melissa
Finally a Rooney book that ends with a resolution, like an actual feeling of a book ending. It's a bit different from the previous two, this one feels more mature, subtle, the characters are older, there isn't the usual raw emotion, a bit more cerebral. My favourite parts were the emails exchanged between Alice and Eileen, a kind of stream of consciousness analysis of life, of how life is under Capitalism, of the alienation between friends, society, the role of religion, i would gladly read an epistolary novel by Sally Rooney.
It takes a while for you to really dive in, probably around a quarter in, at first it veers towards the Young Adult novels, it's a first person 21 yo describing her friends and college life, but then it starts digging in, on what constitutes relationships the power-play and dynamic of a conversation, i like how at times instead of writing the dialogue, the main character describes it as a fight or dance, a very aptly named novel.
I really enjoyed it, i enjoy Rooney's characters and how they interact, it's basically what her novels are, people interacting without any major events happening. Basically life is happening and it's complicated as it is.
I loved it so much (didn't put a 5 cause the ending was not the closure i needed) i could've read 1000 pages of Marianne and Connell. It's a certain weird that i'm attached to.
I really enjoyed Rooney's style of composition, starting up each chapter with describing the setup like an eye witness then delving bit by bit into the character's thoughts and reminiscence. A structure that's repeated throughout, that feels like assembling a puzzle piece by piece.
I think my least favourite of Oseman's. I'm glad she didn't fall in the “girl chooses pop culture and it clashes with her muslim religion” trope, and the story was interesting, but the rhythm is off. Things start becoming interesting half way through, it really picks up at 90%, and as usual a very brief resolution which doesn't give us enough time to enjoy the ending.
Something about Oseman's books, the main character always seems familiar. It's funny to me how you get to write about nerds in books and are guaranteed to have all the readers identify with the protagonist in some way. So like, yup gone through that, glad that phase is over.
Also her books don't feel like a creepy adult being voyeuristic about teens falling in love. No romance in this one, not a spoiler, they're clear about it early on. It's a puzzle you get to figure out, about the backstory of the characters how they fit with each other, a definite page turner and it does get emotional.
My only problem was that the ending felt rushed. I like a long last chapter where i get to enjoy the characters being happy for once, most books seem to give us barely a blurb.
If you want to know more about the PLFP and their operations during the 70s, this is a great book. It is divided into 4 chapters, the first with testimonies about the life of Wadih Haddad, the second a couple of interviews with Carlos, then with Anis Naccache and finally with Georges Habash.
The chapters about Wadih Haddad and Naccache are a must. They go in details about the evolution of the resistance movements then and the operations they did. However, Carlos didn't make any sense, which putting him on the same level seems ridiculous, and the interview with Georges Habash was sadly lacking, and did not go into detail about his relationship with Haddad, which misses the point of the book.
I would give the first half (formation of the state of Lebanon till the early 70s) 5/5
And I would give the second half (the civil war from 1975 till 1986) 2/5
The first half is really informative, really puts into perspective the coming of the war, it was not out of the blue but a war already discussed by israel since the 50s, by the western powers in this context, and bound to happen the way the west created the contradictory state that is Lebanon.
However, the second half is just really not accurate. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt as she had published the book in 1986, so with no real in hindsight analysis. She had no idea Syria will never normalize relations, and will protect the Resistance so efficiently it kept growing until liberation (in the book she keeps eluding to this Syria-israel peace deal), that the Muslim Resistance will lead the liberation of Lebanon and form a Resistance axis (and not the PLO) and that Arafat at the first chance he gets, will sign a peace deal with Israel and sell the cause.
A main problem is the whitewashing of both Jumblatt's and Arafat's History, who were both using the Palestinian cause to gain power, and vilifying whomever stood against them (another thing time would've proven that those who stood against him, were the ones still fighting israel -unlike Fatah- obviously not speaking of Kataeb) and another problem is vilifying any religious movement, however revolutionary in the Lebanese context it were (Mousa Sadr was bad, Hezb is anti-semitic and not anti-zionist, the irani revolution brought fundamentalism to the area not wahhabism etc...), and then she offensively only spoke of the PSP as left and completely ignored the Lebanese Communist Party, the PFLP, the SSNP and other more genuine leftist and resistance movements. She even skipped over some ethnic cleansing instances, cause it wouldn't fit her narrative, cause “christians bad”. I will not list all my problems with the book, but these were my main issues.
So in summary first half is great, second half could only be used as a chronological reference point but very simplistic and at times erroneous analysis of those years.
I honestly didn't read it completely, and only skipped around until i got to her letters and diary entries from Gaza and her last few months. I would recommend it if you're not familiar with what's happening in occupied Palestine, as it's a first hand testimony of what an ethnic cleansing looks like, when Gaza was not freed yet and its inhabitants getting displaced for the umpteenth time. What is still happening now in the west bank, is what Rachel Corrie wrote about in 2003, and what ended her life.
Sci-fi has always questioned the morality of Science and Technology, and The Island of Dr Moreau is one of the classics on that subjects, but as usually with Wells, the plot is very interesting, but the story doesn't go much in depth. It always feels more like a movie than a book, it's fun, but not much analysis. This one is better than his others at least.
I did expect it to be bad (after watching the movie), but it was REALLY bad. Like the creepiness of Edward smelling her, observing her, and him getting angry unprompted. The whole schtick about her being clumsy?? what was up with that? Her taking care of her parents as if it's adorable? Ignoring ALL that, nothing happens till the 75% mark. The whole book is mainly her speaking with Edward, maybe if I didn't know he's a vampire the 250-page build up to that reveal would've mattered?
Anyway, fun experience, would not repeat.
I read it after watching the adaptation with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman and even though Tenessee Williams didn't like it due to the heavy censorship, the casting was on point.
I really love Williams' work in general, not my favourite of his, but as always beautiful tension. It's one of those books where nothing much happens but are mainly a study of human experience. I would love to watch a bookclub discussing these characters in depth.
I did not expect this book to go all out. I thought it was a few photoshopped cats, but damn, there's a whole theory and narrative. It's obvious the writers know what they're talking about, from a Historical, Social study and Art critique point of view, and it makes it all so much better. They have created a parallel universe that's so rich, that at some point, makes total sense.
It's an unfinished memoire so obviously there's gonna be some problems. Mainly it really needs a lot of editing. It's a very stream of consciousness way to write, it seems like an inner monologue, more than someone written for other people to read. There are the beautiful chapters reminiscing over the story that lead to writing some of the songs (like [i]Nantes[/i], [i]Victor[/i] and [i]Göttingen[/i]) which give you goosebumps, then there are other chapters where it's just her naming celebrities she hung out with, and i don't who would care about that.
Mainly it needed an editor to bring direction and order to the book, and i think Barbara is too known for her stubbornness to have allowed it lol.
Thought I would dislike reading a collection of quotations instead of full on essays, but it reads like a mix of Lao Tzu, Art of War and The Prince. Really good guide communist guide, and well collected into chapters, from how to prepare to war, anti-imperialism/anti-capitalism, improving the Communist Party, working together, the dangers of Liberalism, Women Equality, Education and Art etc...
I have no idea who this book was written for. If you've seen the show, you already know all that's in the book, and if you haven't, there isn't enough info for it to not be confusing? Maybe some people couldn't keep up during season 1? Maybe it was written to fill in the gap cause of the hiatus between S1 and S2?
Anyway it is obvious that season 1 and 2 had a very different concept for the Crystal Gems as a Resistance movement (also very clear in the book), and I personally feel, the direction of the show changed after that.
Now I want to rewatch season 2.
