Title: Back in the Land of the Living
Author: Eva Crocker
Summary: Back in the Land of the Living brings us a year in the life of Marcy, a young queer woman who moves to Montreal in the fall of 2019 after making a mess of her life in St. John’s. Alone in a big city on the brink of lockdown, Marcy finds herself working an assortment of odd and sometimes dangerous, sometimes ethically questionable jobs, and swept up in a tumultuous romance with a charismatic woman. As friends, loyalties, and philosophies collide, Marcy tries to carve out a future amidst the intertwined crises of late capitalism, the climate apocalypse, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

With all the candour, wit, and bracing wisdom that have won her accolades and awards across Canada, Eva Crocker gives us a sexy, unforgettable story about love and longing in a time of chaos.

Copy provided by @netgalley in exchange for honest review.
Likes: Unpredictable characters and relatable plot (needing to escape your small hometown as a queer person).
Dislikes: I didn’t feel a bond with the MC so it was hard to get into the story, there is no climax to the story (no pun intended), and in the end it was a bit unsatisfying.
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Back in the Land of the living is a beautiful book best enjoyed curled up in bed with a blanket and a cup of a warm beverage of readers choice. This story felt like face-timing your closest friend and sharing in their fears, heartbreaks, triumphs, setbacks, and everything in-between. Crocker did an amazing job creating a lovable character I could not get enough of.

Eva Crocker is a Canadian treasure. She has a talent to create a world so real filled with characters whose blue lines of righteousness. I continue to be on awe of Crocker's writing

I selected this because I am from Newfoundland and love a story connected to home. I didn’t connect strongly with the character or story, but I really enjoyed Marcy’s voice… felt like a good friend telling a story over a bottle of wine. I am sure this will find its readers.

<I>Back in the Land of the Living</I> is a novel, written like it’s meant to be enjoyed at bedtime. The story is Marcy’s, a queer twenty-something who moves to Montreal after feeling stifled by her childhood home of Newfoundland.

The novel follows Marcy as she takes on various odd jobs to pay her rent, from trimming weed to becoming a subject in a medical trial. This novel speaks to me as a lesbian who is also constantly disillusioned by capitalism, yearning for queer community, and confused by seemingly basic tasks and procedures. I enjoyed reading Marcy’s journey as she slowly re-enters the land of the living, all the way through her toxic relationship and the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There’s no big AHA moment; no huge transformation. Marcy’s growth is inching, and it’s there. She says no when it matters and embraces the friendships that she’d been seeking all along. I never felt bored when reading this novel; it unfolds at a very natural pace for the character. It felt a bit like a queer friend sitting down and sharing their lived experience with me, explaining how they made it through a confusing period of their life. It made me feel a little closer to my community, and I enjoyed it.

Huge thank you to House of Anansi Press Inc for my advanced readers copy.

Womp womp. I didn't like this. It was likely watching a kid play with dolls -- things certainly...happen, I guess? But there's no sense of interiority or experiential reality. Simply very boring.

thnx anyway netgalley!

Back in the Land of the Living was… Just fine. Following Marcy, a young queer woman moving to a new city where she begins working new jobs, exploring friendships and entering a tumultuous relationship, all on the brink of the pandemic. While well written and an enjoyable read, this book just felt like the typical “messy young woman trying to figure it all out” literary fiction except the setting was changed to the pandemic. There wasn’t anything particularly exceptional or special about it, and it just felt derivative. I also find the pandemic setting to be a challenge to master well, seeing as it’s such a weird time that is over but also not really over.

ARC provided by NetGalley.