Book Talk: The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

You may already be familiar with Rupi Kaur’s work and not fully realize it, just like I was before I read The Sun and Her Flowers. Kaur is Instagram famous for her bite-size, uber-shareable poems, so her name was familiar to me, but I had never followed her myself or read her NYT bestselling debut, Milk and Honey. I figured I’d finally give her work a shot when I saw that this follow-up collection was immediately available in e-book through my library. Ultimately, what I’ve come to understand is this: Rupi Kaur is good at writing modern-day aphorisms for the Instagram-hungry millennial audience. They may not be wholly original, but they’re certainly shareable.

Book Talk: Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

In Conversations with Friends, Rooney introduces us to Frances, a stoic 21-year-old college student and poet in Dublin. Her only close friend is the ever-boisterous Bobbi; they used to date, but now don’t. Still, their lives are intertwined, particularly by the spoken word poetry that they perform together. It is through this poetry that they meet an older couple, Melissa and Nick, who begin to shift the balance of their friendship. As Bobbi is drawn in by Melissa, Frances gravitates towards Nick, who offers a sense of calm and fulfillment she craves. As the plot unfolds, the characters act in ways you might not expect.

Book Talk: The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

I wanted to love this YA novel. Look at it! It’s beautiful and the premise is something I’d jump to read. Once you open the pages and dig in, however, you might find yourself wishing it were more.

Book Talk: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

If you enjoy creepy murder mysteries and psychological thrillers then you’ll probably like Sharp Objects. I took this photo right before a red-eye flight a few weeks back, then proceeded to finish it on the plane when I definitely should have been sleeping. Oops.

Book Talk: Plan B by Jonathan Tropper

Book: Plan B
Author: Jonathan Tropper
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Type: Tropper’s debut novel, and it shows.

Ben is 30 years old, and he isn’t too thrilled about it. He’s about to divorce Sarah after just a few years, he’s stuck in a rut at his job writing for Esquire, and he’s probably still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Lindsey. Oh, and he also just found out that his good friend from college, dreamy action movie star Jack Shaw, has a major coke addiction problem. Ben and his friends from NYU – Chuck, Allison and, of course, Lindsey – get together to plan a celebrity-size intervention for Jack. Let’s just say it doesn’t go quite according to plan.

Spoiler alert.

They lose Jack. Of course they lose Jack.

Plan B has all the elements of a typical Tropper novel: A thirty-something divorcé slash writer, a lonely man, unrequited love with a practically perfect ex, a cast of kooky old friends, some cursing, and absent father figures. But these elements just didn’t come together in the hilarious, raunchy, sentimental roller coaster ride that is Tropper’s now-established style. Instead, Plan B‘s dialogue was shallow, the romance was dull, and the character whose recovery we’re supposed to be rooting for, Jack Shaw, comes off as kind of an asshole. Also, it was about 100 pages too long.

We’ll cut Tropper some slack this time. It was his first novel and his work seems to be improving with time. So skip this one and read his beautifully intense Book of Joe or  laugh-out-loud This Is Where I Leave You instead.

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Not sure what a 2/5 star rating means? Check out the Book Talk Review Guide here!