It is turn-of-the-century New York leading up to the attacks on the World Trade Centre, and Ottessa Moshfegh’s unnamed female protagonist has withdrawn from the world with the help of drugs to spend the next year sleeping as much as she can. A.R. Tivadar responds to Moshfegh’s second novel with criticism in this, her latest review for the Reading Project.

There is a good premise here, but the execution leaves me cold. As a former depressed young adult, I can still understand the appeal of this idea: going to sleep until all your problems are over and you don’t have to deal with them directly. I believe it is what drew so many people to this novel, many of them fellow depressed young women looking to connect with a relatable character.

Skep returns to reviewing with the third book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series, Equal Rites!

This being my first time reading the Discworld novels in order of release, I’m only now struck by how significant a departure Equal Rites is from Pratchett’s first two novels. On the face of it, it’s exactly what you would expect from what we’ve seen so far: an offbeat adventure through a fantasy world featuring humorous characters, improbable situations, and tongue-in-cheek commentary on human nature. But once you discount all that, you realize this is a far more scaled-down, grounded story compared to Rincewind’s whirlwind escapades. We’re no longer hopping from antic to antic, connected only by the loosest threads of continuity. Instead, we’ve graduated to a full-on “STORY!” with all the features you would commonly expect, such as intrinsic and clashing character motivations, overarching themes indicative of authorial intent, and a plot.