Welcome to Litsy!

What a moving story of a mother and daughter set in Brazil and California in the 80s and 90s.

A beautiful and emotional book that‘s marked by the author‘s death before it was published. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Full review on Goodreads

A fast-paced, multi-faceted, juicy story set in 1990s LA and 1970s Brazil. Full of intrigue, sex, and violence, but at its heart this is a moving novel about grief and how you remember (and forgive) those who‘ve died. Life is a party, the book says, and it‘s a privilege, not a right, to stay to the end. 😭💔

Next on my list!💕

Mostly dull and trudgingly paced. One storyline had potential before its aftermath got eye-rollingly ridiculous. Thus, I gave up on it the 60% mark, sparing myself from whatever plot the boy and the girl at the beach were about to hatch.

I really enjoyed this one. It‘s beautifully written and an intriguing story. It fell apart for me slightly towards the end, but I still really felt for the main character and I learned some things about Brazil‘s history. I‘m sad the author is no longer around to write another book because he was so obviously talented. 😣

Life is a party... Some people had to leave in the beginning. Some people left in the middle. Some people got to stay until the end. But everyone got to be in it, at least for a part of it, and wasn't that what mattered? And maybe getting to stay to the very end, blissfully hungover, was a luxury rather than a right, a quirk of stamina and genetics and luck. Yes, it would be lovely to stay until the end, but even if you didn't, you got a chance ⬇️

This book was pretty stunning. 💖📚

Next up...I hope the writing is as beautiful as the cover #CurrentlyReading

This is the new fiction section at my local independent bookstore. It was my first time visiting this location since I‘ve only been to their main one in the gables. I loved the service and the manager really made me feel welcomed. What‘s your favorite local bookstore? And do you have a favorite employee?

#bookstore #indieshop #booksandbooks
#miami #florida

I think I had such high hope for this book, that I couldn't help but be let down. The book wasn't bad, but it wasn't all I had wanted.

Sam was one of my professors in grad school before he passed away. He was insightful and encouraging. This book is lovely and compassionate and hopeful and I can‘t recommend it enough.

Insomnia means it is audio time.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
This book is stunning! I read it in a day!
This book was published posthumously, which I always find a bit eerie. But it was a beautifully written book about a mother and daughter. But is so much more than that. Its about being human and finding a connection, and a feeling of belonging.
#bookreview #bookreviewer #bookblogger

I finished this book. Really wanted to like it. Ended up being okay. One of the characters in the book is battling stomach cancer. Found out the author died from the same thing. I really wish I would have loved this book.

Having a bit of a hard time getting in to this book. I want to like it but.... Really hope it picks up

“The night was a vinyl record, dark and full of scratches, in perfect sync with the needle of God. But in the padaria, our bodies were lit up too much under the fluorescent lights, as if none of us had earned the tenderness of shadows.”

Argh here‘s one of my pet peeves. There are very few fireflies in SoCal. They are nothing like eastern fireflies (they don‘t flash and their light may not be visible to people). They are never abundant. And this is on the editor. The author grew up in LA and would know. But this is a posthumous publication. 🙁

Mara works as a caregiver in California when the book opens. Shifting timelines between Mara's current life in the US and her upbringing in Brazil and the circumstances that led to her leaving her home country. The story itself is compelling and builds slowly over time, but what gives this novel it's knock-out punch is the lyrical and spot on writing of Samuel Park. Time and time again, his metaphors took my breath away. #netgalley

A novel about the desire to understand people and situations. The desire is rarely satisfied, but you don't have to understand to connect and care.

Finished this positively stunning novel by the late Samuel Park. It tells the past and present story of Mara, who moved to California and works as a caregiver in Bel Air, but grew up in Copacabana Brazil raised by a single mother who was forced by circumstances to interact with a brutal police chief.
The prose is beautiful, the plot is moving, and I won't be forgetting this book anytime soon. Book clubs will find lots to discuss here. 5/5 🌟 #arc

#currentlyreading #arc #bookclubfavorites #simonandschuster

#TBRtemptation post 5! #BEA18 Edition! An Adult Editors' Buzz book. To be released in September. Ana, a voice-over actress, is her daughter Mara's world. They take turns caring for each other. When Ana joins a resistance group against the city's corrupt police chief, Mara's forced to escape 1980s Rio de Janeiro for California. Upon arriving, she takes up work as a caregiver for a young woman dying of cancer. Poignant. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎