Book cover of Lakewood

Book description

NPR Book of the Year 2020

Electric Literature: One of 55 Books by Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color to Read in 2020 | Lit Hub & The Millions: Most Anticipated Books of 2020 | Ms. Magazine: Anticipated 2020 Feminist Books | Refinery29: Books by Black Women We are Looking…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Lakewood as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Giddings takes the stories of Henrietta Lacks and the Tuskegee experiments and extrapolates them into the present day. A young woman dealing with crushing medical debt agrees to participate in medical trials with strange and debilitating side effects. This book is horrific, lyrically written, and brimming with emotion.

From Alex's list on boundary-pushing fantasy.

You want a book on serious gaslighting? Here it is! Lakewood is about a young woman who, amid financial need, signs up to be a lab rat in an experiment. And it gets dark pretty fast. This book will have you wondering what’s happening and where the character is while she navigates this experiment. And, bonus! It’s set in my home state of Michigan!

From Jeni's list on secrecy and denial.

If you love Lakewood...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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