RaveBookreporterWilliams beautifully connects the loss of people with the loss of words ... Williams brilliantly ties in the influences of both the women’s suffrage movement and World War I ... If you’re a word lover, linguist, lexicographer or grammarian, this is the novel you’ve been waiting for without even realizing it. If you never thought of words in this way before, don’t worry: Williams will convince you of a word’s importance in a most lovely and charismatic story.
Megan Nolan
PositiveBookreporter... her self-awareness is profound and evocative ... heavy and designed to make readers feel uncomfortable, but its language is still stunning ... despite Nolan writing beautiful introspective lines, there seems to be little cohesion across the narrative. This is perhaps because the novel reads like a series of diary entries focused solely on the writer’s emotions and thought processes. The narrator preferred to \'tell more than \'show,\' and this makes it difficult for the reader to fully comprehend her situation. She felt unreliable, despite her demonstrating some newfound insight as she looked upon her past. It’s evident that the narrator must have grown between the time of her relationship with Ciaran and the time at which she is recounting it, but couldn’t the narrator have also taken the time to enlighten her audience more? ... The plot reads as if some parts were left unfinished ... It might be frustrating, but it’s well done. Don’t we all know people who only consider their own narratives? This notion can inspire some reflection of our own actions, and that might be the best part of Acts of Desperation. Readers can see the sad, even ugly, parts of themselves within its narrator and gain new sympathies, knowing that we all can act in such similarly desperate ways.
Elizabeth Miki Brina
RaveBookreporterBrina uses simple, direct language, often in the subject-verb-object format, to her advantage in order to paint blunt pictures, which reminds readers of her mother ... Each setting Brina paints is honest and, at times, brutal, whether it be a depiction of the Battle of Okinawa or an analysis of her parents’ marriage ... Brina’s awareness of her faults is as refreshing as it is hard to read. It can feel like we are reading about our own mistakes, but she does this to show that it is not too late to turn back and correct our wrongs. Speak, Okinawa is a beautiful request, from the prodigal daughter of an oppressed land, to take the time to listen to one another.
Julia Fine
PositiveBookreporterAt times, I am frustrated by horror or semi-horror stories that intertwine the supernatural with mental illness. The key word is \'frustrated,\' because I don’t dislike that narrative tool; in fact, the frustration shows that it works! The plot is unnerving in that the reader can’t distinguish reality from illusions, but here\'s something to keep in mind: Just because others can\'t experience what Megan does, it doesn\'t mean that the events aren\'t true. Her visions signify her mental health, and The Upstairs House validates those with postpartum depression and other mental illnesses by making Megan’s interactions with Margaret and Michael as real and disorienting as possible ... One of the things that really helped push the book’s themes forward was Fine’s sprinkling of etymologies throughout the narrative ... makes for an unsettling read that may inspire a desire to advocate for improved resources for new mothers.
