Review a book you’ve read recently

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Review of Anyone's Ghost by August Thompson:
This is officially my favourite book of the year.

I randomly started reading this book in the middle of the night, Sunday morning actually, at 3 AM, when I was feeling generally dissatisfied with everything. I desperately needed to escape from this feeling and all the other feelings that had been plaguing me recently. Books this year have been doing a bad job of being escape-from-reality material and keeping me engaged; I do not know why. But then I began this book and instantly, I was in this world. I cared about what was going on in the story, and I did not have the desire to DNF it (as has been the case with several books lately). I was ESCAPING. Before I knew it, it was 6 AM, and I had read close to 100 pages. Wow. This book is not only good but also managed to take me out of a year-long reading slump.

Where to begin. I finished it in three days. Not once was there a dull moment. For a book that has little to no plot (and a blurb that kind of tells you what's going to happen), it did not feel boring. If this type of book were written by a lesser author, I would be yawning, lol. But it's written by someone who is an expert in using language and constructing sentences that make you feel. August Thompson is a debut author, which feels very surprising to me given how skillfully he writes. I am in awe. I am I awe.

As I kind of noted earlier, this book is full of feeling. It never lessens in emotional intensity, but it doesn't exhaust or overwhelm the reader. Actually, I don't know—maybe it could for other people, but for me, it didn't, probably because I related so deeply, so profoundly to what was on the page. Thompson describes emotions, moments, and situations (in particular, the loneliness of being stuck inside your head and your body and being hyper-aware of that) with a clarity and precision that no other author has come close to achieving, in my opinion. "This is what it feels like to be seen, to be heard, to not feel alone," I said to myself at one point while reading. I'll tell you why I said that.

I know how it feels to love someone, to obsess over them, and to think about all the little words they've said to you (the jokes they've made, the serious talks you've had), magnify it and tell yourself that they love you. I know how it feels to desire a connection, to want a deeper love. I know how it feels to have your heart broken into a million tiny pieces because the other person is not loving you in the way they should(!), ticking all the boxes, not just a disappointing few. I know what it is like to bury the love you feel for them when you're with them or other times. I know how it feels to carry double the love that maybe would be halved (but no less special) if you were in a full relationship—doubled because you carry yours and the love that you could have received from them. And lastly, I know how it feels to be queer, confused, and tired of the world. All of this and more, August Thompson has managed to convey in this story. Yea, "I feel seen" is an understatement.

Mr. Thompson, thank you for writing this book. I will never forget it, and it already occupies a sizeable place in my heart.