November Wrap Up Pt. 1 _ 2018 _ Kendra Winchester

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Welcome back to my channel, where I'm excited to share with you the books that I've been reading throughout November. As we approach the end of the month, I thought it would be a great idea to catch up on some of the books that I've been meaning to read, and to share my thoughts with all of you.

First up is Esi Edugyan's Washington Black, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. As many of you may know, this book won the award in 2019, but for me, it will always be a close second. I believe that Washington Black is an adventure story about a young boy named Washington, or Wash, who escapes slavery and travels around the world.

Throughout the book, there's a lot of dialogue about slavery and how it was perceived differently across various parts of the world. There are also conversations about internalized racism and the racism of others. What I found particularly interesting about this book is its ability to tackle complex ideas in a way that feels accessible and engaging.

I read Washington Black with Doris over at AllD Books and Jaclyn from Six Minutes for Me, and we had some great discussions about the book. If you're interested in learning more about Esi Edugyan's work, I've linked their reviews below so you can check them out.

One of the things that struck me about Washington Black is its portrayal of a white savior complex. The character of Christopher, who takes Wash away from his home, feels like a classic example of this trope. However, what Esi Edugyan does is subvert it in a way that feels both thought-provoking and unsettling.

Another interesting aspect of the book is its exploration of parallels between different historical periods. One of the things I found particularly compelling is how the author uses Wash's experiences to comment on issues that are still relevant today. Overall, Washington Black is an incredible book that I think everyone should read. It's a must-have for anyone who loves historical fiction or is interested in exploring complex social issues.

In another exciting development, I had the opportunity to do a crossover episode with Jean from Jean's Bookish Thoughts, whose podcast is called That's Ancient History. We also crossed over with her podcast, and she recommended Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls. I actually read this book around the time that interview came out.

The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of Homer's Iliad, but with a unique twist: it focuses on the lives of the women who were involved in the Trojan War. One of the things I love about Pat Barker's writing is her ability to breathe new life into classic stories while still staying true to their original spirit.

One of the things that struck me about The Silence of the Girls was its feminist take on the lives of these women. It's easy to get caught up in the myths and legends surrounding the Trojan War, but Barker does an excellent job of shedding light on the experiences of the people who were often overlooked or marginalized.

For example, one of the most powerful aspects of the book is its portrayal of the suffering that Greek women faced during this time period. They were treated as slaves, concubines, and objects, rather than as human beings with agency and autonomy. It's a difficult thing to read at times, but it's also necessary.

Barker does an excellent job of conveying the complexity of these issues without romanticizing war or portraying the women in a way that feels stereotypical. She also avoids the temptation of erasing Achilles from the narrative altogether, which would have undermined the very point of the book.

Instead, she uses Wash's experiences to comment on the ways in which we can perpetuate these same patterns of oppression today. It's a powerful message that resonates throughout the entire book, and one that I think everyone should hear.

Finally, I want to talk about a memoir that I read recently called The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy. As many of you know, I'm not usually a fan of character-driven novels – I tend to prefer books that are more plot-focused or lyrical in their style. However, there was something about this book that drew me in and made me want to keep reading.

It's possible that it was the fact that I didn't get along with Levy's writing style in my past relationship with her – she wrote a character-driven novel called Hot Milk that didn't really resonate with me. So, when I heard that she had written a memoir, I was hesitant at first. But I decided to give it a try, and I'm so glad that I did.

The Cost of Living is a beautifully poetic memoir that explores Levy's experiences as a writer and her observations about the world around her. It's a book that feels both deeply personal and universally relatable – there are moments where you feel like you're reading Levy's innermost thoughts, but also moments where you realize that you're not alone in your own struggles.

Overall, I think The Cost of Living is an incredible book that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves memoirs or is interested in exploring the human experience.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHello, friends! My name is KendraWinchester. Welcome back to my channel,and I'm gonna be telling you about thebooks that I read in the first part ofNovember. I believe that's right. Some ofthese might be a little rollovers fromOctober, but we're just gonna jump rightinto them and start talking about them.So first up we have Esi Edugyan'sWASHINGTON BLACK, which was shortlistedfor the *Man Booker Prize, and myparticular pick to win. It did not win.That's fine. A woman still won. It's great, butthis was my favorite of the list. This isabout a young boy named Washington, orWash, and it's kind of like an adventurestory where he escaped slavery and goesall around the world.And there's a lot of dialogue aboutslavery in different parts of the worldand how its perceived or might have beenperceived at the time, and his ownstruggle with internalized racism andthe racism of others. I feel like mostpeople have already reviewed this book,so I don't really need to review thisbook. But I read this with Doris over at AllD Books and Jaclyn from Six Minutes forMe, and they had a lot of great things tosay. So I'm gonna link their reviewsdown below. You can go check it out. Again,this was my favorite from shortlist. It'san interesting book. I hadn't really readanything like this, and I feel like if Ireread it there would be so many morethings. I think she did a great job withthat part of the book, and yeah, there's alot of parallels. One of the things Ifound interesting is one of the men thattakes him away, his name is Christopher. Isee Esi Edugyan is directly conversing withthis idea of the white Savior—I mean hisname is Christopher for crying out loud—and just really tackling that idea. And Ijust I really love that part. I think shedid a great job and with that. So if youwant to know more about this bookdefinitely go check it out. So ReadingWoman did a crossover episode with Jean'spodcast. Jean from Jean's Bookish Thoughts,she has a podcast called That'sAncient History. So we did acrossover with her, and she recommendedPat Barker's THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS.I'll link Jean's interview with Pat Barker; I thought it was great. I actually readthis around the time that interview came out.And this is about the womenthat Achilles basically captured and thatwhole circumstances around that. It'slike a myth retelling; that's basicallywhat it was. Yeah, okay there you go. Oneof the things I really enjoy about thisbook is its feminist take on the livesof the women. The women are always justignored in THE ILIAD. They are slaves andconcubines, but basically not much else.And they really suffered a lot from war.And I keep thinking of like Crystal HanaKim's book IF YOU LEAVE ME, which looksat women and war. This also looks atwomen and war and how it was reallyatrocious for them, and they had verylittle independence and autonomy alreadyas a Greek women (or Trojan women—whatever). Point being, Greek women hadvery little independence, and so whenyou're treated as slaves like some ofthe women did fairly well if there werehigher class but you know fairly well asin at least sort of taking care of . . . ? It'sjust a really difficult thing to read, sothere is obviously a lot of violenceagainst women in this book, so just beaware it can be a very difficult book toread at times. But I appreciated her kindof removing the romanticization of warin this book. I see a some reviews sayingthat they were frustrated by howAchilles played such a huge role in thisbook, but the fact is, is that the bookactually cuts out a lot of Achilles'sheroic moments, such as his battle withHector and different things, and focuseson what the women are doing at the time.And you know a feminism doesn't meanthat you live outside the existence ofmen. You live with men in equality. SoI feel like if she had taken outAchilles totally, obviously it would notbe retelling of THE ILIAD. You kind ofneed him big big part of that. I don'tknow. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book.It's not, like, the best retelling thatI've ever read, but I would definitelypick up more of Pat Barker, and Ienjoyed seeing her perspective on THEILIAD, because as I said my biggest petpeeves is how women are just kind oftreated as objects in THE ILIAD. And itreally annoys me . . .Anyway, there's that one. Another bookthat I read is this really short memoirTHE COST OF LIVING by Deborah Levy. Sheis very good at writing these poeticlittle memoirs, and I read HOT MILK. Snd Ididn't really enjoy it.I just it's a character-driven novel, andif you hate the characters, it justdoesn't work for me. It's not that it wasa bad book. I just, no, no. She's not mykind of thing. So I was like kind ofhesitant to go into this book and pickit up because we didn't get along, youknow, in our past relationships. So I waslike, \"Well, I'll give it a try.\" Because a lotof people have been raving about thisbook and people who didn't like HOT MILKwere saying that they liked this book. SoI read it, and it is incredibly beautiful.Debra Levy—she's an amazing writer, and theway that she describes her life andthings in this book are just very poetic.It's very short, but I feel like shecommunicates a lot about what it's liketo be a middle-aged woman who divorced her husbandand then learn to live on your own again.So yeah, I really appreciate the kind ofbehind-the-scenes of that. I would beopen to reading more of her nonfictionin the future. But yeah, I would agreewith the general consensus that thisbook is really good. So this is a bookthat I haven't seen a lot of peoplereview in the United States, and that isTHE TRAUMA CLEANER by Sarah Krasnostein,and this is the subtitle is One Woman'sExtraordinary Life in the Business ofDeath, Decay, and Disaster. This was thewinner of the Victorian Prize forLiterature, and this book is about thisbook is about Sandra Pankhurst. You cansee a photo of her there. She owns acompany where she goes into hoarders'houses, or maybe there was a suicide or amurder or a crime scene of variousdifferent things, and she goes and cleansit. She's like an extreme cleaner, andwhat we learned from these alternatingchapters, we have the present which isbasically like different cases thatSandra is taking on and Sarah isfollowing her around and then we haveSandra's backstory.Now Sandra is a trans woman living inAustralia, but at the time, I think likethe 70s, it was very early on. Shedescribes her life to Sarah, andSarah writes it down. And I found this bookincredibly well-written, well-structured,just all the way around. It's just anincredible book. I will say that is verydifficult to read. If you are struggle toread really gross cleaning situationsthis may not be the book for you. But Ikeep her thinking of the excellentcharacter studies that all of myprofessors had me read in my writingclasses, and how each chapter,it's almost like you could have it as adocumentary show, which i think isactually happening (I might have to golook that up). So the author followsSandra around and goes to the differentcases and holds like a different episode.and you see more of Sandra's currentcharacter. But then also it'scontrasted with her past and who she wasbefore in her history. And I was justwow'd by this book, and I listened tothe audio of it. I actually started thisback in April when my migraine firststarted, and I was a hundred pages in anddidn't get the chance to finish it.Finally got the audio months later, juststarted over from the beginning,read it. Beautiful book. I just really . . . Ijust . . . I keep thinking about it. It'sdefinitely one I would want to reread,and I think that Sarah has justportrayed Sandra is such an interestinglight. And she seems to know when tobring herself into the narrative andwhen to stay out of it, which i think isincredibly difficult for writers tofigure out. And she did an amazing jobportraying Sandra and each new characterthat comes into the story as one ofSandra's clients. And and just everythingthat she did.THE TRAUMA CLEANER isn'tjust about her cleaning up thesesituations; it's about the trauma thatpeople have to clean up after in theirlives. So all of these characters who areSandra's clients have these difficultlife situations that kind of caused themto spiral out of control as hoarders, ormaybe that they were very sick, ordifferent things like that. And Sandraalso has those things. So it's like shehas cleaned up her own life, or is in theprocess of cleaning up her life, and thetrauma she's experienced and is helpingothers do the same that parallelsthroughout the book so beautifully.This is I just . . . I just love this book, andI think it's just very beautiful. Butagain, I do want to put a disclaimer onthis that this isn't for everyone. Thereis a very descriptive scene in which awoman is sexually assaulted anddifferent things, so you just need toprepare yourself, tobe aware of, if that's something youneed to be cautious about. But it is avery meaningful book and verywell-written book. I'm just gonnagush about that book for the rest of theyear. I'm so sad I didn't get finishedearlier and had more time to promoteit and tell you to go read it, because,yes, I love it so so much. Anyway, so thoseare the books that I read in the firsthalf of November. Tell me if you haveread any of these. Again, some more linksto different reviews by different peoplewill be down in the description box,because again,I feel like I'm way behind and, like, thelast person to review these books. Sothere's a much better review some otherpeople that I want you to go check out,because they did an amazing job. And Ihave no words. I can't say it better thanthat. so just go watch them. Anyway, Iguess I will see you the next one. Bye, guys!\n"