I believe my reading taste is very odd in terms of what I like to read. One month I will read a fictional book that depicts different women’s perspectives, and the next month I will read the cheesiest, most cliche teen fiction novel. With that in mind, from the books I have read this year, here are some of my recommendations!
- Something Wild by Hannah Halperin
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This is one the first books I read this year and I found it front and center on the Barnes and Noble website. The book is centered around the Bloom family women, Lorraine, the mother, and her daughters, Nessa and Tanya. Lorraine and her husband of 10 years (not the daughters’ father) are moving from their place in Arlington. Nessa and Tanya come to help them move, which seems like the ordinary family stuff at first glance. However, there is some darkness that looms as the two daughters discover that Lorraine is in an abusive relationship. Something Wild is a novel that illustrates the love-hate relationship between two sisters and their desires of adolescence. Additionally, the novel tells the story of the two sisters breaking the cycle of domestic violence trauma that started with their mother. All three women have had different, but struggling and traumatic experiences with men that they all react differently from.
To me, Something Wild is an outstanding, harsh, intense, but also inspirational novel about women’s resilience and standing up for themselves. I remember in high school getting the domestic violence talk. As a high schooler I was horrified and thought, “How can people hurt someone they love in that way?” For the entire book, I was scared for Lorraine. Honestly, the way Nessa and Tanya reacted could describe how I felt. Reading this book, I felt helplessness, sadness, hopelessness, and eventually rage for everything the Bloom women have been through. Without spoiling anything, Lorraine is not the only one that is suffering. Her own daughters have still not come to terms with something they experienced in adolescence which comes up to boil.
Overall, this book was a tearjerker and I hundred percent recommend reading it.
- Well Behaved Indian Women by Samauya Dave
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Well Behaved Indian Women was another book I decided to read because it was featured on the Barnes and Noble website (where most of what I read comes from). Additionally, the author has the same last name as me, so I thought it might be fate. Well Behaved Indian Women narrates the stories of Indian mothers and daughters over three generations: Simran, Nadini, and Mimi. All three women navigate the world the best as they can, and the way they learn to challenge and support one another kind of reminds me of the Villanueva women from Jane the Virgin. Simren, in her 20s, is pursuing a psychology major and has also written a book. Her parents are Nadini and Ranjit Mehta, who are both doctors and hope that Simren follows their footsteps, overlooking her writing as a hobby. She is engaged to Kunal, her high school sweetheart, who is studying to be a doctor. Throughout the book, Simren questions her career choice and if her engagement was the right choice. Taking a break from her studies and an attempt to salvage her relationship between Kunal and her, Simren takes a trip to India to visit her grandmother. Simren’s mother, Nandini, perfectly balances her personal and professional life, but on the inside, she is still struggling to find what makes her happy. Nadini’s mother and Simren’s grandmother, Mimi, is a determined and witty woman who has reached the highest standards of respect in the Indian society; however, she feels like she has failed her family.
Reading this book hit a little too close to home for me. As I grow older, I have started to see the double standards of women in Indian society and how it is usually just the women who undergo the judgment and shaming of their choices. “People always blamed the mother when the kids weren’t doing well.” This quote encompasses the hardships of a mother, showing eagerness for Indian society to judge her when things go wrong. It is true that after marriage there are so many sacrifices that a woman makes and this element is quite prevalent in the book. Samauya Dave also manages to emphasize the biased gender roles that are still common in today’s society. For example, the way women are deemed to behave in a marriage is completely different than what is expected from the man.
Overall, this mother-daughter story has a lot of relatable content for an Indian woman and I would definitely recommend reading it.
- Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
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I read Of Women and Salt which was located in the “more like this” tab under the Something Wild page on the Barnes and Noble website. Of Women and Salt consists of short stories about five generations of Cuban women throughout different time periods. In the present day, we have Jeannette, who is the main protagonist in the book. Jeannete is dealing with a substance abuse problem and a toxic boyfriend who feels alienated from her mother despite the financial support she receives from her. We also have Maria Isabel, who was a cigar roller before the Ten Years War where Cuba declared independence from Spain. We get a glimpse of the politics and history in Cuba during various time periods and how different historical events affected the women in this book. Additionally, we get a glimpse into the complications of the immigration system in the US. Another character that is brought up frequently in the book includes Jeannete’s neighbor, Gloria, who is picked up by ICE and abandons her daughter, Ana.
As I read this book, I felt for each woman and their own traumatic circumstances whether be it rape, political upheaval, drug addiction or deportation. As distressing as it was reading this book, I appreciated the realities, issues and themes Gabriela Garcia portrays. It was a little hard with remembering who is related to who because there are many characters in the stories; however, Garcia provides a family tree at the beginning of the book. Even though the book is set during the Obama administration, it feels more fitting to have it be set in our current times.
I one hundred percent recommend this story about Cuba, deportation, addiction and privilege–– but mostly about mothers and daughters.
Yes, most of these books narrate different women and their experiences of the world. However, each character from these books brings a different perspective and reacts to trauma differently. All these women in these books inspire me to overcome my personal obstacles and stand up for myself. Yes, these books are not your typical run-of-the-mill teen fictions, but there is a lot you can learn from them. I hope you enjoy these novels as much as I did.