(Book Review) Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Some people drink to forget, I smoke to remember”

I came to this book simply because I missed San Francisco and all of its freedom vibrant that city offer. Tho it’s all set in mid 70s, when I haven’t even born, it’s still a great remedy for my longing to SF. The vibe, the city corner, the places really brought me there with all the nostalgic moment I’ve spent in this city.

I usually got a problem with a novel whose so many characters. I remember when I read Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, I need half of the book to finally got a grip on it. But this “tight-knit family” style of Tales of the City somehow made me easy to get into it. It fills with so many loveable characters as well as pitiful people in it. I mean, who doesn’t love a helpless-romantic gay best friend Michael “Mouse” Tolliver? And of course, the eccentric I-got-it-all-under-control beloved landlady, Anna Madrigal. I feel like to jump directly to their series revival of this novels instead.

All I can say is that I can’t stop reading this. And I’m planning to read all the 9 novels or perhaps watch all the series. xD

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[Book Review] The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War – Ben Macintyre

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“It is perfectly possible for two people to listen to the same words and hear entirely different things.”

Above sentence also applies to how the readers of this book decide whether Oleg Gordievsky and Aldrich Ames are actually 2 similar different people, the traitor for their home country or the hero for the other country. Until you find out more that the main difference of those 2 people are in what drove them to cross through the enemy line.

We learned that Oleg Gordievsky was raised from a typical KGB family. His father was a proud and devoted KGB agent and even his big brother started his career right. Oleg was also bright, athletic and fast in learn foreign language which brought him to work at KGB even before he graduated from the uni. Until this part, we wouldn’t believe what could make him betrayed his country. But then, when he witnessed himself how his country invaded Czechoslovakia, and learned how brutal was it on the innocent people, he snapped and turned his back from Soviet Union. He began to questioned all the doctrines he received since he was born.

That reason was entirely different with what drove Aldrich Ames. Ames became a traitor purely because of money. A heavy drinker and a whinner who was also stuck in an unhealthy second marriage. It seemed like he didn’t care that much about the “big dump” when he gave his handler a bundled of documents consisted of 25 spies, as long as he got the security and safety.

Up until 70%, we learned about a lot of facts in this book. Sometimes I needed to turn back to previous pages to remember who was who that was mentioned in a particular chapter, because Macintyre gave a very detail information about both side. I love the tense that I felt during the Gordievsky escapes by fleeing across Finnish border. We already know he survived, but it really is thrilling and I couldn’t put down my book from its detail narrations.

Funny thing about my experience reading this book is that, at first, I didn’t know I was reading a true espionage story. But then, after feeling like I was reading a serial of articles in a newspaper that I kept waiting each week, then googled about it, I just realized how real the story was. That’s when I started my awesome journey through all the details Macintyre pour into this book.

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(Book Review) The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang

The Black Tides of Heaven (Tensorate, #1)

The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Let the black tides of heaven direct our lives,” he murmured. He turned to look at his partner. “I choose to swim.”

“People make mistakes. They can’t be mistakes.”

Real Score : 2.5/5.0
I wanted to give 2 stars during reading the book. But once I finished it, the story quite lingered in my mind and made me want to read the 2nd book. Although….not immediately.

I’m a character based reader. I love books with strong character. Unfortunately, the only strong characters here are the twins, Akeha and Mokoya. I could feel the strong bond between them, it’s even too strong that I thought Akeha would be an incest. But unfortunately, I couldn’t feel their bond with other characters, even with their significant other. Okay, I could see how Mokoya had a crush with Thennjay, but it seemed that everything is in rush I couldn’t feel their love. Even when Akeha said “I love you” to his partner, Yeongchow, it didn’t give me some sparks.

This undetailed information also happened in the story line. As this is a fantasy book, I think we need more explanation about something only occurs in this story. Some events are left told in such a hurry that it feels like I only know half of it. Is it because it’s only half part of the twin novella? maybe this is what makes me want to read the twin novel. Except the fact that I’m personally interested in Akeha himself.

I ended up reading this book because I wanted to read books with LGBTQ+ topic. This book somehow always made on the top 10 of it. After reading it, I can see clearly why. It’s a fantasy where every child born as a non-binary and will choose their gender in anytime they want and no one would judge or disallow. It is indeed a beautiful fantasy. I like it when Akeha told Yeongchow that he didn’t care if Yeongchow hadn’t undergo some physically process to confirm his gender. Because, what matters is what we decide about ourselves in our own mind and heart, right?

PS : I’m also a southeast asian just like JY Yang. So, I can understand some terms they used in this book. My fav one is when they chose “Cheebye” as a cursing word ;P

(Book Review) This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel book cover

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“How could you say yes to webbed feet but no to a dress, yes to being who you are but no to dressing like him? How did you teach your small human that it’s what’s inside that counts when the truth was everyone was pretty preoccupied with what you put on over the outside too?”

“Easy is nice, but it’s not as good as getting to be who you are or stand up for what you believe in”

This book is not centered on one transition in a family, but actually the whole family member. At the beginning it feels like Claude is a lucky boy when his family just accepted him of what he wanted to become. But when Claude transitioned as Poppy, the family changed too and easy is not exactly a word to describe what Poppy’s family experienced. I learned that an acceptance is not about we accept our family member as who they are, but also to admit to the world about who they actually are.

Reading this book really makes me devastated and heartbroken. In a good way. I love everyone here. I love Penn and his belief in fairy tail and fantasy. I’m so in love with his bedtime stories and how all the boys tucked in one bed to listen to their father’s story every night. I love Rosie and her logic. I sometimes rolled my eyes reading her thoughts and bold decisions, but then again, sometimes we need to be slapped with a reality. I love Roo and all of his mistakes that it’s actually a reflection on how confuse he is and how much he wanted to help his family. I love Ben and his kind warm heart. His witty brain and tender heart is showing how such a perfect brother he is. I love the twins Rigel and Orion. How they show behind his goofy characteristic, they all care about their family so much. And Claude/Poppy….what’s not to love? Their tender pure heart, the innocence and the vulnerability, everything in them just made me want to run toward them and hug them and tell him that he’s loved no matter what.

I’m so happy that this book has a happy ending. Like I said, it’s sometimes too devastating and heartbreaking to read. I even stopped for a couple of days because some of the events that happened here really hits close to my life and it triggered my anxiety attack.

I truly recommend this book to those who needs a lot of courage to come out, or to support our loved ones.

(Book Review) Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SPOILER ALERT

I’m writing this review because right now I’m still in withdrawal symptom after reading this and not ready to move on to other books. Yup, that’s the after effect of reading this Felix Ever After.

The way Kacen Callender write this beautiful story is so light and heartwarming that it lets me get drown in it. But behind that light and heartwarming there are so much ups and downs, much way deeper messages and some great learning about how to be an ally in LGBTQ+ community and, in this case, Transgender teens. I enjoy all the drama that is told here while also learn a lot on how to be a better human.

The story is really a rollercoaster. I gasped, shrieked, laughed, and yelped reading the stories. Sometimes I really feel annoyed how Felix thought about his friends, but then again, it’s actually what other teenagers would do when they still confused and, especially, questioning their identity. Ended up, I’m so attached with the story and interested in the characters here.

Somehow, I fell for Declan and Ezra. They’re just some lonely teenagers who are longing for love and affection. I love Leah as well. She’s such an angel! She fought with Marisol, her close friends, when she knew what Marisol said to Felix and she turned Austin, her cousins, to the dean when Felix and her found out about what he did at the gallery. She’s still 17, but she knows definitely how to behave in this world. I also cringed with some characters with their homophobic and transphobic attitude.

I just felt the ending is a bit rush suddenly. The way Felix finally decided that he’s a demiboy, that he’s willing to try with Declan, that he’s going to focus on himself and his art, or even when he’s decided that he’s actually in love with Ezra, it was only happened within 3-4 chapters out of total 25 chapters. Still acceptable, actually. Maybe I just didn’t want it to end too quickly as I’m being too engaged with it 😀

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***SPOILER ALERT***

SPOILER ALERT