Christine

Wow, this was amazing. And rough - really emotionally hard, because she is so good at evoking empathy in morally gray situations. Scratch that - Butler is so good at taking situations we tend to think of as morally black and white and evoking empathy to force the reader into the uncomfortable position of realizing their grayness.

I thought “Bloodchild” was a magnificent story, I was touched and shocked and completely drawn in to “Speech Sounds.” But by the time I was partway through “Amnesty,” I had to take a break to collect myself. It's a very brutal story - and I say that with admiration. Incredibly inventive and skillful, just dealing with harrowing subject matter.

I'm glad I forged on and finished though! It's easy to see how Butler became a preeminent name in science fiction - she has an astonishing ability to imagine novel situations and poignantly explore the real human issues they give rise to.

Having read [b:Kindred 60931 Kindred Octavia E. Butler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1339423248s/60931.jpg 1049657] and [b:Bloodchild and Other Stories 60930 Bloodchild and Other Stories Octavia E. Butler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428806161s/60930.jpg 1188455], I can see that Butler has some favorite themes - slavery, captivity, collaboration, survival, identity, rape, sex, procreation, civilization. She plays with these concepts as usual, leaving the reader little refuge in black and white morality. I only wish the characters in this story felt a little more three-dimensional. The captors have an inscrutability that's quite logical within the story, but even they felt more fleshed-out than many of the humans. This is the first failure I've seen from Butler - she seems barely able to imagine a human reaction beyond Lilith's sympathetic (but oh-so-serious) stoicism, or its foil, violent anger. Rather than being told the characteristics of the new humans through literal dossiers, I would have liked to discover their personalities through their reactions and relationships. Surely some people would have coped through dark humor and sarcasm (Eddie Dean, this story needs you!), total denial, breaking down, lashing out verbally, isolating themselves, fearing to be alone, obsessively planning escape, obsequious cooperation with the captors, and so on. But all we really see is the smart, calm people who all echo Lilith, and the angry rabble-rousers who lead or follow in pointless violence.I feel like I'm dwelling too much on the negative - I think it's just because I've seen this author do better with similar material. This definitely deserves four stars, and was a totally gripping read. It made me grateful for a 3-hour plane ride because I got to keep reading! Lilith is smart and sympathetic, but she's flawed and unsure sometimes, and she's a fully realized character. Sometimes her relationships with Oankali brought me to tears. Even when their motives are utterly alien, these folk can win our hearts - and that is as good a summation of the story's themes as I can give.

Plenty of racism, and honestly the plot is pretty stupid. Not Sherlock's best outing. But five hearts for the story of Watson getting all smitten and acting dumb around his wife-to-be.

ETA: I'm adding back one more star for the fabulous quote: “‘My mind,” he said, “rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.”

Some amazingly gorgeous artwork here, but what the hell was going on?

That question applies from the most literal (frequently throughout, I could tell that an action scene was being depicted, but not what was happening, where people were in relation to each other, who was hitting whom with what, or what the results were)

. . . to the individual (who are these people? what is their relationship with each other? who is that in that mask? who is that in that other mask? is this person literally transforming into a monster or is this a metaphorical depiction of their insanity? Both maybe? Is Tuya her sister? lover? friend? How are all these witches and nuns interrelated? Are there witch-nuns? Wait, now there's a shadow council or something, literally descending from the sky like a mechanical deity in a Greek play?”)

. . . to the meta (do they intend to start us in medias res and fill in information as we go, and they're just really bad at it? Did I literally miss some kind of prequel? Oh, great, here's an clunky infodump accompanied by drawings of cats - that doesn't make it any less yawn-inducing.)

It basically seems like they wanted to reveal an incredibly complex universe and an intricately related web of characters spanning generations, and tried to do it in one comic book instead of the trilogy of novels that might have covered the needed information.

I'm so glad I read this. Lindy West has a way of saying important things in an engaging, witty way. And she's extremely talented at conveying opinions on controversial topics in a way that emphasizes human connection and kindness.

The book starts out incisive and funny, and moves pretty steadily toward incisive and upsetting (but with sprinkles of mordant humor). By “upsetting,” I mean it made me concerned, angry, and finally empathetically sad. Not in bad ways, but the tone definitely shifts away from lighthearted. The later chapters cover West's struggles to shift comedy culture, and then her very personal challenges with her romantic partner and dealing with her dad's death.

I actually don't always align with West's opinions and priorities throughout her essays, but even when I see an issue from a slightly different angle, her personally engaging stories create room for compelling reflection.

This was an interesting book, and I had a lot of sympathy for Susan. I like that she's not a stereotypical fair damsel - how often do we get a female protagonist who's stout and strong rather than wispy and beautiful? The limits on her power are realistic and extensive, and it's genuinely dramatic seeing her work within these limitations. Again, unlike a lot of protagonists, she isn't a superhero with a trivial “flaw” - she's so poor she barely even has possessions of her own, she's illiterate, and she's under the control of her abusive father. She's also impulsive and makes some truly awful decisions.

Eisdorfer clearly did a lot of research about nursing and wet nurses, and this content seemed entirely realistic. I only wish she'd managed a stronger sense of place and time. I was genuinely confused about what time period we were in for a while, and even when it's made clear, Susan's speech and attitudes seem far too modern for her background. It's also really confusing and messes with the suspension of disbelief when she directly addresses the reader. Isn't she illiterate? Is she supposed to be telling this story to someone who's writing it down? It's never really made clear. The disorientation is made worse by the blurbs by various mothers who used a wet nurse. They just didn't seem to fit in with the story.

The other drawback for me was the pacing - the story meanders around without a clear driving plot for a while, but toward the end develops an urgent goal that inspires some improbably audacious manipulation by Susan, who spends a lot of the story in a much more passive role. Don't get me wrong - I was rooting for Susan and I like how the story ends! But I have to acknowledge that it's not terribly believable how she pulled it off.

Still, this drew me in and was a very fast read because I wanted to know what would happen to our hero. She's likable and tough, and well worth investing a few hours in.

This was fine. It was an interesting idea, and has a couple spreads of really intricate artwork, but the protagonist is 100% off-putting and it goes absolutely nowhere. I literally got to the end and went looking for the rest of the story, thinking it was volume 1 in a series. Nope.

For all that it is imperfect, I'm really glad I read this. It introduces some truly novel and fun ideas to the haunted house genre. (And answers the question “why don't they just leave” in a daring and remarkable way!) Plus the introduction of the specter (most specifically, its exit - I'll say no more) was wonderfully unique, Weird, and unsettling!

This could qualify as horror, comedy horror, or bizarro fiction. It takes the age-old concept of the haunted house and tries some cool new things with it. While most of the supporting characters range from pure trope (but with an entertaining, winking embrace of their tropiness) to a completely over-the-top creepy child, daughter Michaela comes across more as a real person, and main character Sabrina is fully fleshed out and sympathetic, even among the absolutely looney events of the plot.

The writing quality was good - I found myself highlighting key passages and frequently chuckling at clever phrasing. However, it was hampered by some missing content (at one point there's reference to an incident with a dead mouse in a cabinet that never occurred, we're not told what state the story is set in, which seemed like a deliberate decision, until it was mentioned in the last chapter, and suchlike) and some typos/mistakes. I think with better editing, this would have been a solid 4-star read. So 4 stars for the ideas and general writing quality, 3 stars for the finished e-book product, which may involve some editing mistakes and/or problems with conversion to a Kindle e-book, and so I don't think it's fair to lower my official rating.

All in all, this had me asking “what the fuck did I just read?” in the best way

This was lovely, of course. It's got all of Terry and Neil's words, and some of the actors from the show, including David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

I ADORE this story.
Original hardcover I got in the 90s? ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Martin Jarvis-narrated audiobook? ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The TV adaptation? ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

But weirdly, this fusion of the 5-star text with the actors from the 5-star show was less perfect to me. It just didn't grab me as much. Maybe the presence of some actors made me miss the ones that weren't there? Or maybe a full-cast recording just detracts a bit from the flow.

Anyway, this is still better than most books you could read or listen to, but if you're new to this story, I recommend the original or the audio reading by Jarvis!

I've never done this with any other book - when I got to the end, I went back to the beginning and immediately started over.

Nothing has clarified for me more why I feel so burnt out so much of the time, why I kick myself for constantly failing to make all the improvements I want to in my life, and why productivity tricks and systems weren't the ultimate answer.

The real answer is simple but far from easy: You must say no to most things. You must say no most of the time, even to very good opportunities.

This book truly helps you understand what is essential in your life, and how to eliminate non-essential activities and commitments. It acknowledges that the choices will often be hard, and helps you figure out your own best path through that difficulty.

This approach has already paid off for me - I have less stress and a feeling of space and ease in my life. Some upcoming plans that were starting to feel like a dreaded chore have regained their joyful tone because I cut out the nonessential things that were overloading me and thus making me view all my commitments as burdens. It isn't painless, but it is worth it.

When I finished [b:Annihilation 17934530 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) Jeff VanderMeer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403941587s/17934530.jpg 24946895], I noted that I'd like more information on the shadowy government agency running the expedition. And that's exactly what we get here - in a fun, satisfying way. It gives a lot of insight into the Southern Reach and Central, and just how much they're *#&@ing with people's minds and lives.Amusingly, this also has a lot of keen depiction of standard workplace dramas, which was fun for me as a corporate drone.Once again, we have a story about a creepy mystery and a clandestine government agency, told through the very personal, introspective story of the main character. I actually didn't like Control all that much, but I could sympathize with his situation. The creep factor accelerates as you progress, and there came times where I wasn't sure if Control was just hallucinating or things were really happening. But I mean that in a good way!This did answer questions and have some juicy revelations, and of course built up even more questions, which are poised to be answered (I hope) in the final volume, [b:Acceptance 18077752 Acceptance (Southern Reach, #3) Jeff VanderMeer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403941598s/18077752.jpg 25384096].

I liked this, but it didn't quite pull me in. I felt like it was presented as a mystery, but also made it immediately obvious what the “secret” was. Like, if you look at the cover, you know exactly what's going on.

I liked the idea of a social group that gets their own pronouns, but I felt like there was a lot of tell-don't-show surrounding it that took up too much of this short tale.

I loved the characters of Alex, Miss Potter, Angus, and Denton, so that carried me along, and I like the idea of fleshing out The Fall of the House of Usher. It certainly had atmosphere, and there were some very creepy moments.

This didn't quite bring it home for me, but it gave the story a decent closing. Note I didn't use the term “resolution.” There sure as hell isn't a tidy bow on the end of this story, which is pretty much to be expected. But I wish the hints at explanation had more follow-through. It's like he gives enough breadcrumbs to make you think there's going to be an “aha!” but then there hardly ever is. We do pretty much get an explanation of how Area X started - but of course, it's wrapped in a lot of “human cognition and perception cannot conceive of this” baggage as well as poetic nature descriptions and first-person hallucinating and navel-gazing, so it can be hard to unpack.

If you're willing to tolerate the ambiguity, I still recommend the series! It brings the weird in a way that's both unique, and also echoes everything from The Color Out of Space to Rebecca to Lilith's Brood.

A bunch of stupid assholes play shitty games and win shitty prizes. Very glad I gave up on this and read the Wikipedia synopsis instead.

The real curse of womanhood is that we never get to forget we have a body.

3.5 stars - this was distinctive, weird, and horrifying, and it weaves in the plight of the middle-aged, perimenopausal woman in a really artful way. Not quite a home run for me because it's a little long and meandering for a tale with basically no likable characters. (Note: this is not to say the characters are poorly drawn, or that we don't sympathize with them or even cheer them on at times. It's just that ultimately, I spent most of my time not rooting for anyone.)

After the prologue, I felt like I knew exactly what was going on, and got a little impatient with the middle of the story, like, “You already told us what the reveal will be - just reveal it already!” But even after the reveal there are some shocking and intriguing developments!

This is very disturbing and explicitly gory, with some passages suggestive of even worse (which we mercifully do not see come to fruition, but know has happened to people in the past). If you're looking for something merely creepy/ghostly, this is not it! But the violence serves the story and is effectively depicted.

All in all, this was a good read, and I very much appreciate the author doing something different and strange. I also think he wrote with remarkable sympathy and knowledge about living in a perimenopausal body! This was a cool theme to choose, and he used his research and consultations with women to good effect.

This was all right. Some issues were very entertaining, others not so much. And I may be dense, but I didn't really get what was going on. There wan't a resolution to all the threads that made sense to me. But it was a fun ride, and the art is great. The humor sprinkled throughout is entertaining as well.

KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, a brooding symphony of a novel. It's a pop song. It's meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you're done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face.

Yes, everyone is including this quote from the Author's Note in their reviews, but I can't resist. This is such a perfectly self-aware encapsulation of the novel. This is fun. There are sympathetic characters who make jokes and become friends. There's bonkers sci-fi stuff, some action, and eventually there's an overarching plot arc that comes to a satisfying conclusion. It does take more than half the book for the main conflict to really come to the fore, but the setup before that is a lot of fun, so who cares?

Also - I love that the main character could be any gender. In general I could have used a little more physical description of characters (and especially of kaiju!), but this choice was lovely.

ALERT: The Author's Note at the end is not to be missed, even if you don't normally read them.
I must pause to recommend reading the Author's Note. It bumped this book from 4 to 4.5 stars for me. Everyone will relate, and it just made me feel seen and understood, and like we all went through something together. I'm glad it will be there decades from now to be read by young nerds who view 2020 through a fuzzy, history-class lens, and give them a surprise: a very poignant, personal time capsule of what this time felt like to live through.

I'll close with a quote from Murderbot (who is lovingly name-dropped in Chapter 1 - yes, I cheered!) that almost perfectly summarizes KPS:

(It was called Worldhoppers, and was about freelance explorers who extended the wormhole and ring networks into uninhabited star systems. It looked very unrealistic and inaccurate, which was exactly what I liked.)

I enjoyed this, but I could have enjoyed it more if I knew a bit more about where it was (or more to the point WASN'T) going.

About halfway through, I started to feel a familiar, suspicious sensation - it's the feeling I get when I'm reading/viewing something dreamy and weird, and there's a danger the whole thing is just a mindfuck. You probably know what I'm talking about - you get tense, waiting for the author to jump out from behind a door and yell, “The protagonist was really the bad guy all along!” or “All the characters are actually the protagonist!” or (God help us) “It was all a dream!”

The good news is that this does not happen. Sure, this story goes to some weird places; some of our assumptions may get upended. But in a general sense, the rug doesn't get pulled out from under us. Ben is a worthy hero, even if he has flaws. His love for his family is genuine. The story does actually go somewhere, and there's a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, this is like Alice in Wonderland mashed up with The Wizard of Oz and The Odyssey, with touches of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Matrix, adapted for screen by David Wong and directed by David Cronenberg.

Magary does a good job of juxtaposing fatalism and predestination with randomness and personal empowerment. It's a combination that should't work together, but does. The story keeps the reader slightly off-balance throughout - a reflection of the confusing sensations of business travel. We leave our daily grind of boring sameness and family obligations and set out on the road, only to find that we feel lonely and displaced, and we just want to get back to our loved ones, no matter how many fabulous buffets and bottles of fine wine we encounter along the way.

This was cute, and a reasonably interesting mystery. But just interesting - not compelling or fascinating. The hook is supposed to be Molly and her distinct outlook on life, but her character felt a bit muddy, having limitations, advantages, and quirks inconsistently and as required for the plot. A fine diversion, but I prefer Christie.

A lovely story, told by lovely actors, for a lovely cause. It delights me that Gaiman plays the character Neil Gaiman, and Jewel Staite is perfect. This is a small bit of airy confection, but also speaks to a timely and important issue.

This was an amazing page-turner! It passes the Neil Gaiman test (“... and then what happened?”) with flying colors.

If there's a weakness to the story, I guess that it's rather preposterous when you reflect on the whole ordeal - and people more versed in science might be face-palming throughout. I don't know how plausible the science is - I just let Mark carry me along. He's such a great character, it more than compensates for any plot drawbacks, in my opinion.

I feel sad - this is the only 1-star book I've read this year. I suppose it did have two key virtues: the premise (reinforced by that cover!) is irresistible, and it was so short I could still finish it despite not liking it.

I picked this up with high hopes. A group of friends who once styled themselves ghost hunters rent a venerable Japanese mansion steeped in ghostly legend? Sounds both right up my alley and refreshingly different from standard Western haunting tales.

However, beyond that general idea, this fails on every element of storytelling.

Atmosphere is weirdly lacking. Perhaps because the setting isn't well established (is this supposed to be a crumbling pile, a preserved historical landmark, something in between? If it's explained at the outset, I quickly lost the thread as petty arguments and weird vocabulary choices distracted me!). This isn't scary, creepy, or even unsettling. And the elements of Japanese folklore needed a lot more explanation and description to sustain the focus placed on them.

Plot barely exists. It could be summarized in 2-3 sentences.

The insistence on obscure words and the constant, strained metaphors make me think Khaw forgot the primary purpose of language is communication! The ostentatious prose was distracting and pulled me out of the story. For example:

I wanted badly to tell her again that the past was so sepulchered in poor choices, you couldn't get Faiz and me back together for bourbon enough to brine New Orleans.

boring

When Captain Awkward and Ask a Manager both repeatedly recommend a book, ya gotta read it.

Here's what I wish someone had told me before I read this - if you want to learn about using intuition to protect yourself, and get some insight into red flags from strangers, co-workers, dates, etc., there is some amazing stuff in here, but it's salted in among a lot of other content, from a clinical discussion of risk assessment on a more mathematical level, to detailed stories of disturbed people committing suicide, murder, and assassinations.

Now, those chapters and sections are fascinating in their own way, but not what I was looking for, and for me way too depressing to justify the “Wow, that is an intriguing story” aspect. (At another time, I would actually be really interested to read a biography of Gavin de Becker, and an in-depth description of how his firm works and all the crazy cases they've handled, because it does sound fascinating in its own way, if you can handle the sadness/horror of the stories.)

Still, there's amazing information about how potentially dangerous people test, groom, and ensnare victims, the warning signs of a violent work incident and how management can mitigate the risk, and even a list of questions to ask your school about student safety. Lots of good practical advice that can make people be safer while feeling less afraid.

Finally, there's some wonderful information about setting boundaries, how women are socialized to interact, and what the warning signs are that a romantic interest is really bad news. I'm definitely excerpting this stuff for my kids when they start dating!

This was unsettling and intriguing. I definitely couldn't wait to find out what happened next! This sets up an immediate setting (Area X) and an outside setting (the government sending the expedition) really effectively. Which is the larger source of danger? Who has what motivations? What is going ON?

The potential for answers is complicated by the narrator. We have only her point of view - her journal. Her perceptions may be unreliable, her interpretations even more so. Or she may wind up as the most knowledgeable and reliable investigator ever to visit Area X. Don't expect clear, objective answers.

In that context, I felt like this was satisfying enough. I fear the trilogy at large may suffer from “Lost” syndrome - setting up irresistible mysteries and then utterly failing to deliver on solutions. But this first book doesn't truly present itself as a mystery, at least primarily. It's more a psychological journey tinged with nostalgic and revelatory romance.

To be sure, the catalyst for the personal story is a perilous and surreal setting that will resonate with fans of weird fiction, and there's plenty of fodder for deliciously paranoid conspiracy theorizing. But even if those threads don't pan out in later books, I enjoyed reading this one on its own merits.

I would like Amber Ruffin to write a series of books illuminating various human problems. Hopefully they won't all have to happen to Lacey though, who seems like a delightful person!

Seriously, this book was incredibly effective at helping me understand my own privilege and bringing home the huge proportion of racism that's invisible if you're white. I've been reading some books and articles to raise my awareness as a white person, and honestly, this is the one that hit home the most. I guess because it's so personal. I identified with these smart, funny, nerdy, kind ladies, so the the litany of awful stories hit me viscerally and framed the theoretical information I've absorbed in a whole new way. And this section is going to live with me for a good long time:

Question 1: Do I wanna talk about this stuff with you? Do most Black people?
Answer: No. Because it's a very big thing for us and a very little thing for you.
Question 2: When you talk to us about this stuff, do we get to see exactly where you fall on the racism spectrum?
Answer: Yes, and that shit cannot be unseen.
Question 3: Am I saying, “White people, don't talk to Black people about race”?
Answer: No. I'm saying, “No one wants to relive their traumatic events with someone who may say it was all their fault.” You know?