melissa
It's a fictionalized series of sessions of therapy for John Lennon, and it's an interesting way to tell his biography. It's just that the french doesn't really gel with me trying to imagine it's John Lennon's voice, and the extra crass in the language did not feel genuine. I liked the beginning mainly and the recounting of John's childhood.
There's a lot of ways to understand this book, and it can start a lot of conversations, which is something i always enjoy. To me it felt like a critique of western “civilization”, and the only thing keeping their society from falling into complete savagery is the clothes on their back (metaphorically).
However, in some parts of the story it feels like the savages are modeled after the colonizer's view of natives of the American and African continent, and using the colonizer term of “savages” not as exaggeration but as a technical term.
I do believe that if people from colonizing countries were left on an island, they will use their tricks against each other, and i believe a different society, that values community, were left on an island, it would've lead to a very different book.
That is probably what the author wanted to show, or maybe i'm reading into it too much and that's just what i believe, but this island showed what would happen to a group who valued power and greed over society and the betterment of everyone (but they are kids bla bla bla but who better than kids to be the reflection of their own society).
Even tho Keller was obvious in her preface not finding it interesting to speak about this subject it still was very informative. Also she's a great writer, tho i prefer her later writings. Her vocabulary was still a bit colonialist during that time. Anyway, if you're interested in the world of Helen Keller, recommended.
I agree with her on the importance of Optimism and hope, that the pessimist is a traitor to his race, that defeatism has no place in the human experience. Pessimism is being used in our age to destroy the human spirit, better to control the masses, that tends to happen when secularism seems lauded and no one believes in something bigger. But i digress, the low-ish rating is for the colonialist language taking over the examples in that essay. To believe that America is a land of the free when it was built on genocide and slavery is quite embarrassing, and that's one example. This essay is written early on in her life, and i've read some of her later works which are very different in sentiment in regard to America's past. So basically good message, great writing as usual, but arguments built on colonialist delusions.
If someone wants to read the book i recommend they read this edition cause it's really the supplementary readings that get the high rating.
“Story of my Life” in itself gets 3/5, i think Keller of everything she could be writing about finds writing about her own life the least interesting way to use her talents.
The letters are a bit more interesting but not by much. But as supplementary reading we we have Anne Sullivan's letters following Helen Keller's education and progress, we have some of Keller's essays from college and then the appendix which really shows the literary talent Helen Keller has, a woman reduced to her disabilities and later to a punchline apparently.
After the public followed Helen Keller's education, her unparalleled thirst for knowledge and language, they seem to have disliked her beliefs once she was able to express them clearly (and beautifully- her style is truly remarkable) she was silenced again. When you admit to being a socialist in America, they will try their best to bury you, with her all they left was the story of a little girl discovering water's name.
That was a really tough read, but something's gonna be exceedingly good to continue reading it while nausea keeps rising. The subject matter is tough, the scribbly yet graphic art does not make it easier, the language is harsh, and my book has a very strong toner smell which made the read even harder. It is truly a plunge into hell. First time i read a graphic novel that truly feels like a heavy literary novel.
I was also very impressed by the extent of the research, every detail and choice is explained thoroughly in the appendix, with a second appendix following the fictionalized retellings of Jack the Ripper and how the mythology kept growing.
I will not enter into analysis of how accurate 1888 Britain was depicted and if it's all exaggerated, (media always shows the poor to have lost their humanity which is more of an exception than a rule in reality, but lots of books have been written about the misery of Victorian Britain so i don't know)
but i do know western media has been feeding on that fascination with crime since and it's not “human” as Moore has said in his second appendix, but definitely an important part of modern western culture.
Truly bad. Maybe would've been more bearable if i'd read it in its original language, the French translation was just cringy, there's a limit to how many literally translated American idioms i can take, and the word “bled” thrown around by supposed Americans was not something i enjoyed. But i do doubt it would've been any better in English, there's just no point to it.
Then every speech bubble is like some tweet take, guess they wanted to be “informative”. It being a webcomic makes more sense, and maybe keep the takes for twitter, or a pamphlet. The dialogue was so bad i dnt think i'll get over it.
It's not a Miss Marple mystery really, more of a Miss Marple cameo. The mystery was interesting but it got all sidetracked with the town gossip. I guess it's the point of the book, but with the narrator not being part of the mystery or trying actively to figure it out, it got a bit boring. The mystery in itself is as always good, it being written by Agatha Christie.
The story is fine but no one is likeable in that book. Also there's nothing philosophical or deep about games. It's simple escapism.
PS. the author wanting to normalize isr@el so bad, i feel the only reason this book is on any of the “best books” list it's bcz of some aipac bribery. It's a mediocre book.
I loved it so much. I loved Eleanor so much and her complex relationship with Theodora is exactly my cup of tea. Her psyche disintegrating so subtly, the characters laughing off their horror, the chilling haunting scenes, all beautifully written. I could've liked a longer ending but really i just didn't want it to end.
The chaos of a hank green tiktok but instead of 30 seconds you have to endure 450 pages. He has too much on his plate, most don't need to be there and the rest isn't even that good. And if Hank Green had read any chapter of American History he'd know that nothing is easier for the American military than to land unannounced on a Caribbean island. That could've solved his book in 10 pages (cause apparently we're in a parallel universe where the American government is good) also the US has been using the internet and technology to form opinion for a few decades now, so his fearmongering about technology is a bit outdated when we're living it every day (but not in americaaaaa spoookyyyy
It was a fun read but even though i think Hank intended it as a critique of the cult of personality in liberal politics in the age of social media, the liberal delusions Hank Green has of how politics work kept pulling me out of the story.
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[spoilers ahead]
I am always amazed that full grown adults believe that a “terrorist group” can be created from interactions online without any backing, funding or arming from a government (these people also believe revolutions are being organized online lol), that in case of an alien visit the “authoritarian” Chinese and Russian military will be on the scene to block it while the “democratic” American military would be nonexistent (literally no mention of them anywhere), and that there is some version of America where a president could have any kind of values?? Like that's literally not written by a 12 year old. Someone over 30 thinks this! Oh and also the american government has less information about something happening on their soil than a 23 year old girl stumbling about. I get that the book is written for young adults but we need to ease up on our wishful thinking.
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It's just that in sci fi lack of strategic, military and historical knowledge are much more flagrant than in other genres. Some political trivia without any analysis is not enough.
It's the stream of consciousness of an overthinking self absorbed fickle teen. i think what people liked was this lifestyle reminiscent of the 60s, no mentions of phone or technology, days spent under the sun, reading playing classical music on the piano. Throughout i could not understand in which decade the story is supposed to happen in cause it did not mention anything of the present so it could've happened at any time, which adds to the ephemeral mood of the book, but other than that there really is nothing (I had to google to see that the story was happening in the 80s, which makes a lot of aspects of the book anachronistic, I'm sure the writer didn't care one bit about the period of the book, only reference of time is “after ww2” and “televisions exist cause there were mentioned once” homosexuality doesn't seem to be an issue and no pop song was mentioned in that supposed 80s book)
It seemed the writer wanted to reproduce a 60s book where being gay felt tragic in itself, for that you might read Tenessee Williams, Truman Capote, Baldwin or Isherwood. This is just a cheap knockoff and if it weren't for the film no one would've care about it. Where is the damn conflict? You have a teen overthinking a relationship no one minded (that summarizes the book well)
*** I had in mind rating it 3/5 cause of the mood, but minus 1 star for the two positive mentions of Israel.