story to be relevant. Like how when I was a kid, the protagonists were always boys because boys are universal and girls are not. Until Ramona Quimby, whos fans extoll for her universality, but who also was not. But then when I see another take on how eye-opening X book is to parts of the world/nation/community the reader isn't normally exposed to... that doesn't feel right either. Like we're putting a lot of responsibility on one story to bridge a vast and ever-growing gap in experience. All of this to say, I don't know how to write about some books without feeling and sounding and probably being condescending. These two books were in no way the same, but I'm lumping them together because they were both riveting reads, with urgent and distinctive voices, and I hope that people read them, and read them without pegging them to how the books make them feel/grow/understand more about themselves. 3/5/23

Nightcrawling, Leila Mottley and Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta, James Hannaham

If I Survive You Jonathan Escoffery 5 stars I'm drawn to the parts of these stories about parenting or being parented from an emotional or physical distance (sometimes both), through barriers of culture and sometimes language and definitely age. But the stories evolve on to other topics, people evolve to their next selves. And sometimes we get telling glimpses of people on the periphery. And it's like the progression of the stories are a life themselves. 2/20/23

If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery

Akata Woman Nnedi Okorafor 4 Stars Better than I expected for a book three deep into a series. not entirely memorable, but a captivating hero's journey with a protagonist who is self-aware enough to be an enjoyable guide. So much of fantasy is populated by characters who are pure angst, wallowing for pages at the onus of the expectations they labor under. Here, we have a crew that relishes in the adventure and that makes for a fun read. 2/20/23

Akata Woman, Nnedi Okorafor

The Book Eaters Sunyi Dean 4 stars Some vampire-ish creepiness, mixed into a generally dystopian premise. This one's an un-subtle analogy where women are kept in check by controlling hte books they eat, and yeah, the knowledge they have access to. And also by actually controlling the women themselves. Regardless, it's an interesting enough story played out by compelling enough characters to keep the pages turning quickly. 2/7/23

The Book Eaters, Sunyi Dean

Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California Dave Chisholm 4 stars An engaging take on the biographical graphic novel, told through the perspectives of people surrounding Charlie Parker in the months/years/weeks leading up to a single performance. It doesn't fall back on sentimentality, or smooth down the man to a palatable story. And the way the climax of the musical performance is envisioned... only an illustrator who is themself a musician could pull it off so beautifully. 2/7/23

Chasin’ the Bird, Dave Chisholm

The Hacienda Isabel Cañas 3 stars The book delivers on its promise of a creepy gothic mood. But the entire thing vibrates at a single melodramatically-high level of emotion, fee and desire sharing the same pitch. There's no nuance. Bad guys are bad, good guys are good. Vague personal histories didn't amount to anything important, rendering the conclusion both obvious and unsatisfying. 2/7/23

The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas