Hey guys, and happy Wednesday! Today I am excited to share with you an amazing book I read recently: Pulp by Robin Talley. As soon as news of this book landed in my inbox I knew I had to read it - I have never heard of a book before like it, and I'm happy to say that it was better than I could ever have imagined. Pulp is a story about how far we have come, yet still how much further we still have to go. It is about two young women who are facing different battles, yet still have a lot in common. Pulp is also in many ways a love letter to writing and to stories, and how despite everything writing can be escape from the realities of life, when things are at their most difficult.
I was kindly sent this book by Nina Douglas (on behalf of HQ Stories) in exchange for an honest review :)
Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...
In 1955, eighteen-year-old Janet Jones keeps the love she shares with her best friend Marie a secret. It’s not easy being gay in Washington, DC, in the age of McCarthyism, but when she discovers a series of books about women falling in love with other women, it awakens something in Janet. As she juggles a romance she must keep hidden and a newfound ambition to write and publish her own story, she risks exposing herself—and Marie—to a danger all too real.
Sixty-two years later, Abby Zimet can’t stop thinking about her senior project and its subject—classic 1950s lesbian pulp fiction. Between the pages of her favorite book, the stresses of Abby’s own life are lost to the fictional hopes, desires and tragedies of the characters she’s reading about. She feels especially connected to one author, a woman who wrote under the pseudonym “Marian Love,” and becomes determined to track her down and discover her true identity.
In this novel told in dual narratives, New York Times bestselling author Robin Talley weaves together the lives of two young women connected across generations through the power of words. A stunning story of bravery, love, how far we’ve come and how much farther we have to go.
I adored this book. It was everything I could have asked for, and so much more. Everything from the writing style to the characters was so spot on, and has so much YA heart in it too. I have been fortunate to read quite a lot of LGBT+ books over the last few years (yay YA book industry!) but this certainly has to be one of the best, certainly for the way that Talley deals with the dual narrative and how both stories so perfectly interweave.
I loved the writing style of Pulp so much and I will definitely be returning to Talley's writing. It was so fresh and vibrant and perfectly represented the two protagonists and their obstinate, unwavering creativity. I haven't binged a book in a while but I couldn't help myself but zoom through this one. The writing made me so invested in Janet and Abby and I felt myself feeling protective over them, desperate for the ending of the book to be a happy one.
Janet and Abby are both so similar, even though they are from completely different societies, yet their circumstances are much more common than first expected. The dual narrative really allowed me to examine American society for what it was and how it still is, and how whatever happens, we can't allow ourselves to be complacent. We must keep fighting for those that others marginalise and sideline, and we can't afford to be silent.
Check out Robin Talley here: http://www.robintalley.com
Check out my Q&A with Robin Talley here for the Pulp blog tour: http://delightfulbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/12/pulp-blog-tour-author-interview-5.html
Until next time :)
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