AJ Dunn Reads

  Mothered By Zoje Stage 5 stars!

  The Girl Who Outgrew the World By Zoje Stage Lilly is eleven years old and she can't stop growing. In no time she grows even taller than her father, James, who worries about Lilly's health and the consequences of growing too tall for her heart too handle. James looks for help from a bunch of doctors who want to have Lilly admitted for a series of tests, like a lab animal. When Lilly learns of this she decides to run away to a land she heard about in a poem, where she can be herself amongst others like her. This is a modern fairy tale with Stage's signature unease. It is a brutal portrayal of what it's like to be a girl, to have the fate of your body decided by others, and the objectification that comes with being female. Lilly's height and body changes are the excuses others use to violate her, and what causes her father to not only think differently about her but to fear her as well. This is a book that displays the fear men have of women and femininity, and the ...

  Getaway by Zoje Stage Getaway follows three hikers on a seven day trip into the Grand Canyon. Sisters Beck and Imogen and their friend Tilda get together for a bonding hike into the canyon, leaving the world and their cell phones behind. At first everything goes according to plan and the friends enjoy the beauty and exercise of their surroundings, with some daunting hurdles for some. Beck, the older sister, is a doctor and a lesbian with a wife and child on the way. Imogen, the younger sister, is an author who tends to hide from the world because of a rape she endured years before. Tilda, a Mexican-descent social media maven, is the ex-girlfriend of Imogen's rapist. The two have tensions for that reason, as well as the fact that Tilda has been given a six-figure book deal, much to Imogen's surprise and envy. Unbeknownst to them, Beck has orchestrated the outing as a way to bring everything out in the open and resolve the issues between Imogen and Tilda. Only a day or two int...

  Wonderland by Zoje Stage The Moreau-Bennett family is moving from New York City to the wilderness of upstate NewYork's Adirondack Mountains. Orla feels completely unprepared for life in the middle of nowhere, but she has agreed that after her retirement from a successful ballet career that it is now her husband, Shaw's, turn to follow his muse and to become the great painter they both believe he can be. With their two children, Eleanor Queen and Tycho, they move into their new home during the oncoming winter season. Shaw and Eleanor Queen both start to have a deep connection to the place, sensing something in the surrounding area that they believe is trying to communicate with them. Orla doesn't experience the same thing, but she does find the place to be oppressive and sinister. When the family starts having hallucinations their idyllic dreams are replaced by nightmares. They find themselves confined to the house and property. Whenever they try to leave in order to get a...

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage If there is any book out there that makes you glad you're not a parent, it would be Baby Teeth , which explores psychopathy in a 7 year-old little girl who is out to harm/kill her mother. Zoje Stage did a great job of telling this story from both the mother's and daughter's perspectives. She explores the thoughts that go through a parent's mind when they struggle over the guilt about having a child who is not the child they expected they would have, and what to do about it. Hanna, the daughter, tells her side of things in a literary way. The visuals and connections are that of a child, but the prose doesn't cause the reader to feel like they're reading a middle grade novel. And Hanna is devious, and her reasons for acting out against her mother are often creepy. All of the characters are deliciously flawed and you both like and dislike all of them, but I think you lean more toward dislike for all three: Hanna, Suzette, and Alex, the fath...