MD
I miss you more than I remember you.
i think my tastes have changed since i started this book bc when i went back to finish it, i ended up disliking a few things about vuong's writing style. however, the plot and most other portions of the writing are beautiful! it's just that sometimes it felt like re-used madlibs; i remember __, which is to say i __.
Later, when I was out walking, I stopped dead on the street. Ahead of me, standing beneath a lamp hanging from an old wall, was the outline of a figure of my general size and proportions. He was looking the other way but very stiffly and very tense, as if waiting anxiously for the precise moment when he would suddenly twist about-face. If that should happen, I knew what I would see: my eyes, my nose, my mouth, and behind those features a being strange beyond all description. I retraced my steps back home and immediately went to bed.
Very odd. I found the first half to be boring and pretentious, filled with annoying purple prose that spoke really about nothing. It was only after I reached a story somewhere after the middle portion titled “The Masquerade of a Dead Sword” that I began to change my mind on the collection, and I found myself enjoying most of the stories that came afterwards. The abruptness of it almost feels like Ligotti had a revelation about his writing suddenly and altered it in unnoticeable but severely impactful ways. I don't know. I was about to give up on the collection until that story, and I'm happy I didn't now. I still find his reliance on puppet and doll imagery to be sort of corny, even though I can't lie and say I'm not afraid of them myself. I want to read more of his works though, as I know these were some of his earliest and probably not the best start! “The Journal of Dr. Drapeau,” quoted above, ended up being another one of my favorites.
A few incredible poems mixed in with the good and mediocre. Will prob read again <33
Remember liking this a lot, thought the commentary on gov's treatment of mental illness was striking. Want to go back & re-read sometime!
Before he can devote himself to God or a woman, a boy will devote himself to his father, even foolishly, even beyond explanation.
this was an incredibly easy read, & i blew by it in a couple of days. however, i am so disappointed! some of the concepts and pages here are awesome, but feel like the writing limits things somewhat. the writing just reminds me of like, a mixture between melodramatic lifetime movies & dhar mann. the way characters will ask rhetorical questions and then answer themselves with a very clear moral message is so dhar mann!! loved the bit towards the end, but don't believe the rest of it was very worth the journey.
racist and sexist in the way that every few pages there'd be another derogatory remark. chief was a lovely character though, the best thing about reading the book is how you get more insight into his struggles and mindset. <3 chief
im an idiot and read this one before even the midnighter solo series so i def missed a lot of context <3 but it got me super interested in going back for the rest and ofc gay world's finest is the best ever
ALSO there are a few layouts that made me stare so long at the page i <3 creative panel layouts
The voices seemed to whisper in Rand's ears, right at the brink of understanding, and within it. Flesh so fine, so fine to tear, to gash the skin; skin to strip, to plait, so nice to plait the strips, so nice, so red the drops that fall . . .
I FINISHED! THANK THE LIGHT! The setup is sooo long and in the beginning it wears on you, the endless descriptions of various taverns and farms that don't even last a full scene, and the way the book lingers on the thoughts of the characters for such an extreme amount of time. But halfway through, after the action picked up and all, I found myself really enjoying the details that I'd hated before. It really paints a vivid picture and you feel like you're right there with the characters, whose thoughts and actions become a lot more engaging once you've come to know them. I didn't fall in love with the world or story through this, but I'm so so intrigued to read more, especially for where it left off. Blessed because I was gifted the second book for Christmas!!.. Although I might not get to it for a while.
i've read this before of course, through the volume collecting all of death's comic appearances. this time, i just read Death: The Time of Your Life , so i'll log it representing that. this is probably one of the most impactful things i've ever read. every time i even flip through the pages, i'm reminded of how powerful storytelling is, and just how much i haven't discovered yet. the thought that some book or movie out there exists that could make me feel the exact way this comic does, makes me want to live forever.
I don't mean to get emotional. But I appreciate that a young man like you sees yourself in me. You seem like a kind person. Maybe a little cold. But kind.That's not what people usually see in me.
The worker who recommended this to me didn't mention anything about the majority of the characters being gay, which, I don't know, made me happy. Just that being gay isn't something to be censored or warned about anymore to a lot of people. I remember it being very different when I was growing up, even though I'm still very young.
Aside from that, I thought The Deviant was intriguing and sad, but also felt something lacking. I'm going to read the rest when I can, and I really hope it only gets better. I have been encouraged by this to read more of James Tynion IV's stories, at least.
If honor and wisdom and happiness are not for me, let them be for others. Let heaven exist, though my place be in hell.
The loneliness seeps through the page. This is an obviously incredible short story, and it inspired so much that came after it. I was reminded of Piranesi, which no doubt took cues from the Library. I am sometimes floored by how much stories can accomplish with so little, that this made me anxious and sad with only a few pages.
“I'd know,” said Jim, in the night. “I'd know.”“Sure. You'd just go away and leave me here, Jim.”
the themes of aging and mortality were so poignant and i just think this book is brilliant. so looking forward to reading the rest of the “series”
“Until recent times, the Kiowas would not speak the name of a dead man. To do so would have been disrespectful and dishonest. The dead take their names with them out of the world,” (pg. 31).
thought the formatting of this one was so unique & cool. after every page i kept going omg!!1!
I am a man More sinn'd against than sinning.
^ Lear is pathetic and wrong! His need for power (even when he's voluntarily given it up) is a trait that he's surely handed down to his daughters, which is why most of this happens in the first place. I adore the writing here, and the contrasting narrative with Edmund's betrayal enriches the themes greatly!
the art was amazing & the story was good too, but it should've been longer, or else more time should've been spent on certain things?
But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.
The last few chapters were so exceptionally beautiful, I was left speechless. Godd I love imagery about the moon and the stars, and the wrap up to Pontius was so touching and poetic and beautiful. And the two title characters, the Master and Margarita, I loved them so much!! All of the characters were wonderful–Woland was in particular a show stealer–but Margarita was just perfect.
I got irritated after a while of the demons' antics over and over, becoming super anxious to get to the second half of the story, and so looking back I definitely didn't absorb the fun of it. On a re-read that's what I would like to focus on more, taking the story as it comes. Oh my god I love those last few chapters. The complete change in Korovyev and Behemoth?? I don't know why everyone obsesses over the ball scene so much when the flight scene is right there and so much grander. Like come on it's so pretty,,, I love this novel. I need to see some kind of animated adaptation happen within my lifetime, that would be magical :(
Listen and take pleasure in what you were not given in life–quiet. Look, there up ahead is your eternal home . . . You will fall asleep with your grimy eternal cap on your head, you will fall asleep with a smile on your lips. Sleep will strengthen you, you will begin to reason wisely. And you will never be able to chase me away. I will guard your sleep.
GARCIN: I died too soon. I wasn't allowed time to--to do my deeds. INEZ: One always dies too soon--or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are--your life, and nothing else.
It's really a 3.5 star, I wish there were half-star ratings on here. It might have just been the translation I read, or maybe the pace at which I read it, but I wasn't especially grasped by the story presented. Conceptually it's brilliant, and of course this is the story where the famous “hell is other people” line comes from, but something felt much missed. I'll probably try reading this again in the future, just with a different translation. It's short enough anyway.
“I have become a thief like the visitor BOB is. Stealing pride and hope, confidence . . .”
I waited a long time to read this and built it up in my head that it was going to be mesmerizing or something. And so–well, I don't know. It's a fine companion to the show, and certainly adds a lot of emotion to her plot line. The devastation surrounding Laura, and how she became sort of cruel because of it, is one of the reasons why I love her character so much–she feels real. In this book, she felt a little bit more like a victim than a girl until we neared the end. Jennifer Lynch was incredibly skilled at writing here, don't get me wrong, but I feel there's something missing from her depiction of Laura. Though there are some scenes in here that do recontextualize the show in a more horrible way, which I appreciate.
ALSO, Josie was done a great disservice here!!! RIP Queen!
a little disappointing, the first half of information is interesting & entertaining but around the middle it falls off