book

The Things We Never Say

By Elizabeth Strout ★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10 ""And now he knew why. Because to say anything real was to say things that nobody wanted to know. Or if they wanted to know, they would not care in the right way. Or even understand. It..."

By Elizabeth Strout

★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

204 pages

What’s it about?

Artie Dam is a 57-year-old high school history teacher living with his wife, Evie, in coastal Massachusetts. He has an adult son whom he loves and several close friends, and yet he feels increasingly lonely and sad. Then one day he learns a terrible secret from his past that makes him rethink his life.

What did it make me think about?

"...but he had somehow missed this fact about every single person: that they held within themselves a vast, unknowable universe."

Should I read it?

I LOVE all the books I have read by Elizabeth Strout. Some more than others- but they all make me feel such empathy for her characters. She has a gift for writing such sparse prose that says so much. Artie is such a kind man who is trying hard to really see the people around him. Especially his students. I personally wish the author had not chosen to use the 2024 election to highlight how little we understand each other. Politics is so divisive; I am afraid it will turn many people away from the story. I still loved the book, though. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a quiet book with sharp insights into human character.

A passage I marked

"And now he knew why. Because to say anything real was to say things that nobody wanted to know. Or if they wanted to know, they would not care in the right way. Or even understand.
It was a private thing, to be alive. He understood this now."

The Doorman

By Chris Pavone ★★★★★★★½☆☆ 7.5/10 ""The corrosive thing about New York is that there's always someone with more- more money, more fame, more power, more respect. It's hard to ever feel as if you've truly made it, hard to stop..."

The Pirate Queen

By Ariel Lawhon ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10 ""Murder an Irishman, and it will cost you your life. Slaughter an Irish child, and they'll make you beg before they let you die. But rape an Irishwoman, and they will take your manhood before..."

The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford

By Nafissa Thompson-Spires ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7/10 ""He tried not to show it in front of the children, but since Mae died, he had less control, and if there was one thing Rich loved, more than his money or me or the children, it was control."..."

American Hagwon

By Min Jin Lee ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10 ""I called this meeting in the hopes of pointing out that our community, socio-economic class, culture, and history all seem to demand a kind of unattainable achievement, and it's harming our..."