Taking a break from Siddons Girl Summer to read the newest installment of the Wicked series by G.O.A.T.Gregory Maguire, Elphie. I have read the life and times of the wicked witch of the west a countless number of times, and I am excited to dive deep into the childhood of our beloved Elphaba by the man who knows her best. I'll be diving back into Siddons afterwards with Burnt Mountain. ttyl
I have finally finished Nora, Nora. As intrigued as I was about Siddons subversion of the "Manic Pixie Dream" cousin trope, it did not deliver. As I am writing this though, I am wondering if the point oh this book was for all expectations of how Nora -- the fly by night, esoteric, redded headed cousin who wears no bra, and chain smokes and love integration -- was supposed to change their lives. Though despite my current reworkings of my interpretation, I still wanted to feel like these interesting female characters that Siddons presented at the top of story got to be more fleshed out. Peyton, despite all the time we spend with her as she comes of age, and grows out of her tomboyish awkwardness, remains a mystery. what have we learned about her, what has she really learned about herself? Her irish witch grandmother who lives on a farm and who foresees Noras arrival, only for her visions to turn to paranoid delusions, hate Nora, and die from stroke complications in a nursing home, leaving in her wake, almost no lasting affect on the family. We learn nothing about her. And Nora herself, her final letter to Peyton is a self deprecating cliche about how she just can't stop herself from coming into peoples lives, letting them trust her, and then running, she's always running from safety. All of these things are very evident in her characterization thus far. The worst thing being the betrayal of her characterization with the introduction of a brand new character in the second to last chapter. I yearn to know these women. To really understand how their presence in each others lives and how they have changed each other, but really we just get flat characterization chapter after chapter. We still get all of the Siddons charm of prose, but I am missing feeling enthralled by the presence of these women she is writing, like I was in Hill Towns. Like an idea she never really fleshed out all the way. BUT we Do get Siddons fixation on a mothers tragic death that is somehow related to her desire for risky sexual behavior. Lots to unpack.
Random library pick. The synopsis on the inside covers slip really got me. Southern gothic, beach read,
really gets you in the psyhe of mid-century neurotic white women, in the best way. Anne Rivers Siddons is if
Faulkner was a libbed out white lady from Atlanta. Hot beach read for the sexually liberated southern women
who's never taken a mirror to her own clit. I highly recommend it. She really allows you to live in the scenery.
read Summer 2025
I had been waiting for the release of this book since it was announced and boy did it deliver.
There are a lot of reasons to be grateful for being black and queer at this time in the world,
but one of them is definitely being alive while Rivers Solomon is writing. This is such potent, heartbreaking,
and unsettling horror that will make you occilate between wanting your mom to read it immediately and
never letting her touch a copy of this book, ever. Fae touches the body of my shame in ways only
the deep holler of the night has ever done, only to show me it is something I can also do, though it is scary to do,
but you should do it, you should be free. we should all be free.