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Post by bumblebuzz21 on May 19, 2022 7:20:50 GMT -5
The most recent Kelly is a nut job. Who takes the guy they just met to the funeral home and starts embalming someone? If I wasn't told it was a love story, I would never have known. I do like as a descriptor though.
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sal
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Post by sal on May 20, 2022 4:30:44 GMT -5
Day 5: Final thoughts? And a question (with some lead-in) from a book review I read, which we touched on a bit earlier in the week: There is a real electricity to the voice: both a moral urgency and an insistence on entertaining. Mott miraculously plants his novel very firmly in the present moment and American history, the novel calling equal parts to Ralph Ellison as it does to, say, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. It reminds us that, in all the heated urgency that was 2020 (and, less so, unfortunately, 2021) American racism—and our often-scripted responses to it—is nothing new. The novel coerces us into the uncomfortable question: how much has changed, really, from when Ellison published his Invisible Man in 1953 to Mott’s publication of Hell of a Book (featuring, it’s worth noting, the invisible and possibly imaginary character, The Kid) in 2021? The whole review here: mastersreview.com/reading-through-the-awards-hell-of-a-book-by-jason-mott/ |
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sal
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Post by sal on May 20, 2022 4:55:04 GMT -5
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Post by bumblebuzz21 on May 20, 2022 7:21:08 GMT -5
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone!
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Post by peacemama on May 20, 2022 8:00:59 GMT -5
"I know why your mom taught you to be invisible. She wanted to protect you."
One of the lines that still lingers with me. Painful, heartbreaking.
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Post by ccToast on May 20, 2022 11:50:09 GMT -5
sal, Thanks for leading this week's discussion.
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Post by juliajones54 on May 20, 2022 21:11:13 GMT -5
I will be recommending this book to several. I would have never read it without it being nominated and am so glad it made the list! I'll be reading Mott's other books now.
Thank you Sal and everyone, really great discussion questions this week, you all made me think!
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sal
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Post by sal on May 22, 2022 8:18:11 GMT -5
And I honestly picked this one just because the title caught my attention. Funny how that works sometimes.
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Post by bernelli on May 24, 2022 16:04:15 GMT -5
I'm late to this party, and just finished this book last night.
As always, I appreciate your differing viewpoints and perspectives on stories, especially when it's a story I don't particularly like or one that I struggled with. This is one that I really struggled with due to the fantastical quality. I've skimmed everyone's comments to get and overall idea of how everyone felt about the book and now I'm going to go back and read everything more deeply. Wish I didn't have to miss out on the conversation as it unfolded, but I'm glad I can still read your input even though I missed out on the "live unfolding"!
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Post by juliajones54 on Jun 4, 2022 16:01:57 GMT -5
Just wanted to say that I read Mott's book The Returned and liked it very much. Lots to think about with that one also.
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