Jessica
Same calm quiet writing. About midway through it really started to drag. There is just so much I really care about the internal turmoil of the obscenely wealthy and the greedy, but the last bit just wrapped up so well. Like Station Eleven, there is a lovely weaving of lives drifting apart and coming together. On to Sea of Tranquility which was the one that was actually recommended to me!
Really a 4.5; might upgrade later depending on how it sticks with me. Main thing I have to say is that knowing David Copperfield is both a plus and a minus here. On one hand, I don't think I could have beared reading it if I didn't know it was all going to turn out at least somewhat okay for Demon, on the other hand, the high correlation with Copperfield was a bit distracting.
Most importantly though, it was a really respectful account of the damage that has been done in Appalachia from coal to tobacco to opioids, and at the same time celebrated the natural beauty of the area as well as the extraordinary and compassionate people who live there and are just trying to live from one day to the next.
For almost all of these stories, I would have read a whole book about the characters. That said, probably would have enjoyed it more if I had spaced out reading the stories over a much much longer period of time. The women are not so much difficult as they are damaged, often trying (and utterly failing) to transmogrify themselves into some sort of resilient survivor when in truth they are drowning. Serious content warnings for physical and sexual abuse and assault, pregnancy loss, death of a child.
Will probably think about it a lot. The nature of prayer. The gulf between those who pray and those who don't. The random blessings that are bestowed upon us by virtue of nothing more than the place of our birth. Beautifully written, but... Only 4 stars because I grew less and less invested in Nadia and Saeed as the story progressed and just contented myself more and more with the philosophical ruminations. Which is fine, but not what I was hoping for.
Another tasty snack. Easy to read in just a couple of hours. I don't think it is a spoiler to say this is a first person account of a woman whose sister is a serial killer.
Both the narrator and her sister (and their mother) suffered at the hands of an abusive father/husband. This is clear immediately, and a few vignettes are presented to confirm it.
A picture of the sister that emerges is very much that of a sociopath (antisocial personality disorder). While the narrator never confirms it, she does at more than one point, call her sister sick and essentially absolves her of responsibility for her actions.
The mother is not well-fleshed out and is just painted in as a two-dimensional foil for the narrator.
The narrator who is a nurse who, despite her medical background, assiduously avoids any self-reflection as to the effects of the traumas she also sustained. She seems to suffer from a personality disorder (OCPD) as well, but we glean that only from her incidental, off-hand descriptions of her obsessive cleaning and straightening.
And, as is true in the real world, growth for those with personality disorders is exceedingly difficult and can only really be achieved with great active effort. Since there is none of that desire or effort here, there is exactly the expected amount of growth – which is to say, there is none. In the end, there is only acceptance that she will always put her sister first.
As a consequence, there isn't a lot of suspense in the story. Pretty early on, you can see where it is all going, but the prose is so lovely. The writing paints beautiful pictures in your mind of the setting and the people, and I will eagerly read more from this author.
If you loved The Martian, Project Hail Mary will not disappoint. Devoured it in just over a day. Same ebb and flow of life-threatening problems being scienced the shit out of.
I did have a few annoyances: 1) I had to suppress my frustration with the abundance of unexamined misogyny in the author. (Does the woman who has CERN bending to her will really need you to explain cosmic rays to her???) 2) I could have done without soooo much mental math being explained to me. 3) all the engineering was just deux ex machina-ed by one particular compound, but the engineer is such a delight that this is minor quibbling. No question at all who the real hero is. ;) 4) Last grumble – I thought the gravity on Erid was 29g....
All that said, it is an awesome, happy, hopeful read.
A quick little novella that reminded me of American Gods and Good Omens. Good world-building. Not 100% sure why it won / was up for so many awards, but to each their own.
A little preachy on the LGBTQ+ stuff. But maybe that is just me wanting queer relationships to just be okay and not to have to be told as a reader that it is okay. Maybe I am thinking about this wrong, but it just frustrates me. That said, it was nice to see queer love celebrated front and center and not in a trauma-centric way. Also does NOT commit the "bury your gays" trope, so that is refreshing.
Really a 3.5, but rounding up for queer representation.
Super short. Super fast. Almost certainly would have jumped ship pretty early if the end weren't always just in sight.
Maybe it was because it is the second book in a row that was written by a poet and employed a avant garde storytelling form, but this was just also not really for me. I guess I am somewhat plebian when it comes to fiction. I like a protagonist (even if flawed). I like them to have a name. So boring of me.
That said, I really got a good image of “the objects”, and I couldn't help imagining this as a Netflix mini series. Would be shocked if someone out there isn't trying to flesh out this little sci-fi dystopia.
Content-warning: Lots and lots of trypophobia imagery. If this is at all an issue for you, SKIP this book.
Just finished. Why is my face all wet?
Coming back to write more.
The idea that you need to be into gaming or computers or tech to enjoy this book is just utter nonsense. I imagine if it were about cooking or medicine or law and had the same level of granularity, no one would make that claim. I am certain that knowing games adds depth and texture and that you understand that part of it better, but the human story – of people not communicating, of people struggling with private demons and painting their insecurities and pains onto the motivations of others is so so so universal.
Dirty, embarassing secret: I used to watch soap operas. It was endlessly frustrating to see how the main conflict driver was almost always SECRETS. The thing is that usually the CONTENT of the secret was never as damaging as the ACT of keeping the secret. Obviously, there are some exceptions, but generally, over the long arcs, people who love you, will still love you, and, given the chance, will share your burden and ease your load.
More generally, misunderstandings are often the product of a particular kind of secret – the ones that are basically personal shames (or traumas) that are unresolved. We don't want to admit our fears, our perceived weaknesses, so we make unflattering assumptions and project our worst fears onto others. And, at least in Zevin's world, those assumptions are so often COMPLETELY, UTTERLY WRONG. And so so much pain could be avoided.
But her characters grow. You watch them grow. You are helpless as they waste so much time making cruel (to themselves and others) assumptions, and acting on those assumptions. The last quarter of this book (everything after YOU KNOW WHAT) just fricking wrecked me. I still can't 100% articulate all the reasons why, but I will just say that this book is about how to grow. And how to live life well. LIFE, and life, and Life. Despite being flawed in all the ways we are all flawed.
Will probably try The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry once I am emotionally recovered.
Also, #Marx4ever.
Not for me. Too exactly for me...? Idk.
Maybe because I am/have been so terminally online; most of it literally just felt like scrolling through Twitter (X / the portal / Facebook). Or maybe scrolling through my own posts and likes from 2016. Hard to understand who the intended audience is. Me? I know at least 90% of those references. I remember experiencing them in real time; they are mostly just bleak to me now. The non-terminally online? Would they even understand any of it?? Maybe it is just because I am actively trying to wean myself from the phrenetic, disjointed stream of information that it just was exactly not what I needed.
However, the style worked much better in the last third when it gets more personal and poetic. As gently as I can, this was also not for me – for a host of completely different reasons. Not the least of which is that it all hits different after June 2022 than it probably did in 2021. But I suspect that, for many, it is a pretty exquisite expression of a very particular experience of love and grief. Here, the quick vignettes may be the only way to hold the multitudes.
And perhaps that is only born out the the experience of living in the Portal.
Read this in one day on Gabber's recommendation! A fun, easy read! Perfect to ease me back into reading more! So very on the edge of cringe so many times. You could see where the story was going almost immediately. The only real suspense was which person would be the bigger problem in the end and how bad it would be. I wish we could have gotten more character development for the friends who didn't really get to have any interior life at all. Alex/Alix stressed me out a lot. I think she was presented in a pretty stereotypical way that rich, white, women bosses usually are (Devil Wears Prada, The Nanny Diaries, The Help), so that didn't feel particularly new or interesting. The voice of Emira was really great, but I wished for more for her in the end. Not even necessarily professionally, but just something. She was very clearly adrift. And then just seemed to kind of settle in an afterthought. I think the boyfriend would have been a lot more distasteful if we weren't only seeing him through the lens of two people who were both blinded by his good looks.
I cannot stop evangelizing about this book. I have purchased well over a dozen copies as gifts. The writer is so incredibly generous with their journeys of self-discovery. And the parings with the stories of marine life are like parings of great wines and fine chocolates. They absolutely enhance each other. While many (most) of the topics are difficult, somehow at the end, you feel hopeful (for the memoir parts at least – the destruction to the natural world seems to march on relentlessly.) You cannot read this and not come out the other side a better person.
