Kyle
This review, despite using insulting words, is entirely written with awe and love.
The story is filthy and disgusting. People spontaneously change sex, the world is polluted, they eat bugs, society is regressive, the youth age unnaturally fast and suffer from many ills, government doesn't serve the people, and extreme isolation is everywhere. It's awful. What a terrible world to live in, and what a foreseeable future for us it is.
And that's what makes it so good. The author's creative way of treating these things as completely normal, through the eyes of its main characters, Yoshiro and Mumei, who are great-grandfather and great-grandson.
Don't read more about this anywhere. Go in blind and read it. It's amazing.
Breezy, fun read. I laughed at some antics. Didn't expect the ending and will need to think about it some. Some good lines in this story, and worth reading. Made me actually laugh at loud at one point.
I understand why this novel is important and great, but it doesn't change the fact that there were chapters I just felt like were a chore to read, even as there were also chapters that were very fun. The narrator rambles and does virtually nothing the entire book, which night work for some people, but not for me. I did enjoy the fact he was incompetent at living.
Basically, every man in his social circle is a total loser. In that sense, I was really reminded of The Sun Also Rises, a story full of characters I had a distaste for.
There's a dream chapter that's a little weird, but otherwise really cool story. Author delicately walks a line between friendship and romance for a long time, and story has a touching ending.
The book does not feel out of date. Yes, there are many things about it that place it firmly in the early 1900s, but the characters' behaviors are simultaneously recognizable and surprising for their time. What really jumps out at you is the willingness to engage in casual sex for characters who exist in the late 1800s as written by an author who grew up in that place and time.
You will recognize yourself in one of the characters in this collection of short stories—or is it a novel?
Really great memoir and history of a certain population of German settlers in Texas and their descendants, from someone who married into one of the families.
As a chronicle of a family in Australia with no native German speakers creating three bilingual children, the book achieves it's goal admirably and shares a lot of useful information.
Also the window into various attitudes in Australia in the 80s toward the experiment makes me grateful i don't live there at that time!
I rate it low only because the book is advertised as Hegel but not even half the book is Hegel. More than half is another philosopher. I bought this book to read Hegel, not someone else (one of his students apparently). Will have to buy something else instead.
But the section by Hegel is interesting, although he fails to anticipate innovations in art. for instance, Hegel says music improves upon painting by introducing the concept of time, which is a limitation of painting. but cubism specifically does innovate to introduce time into painting. So I don't think Hegel has in this book captured the progression of art toward it's highest form adequately.
A sweet ending to a manga that had become my guilty pleasure, as I'm over double the age of the kids in this story. I enjoyed over the course of 20 volumes seeing the antics of everyone, and watching the characters grow.
Special shout out to the utter lunacy and hilarity of every President appearance.
If you like SBTB, it's an easy read, so why not?
But otherwise, it's not great. It's written in a very simple style of Diamond talking directly to you, and probably 10% of the book is him reminding you he has a big penis, 50% is him talking about all the women he had sex with, and 40% telling behind-the-scenes stories of the show. Most of which you can't really believe considering how little credibility the tone lends to the book.
I only give truly unreadable schlock 1/5, and this was at least readable.
Really sympathetic to the main character, who is a dirty teenager obsessed with a pop idol. I got vibes the whole time that she might be autistic, and the author's treatment of her fixation was respectful and harrowing.
The ending completely snuck up on me bc my edition has a number of additional sections after it ends. Because of the layout of the book, it left me feeling like I missed something, so I went back and re read the last few pages and it was much more impactful.
The kind of book you can read easily, but you can really take your time to luxuriate in the author's creative descriptions and character's emotions.
A good read if you're a fan of Murakami. It's not an autobiography, but there are passages that behave as such. It's more his thoughts on writing, using his own work and life as examples.
If you're a writer or interested in writing as either a hobby or profession, I think this is a nice book to read.
Beautiful artwork, a story that doesn't shy away from dark subject matter, and a number of delightful visual transitions. This story had me more emotional than I expected to be going into a graphic novel.
To those of you who have read the graphic novel Blankets, it's the best comparison I can make. Emotionally honest coming of age story.
Highly recommended.
Really spectacular. Story takes an exit you don't expect and takes you through a different kind of terrain entirely. Worth the couple hours investment to read.
Rating is so i don't get recommendations like this. Review is for others: i respect the book but it just wasn't for me. It's more textbooky than i expected and quite a slog to get through. I gave up about halfway through. It's more a collection of names and dates and publications than anything. Just wasn't for me. Might be for you, though!
I read this once in elementary school, and now I've read it again, twenty years later. I have a different reaction now than as a child (back then, the riddles and the tricksy speaking was what I enjoyed).
I think my favorite part is what sets The Hobbit above others of a similar nature—the end is concerned with returning to one's old life after it has changed irretrievably.
Having had a lengthy year full of adventures in Japan and then returned to the US, I understand something of the feeling Bilbo has after all he's been through. Your friends back home have moved on and changed, and now your new friends from the year-long adventure hasten to do the same. Your two lives are going on without you, and it's a struggle to resume it all. A melancholy remains, diminishing but never disappearing. Only a few people who have shared your journey and your return share the understanding.
That is why The Hobbit means something to me.
A great book about a post-Colonial African village, which experiences political upheaval as part of a national revolution, as told by a foreign merchant who had taken up residence there. Splendidly written, beautiful imagery, with many good character sketches to complement the protagonist's journey. Especially if you're a Westerner with little knowledge of Africa, I highly recommend this book.
Really pulls you in and you forget you're reading a book. I'm not even a fan of baseball. Great read.
Perfect. Zero flaws. Unreal how good this is. If you like Arrival for the linguistic aspects, you'll love this. This book was made specifically for me, my linguistic proclivities, and my similar experience questioning the meaning of a year spent abroad in Japan before returning to my life back home in the States.
The art. The emotions. The way the author presents a...quadri- or quintilingual story visually. It's just
READ THIS READ THIS READ THIS!!!!!!
Read this read this read this
The blurb for the book is accurate but it's so much more for such a small book. Three characters and their competing philosophies on life play out over a backdrop of middle school bullying.
It's a real page turner
An extremely accessible book about the history of Tokyo (then Edo, 江戸) during the Tokugawa shogunate with a brief afterward bringing us into the Meiji era and modernity. Highly recommended for any amateur interested in the history of Japan. I can't speak to academics about this book's value bc I'm not one.
Worth reading for history. Your can see early forms of narrative that are refined in the subsequent centuries. But it's not a FUN read, though you get to see that people were so similar to us even over 1000 years ago.
Fun read in the manga category of educational/personification. Not revolutionary, but a nice casual read you can take your time with over a few days, and you'll probably learn something about Western typography!
The book is exceedingly funny. It is difficult to imagine a teenage girl writing such a delightful satire with such intentionally odd dialog that many hundreds of years ago. And how easily the story slips from the cute and self-aware satire of gothic and romance stories into a good romance story!
This is my first Jane Austen foray, but it shan't be my last.