Joe

This is a great book. It's an interconnected series of stories about Xiaoda Xiao's experience in one of Mao's Reeducation Labor Camps. His crime was pulling down a poster of Mao while he was drunk. He spent five years in forced labor. The book really simply and artfully describes his experience there and how it affected him.

I wish Goodreads would let us give half stars, because this is definitely 3.5 stars, but not quite 4. The book is about a therapist who has a sexual addiction, and he acts on that addiction with patients that he finds fascinating (both female and male). In the meantime, he deprives his loving wife of her sexual needs. The book is written in very short chapters and moves quickly. While the main character is entirely unlikable, he's so fascinating, that we actually have to see what he does next. This book is only recommended to people who can handle strong language and descriptions of sex(not extremely detailed, but sometimes disturbing).

A very powerful story about the relationship between a boy and his mother. The mother has been held prisoner by Old Nick, a man who kidnapped her 7 years prior. Her son Jack, a child conceived in rape, lives the first five years of his life in a single room with his mother in a shed in Old Nick's backyard. Then they escape, and Jack has to learn about the world outside Room, the place he has spent his entire life. The book is written from Jack's POV in his very idiosyncratic language. It's a heart touching and powerful book.

This book tells the story of an adjunct professor in English who has to work five jobs to support himself. It covers one day in his life: his long day, when he has to work all five jobs. While Duffy has the noblest of goals at times, reality and his own human frailties make this day a particular difficult one.

I originally purchased this to decide whether or not I was going to subscribe to The Believer. I'm a fan of long form criticism, and there isn't enough of it to go around. The Believer still holds onto the idea that long form criticism is important. I'm glad that someone does.

What I found in these pages were essays that ranged from good to great. There wasn't a bad essay here, though some are more memorable than others. “Like Cormac McCarthy, but Funny” by Ed Park has convinced me to give Charles Portis a try. “The Bad Mormon” by Ben Ehrenreich was also fascinating. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of Rick Moody or not, but is essay “How to Be a Christian Artist” was decently written and interesting. Tom Bissel's discussion of books aimed at writers, “Sir, Permission to Go AWOL from the Interesting, Sir” has convinced me to stop reading those damn things(mostly). “Waiting for a Bad Thing” by Sam Lipsyte gave me the instant desire to find out more about Michel Houellebecq. The essay that stayed with me the most was “Transmissions from Camp Trans” by Michelle Tea.

All in all, it's a great collection. It's convinced me that I have to be a subscriber to The Believer. My only problem now is what do I read next? It's pretty hard to find quality essay work like this.

If anyone has any suggestions for collections of long form criticism, I'm all ears!

Outdated, but still useful in a lot of ways. I really haven't been able to find a current book dealing with Linux Clusters.

While this is a good scholarly review of Chaos Theory as it applies to contemporary American Fiction, it leans very heavily on Postmodern Fiction and ignores the more recent “Hysterical Reality” movement. If you know nothing about Chaos Theory, be sure to read [b:Chaos: The Making of a New Science 64582 Chaos The Making of a New Science James Gleick http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327941595s/64582.jpg 62690] by [a:James Gleick 10401 James Gleick http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1304671926p2/10401.jpg] first to get a proper introduction to the basics. It also helps if you've read books by Don Delillo, Barth and Cormac McCarthy

The stories were all okay, but nothing was particularly memorable. Not really recommended unless you need more GLBT fiction in your library, and even then: there are much better choices.

I don't often read comedies (or watch them for that matter. I haven't watched a sitcom in years). I'm much more drama oriented. That being said, this book was wonderful. Dark humor is my favorite style of comedy, and this book certainly fits into the dark humor genre. This is a much different book than [b:Fight for Your Long Day 8612461 Fight for Your Long Day Alex Kudera https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1279743920s/8612461.jpg 13482868], which shares the same protagonist. In fact, I enjoy this book quite a bit more than the first novel (which is saying something, because I liked that book a lot). I started out reading slowly because my schedule didn't allow much time to read, but by the middle, I couldn't stop. I kept staying up late to get further and further into the very engrossing tale. Watching Michael's life unfold in the way that it did was morbidly fascinating. There's a bit of absurdity to the humor, especially as the novel progresses. Michael's situation, already bad because of his job as an adjunct, spins somewhat out of control. It is all of his own making, of course. No one can undo a life better than the person living it. There's a fair bit of philosophy imbued within the novel (relevant because Michael is a professor of Philosophy). In a way, Michael's path in the novel follows a philosophical path, from simple existentialism to an almost Dada like life near the end of the book. All in all, I would highly recommend reading Auggie's Revenge.This is very much a book about Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. They are both characters in this novel. Fairly current events, though fictionalized, play a large role in the novel, especially near the end. As someone who has made Pennsylvania his home, and who loves Philadelphia, I was glad this was the case.

I came to this book with an open mind, but I was sure that I would disagree with Shivani on every point. However, Shivani makes a pretty good case for the idea that MFA writing programs have created a conservatism in American fiction. If I had one complaint, it is that the book provides plenty of great arguments with very little evidence. Having widely read many literary journals over the years, I don't need any examples, because I've seen it for myself. If I came to this book cold, however, I might find his arguments less convincing. Still, if you're a writer, and you have some background in literary theory and criticism, I recommend you read this. It's a pretty quick read. The very last essay is the most powerful, in my opinion.

I suspected an allegorical tale, but instead got the actual tale of Jesus, as if he had been born in the 1980's. Sure, his name is Sam, but in reality, his could be the Messiah. So why did I like this book so much, given the obviousness of the plot: The writing is beautiful, and the story of Jesus is only the scaffolding that holds this tale up (granted, the scaffolding is showing, and that bothered me a bit). These are fully realized characters who just happen to be based on(or incarnations of) Biblical characters from the Gospels. Given the elephant is an eastern symbol, I suspect there's some play here on rebirth. I guess I'll have to wait for the sequel to find out.

I'm going to write a more complete review on my blog after a second reading, but here's the ‘first impressions' review.

Jack Addington has a past that many of us would envy. He has traveled the world and seen a lot. His present, though, is a form of hell that many of us have experienced: a soul-destroying job with supervisors who only care about climbing the ladder, maximizing profits, and covering their own asses. Jack's experience of the world is filtered through the lens of both boredom and apathy. Like i would with any novel written in the first person limited POV, I treated the narrator as unreliable. Since we see the world entirely through Jack's eyes, we have no idea what s real and what's fake. That murkiness is further intensified by Jack's flashbacks to his more exciting youth, a youth that often included plenty of chemicals. His present is also filled with chemicals; he is prescribed psychiatric medication by his psychiatrist.

My first marginal note was about the POV. 1st person present immediately draws attention to itself. It's recently become common among MFA Graduates. That being said, once I settled into the novel, I understood why that POV was chosen. A quarter of the way through and I barely noticed it anymore.

My only complaint with the novel - besides the POV issue, which is a stylistic choice, not a technical flaw - was Jack's only work friend, Uri. To me, Uri seemed to be the voice of the author on social issues. That may or not not be Uri's purpose, but that's what it certainly felt like to me. The intrusion of the Authorial Voice always makes me aware that I am reading.

The ending of the book lends support to my belief that Jack is an unreliable narrator. The end, in fact, is the reason I chose to wait awhile before writing any review at all. I really needed time to mull it over. This isn't a book that immediately slips away as soon as you start reading something else. It creeps into your thoughts and you're left considering many things. I highly recommend this book.

—-typed on an iPad, so probably littered with spelling errors. My apologies if so.

I can't imagine a better companion to Strunk and White. This is a book for people who love sentences. Fish demonstrates how sentence construction follows particular forms, and that it's these forms, rather than an exhaustive knowledge of Grammar, that can be learned and replicated. Highly recommended if you have any interest in the English language. This is obviously a book for writers, but I think it would be valuable to avid readers and students of any discipline.

While I found the premise interesting, I found most of the characters inauthentic. There was a lot of unrealized potential in this book. Miller's voice felt particularly unreal. No 10 year old, no matter how precocious, talks like Miller does. I enjoyed the novel, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

This book has some wonderful prose. I really enjoyed it, despite flaws that other reviewers have mentioned. I can recommend it based on the language alone. Warning! This book contains graphic content and language, and is definitely NOT for children.

This book would have earned five stars, but the end felt entirely disconnected from the rest of the book. It was inauthentic, and felt like it was designed to appeal to a movie going audience.

The rest of the book is brilliant, though I found the entire mountain top renewal section to be superfluous. It felt like it was crammed into the book so Franzen could expound upon his environmental issues; in particular, his devotion to songbird ecology. Personally, I'm a lover of birds, and especially songbirds, but even I found no value in the constant discussion of feral and outdoor cats, the populations decimated by our technology, and the destruction of habitats. This is a book about family, and when he sticks to that, Franzen delivers a virtuoso performance.

Slight Spoiler Below This Point.

In the end, this book is weaker than The Corrections, which felt like a perfect novel about family. One of the themes that Franzen seems to be exploring on a consistent basis is the idea of the prodigal son, and I found the prodigal son of The Corrections (Chip) much more enthralling than Freedom's Joey. Joey and Walter's reconciliation felt forced (though, in all honesty, reconciliation can often feel that way.) Reconciliation, agreeability, and of course, freedom(more precisely, the excess of freedom), are the resounding themes of this book. The book mostly succeeds in exploring all of them in a fascinating and authentic way.

But man, I hate the ending.

Sebastian is a gay entomologist with Asperger Syndrome. Tom is a dyslexic bisexual and (nominally) Buddhist. ManBug is the nickname Tom accidentally gives Sebastian (he meant to say BugMan). ManBug the novel is the story of their relationship. The novel is written in the third person, but it is obviously filtered through the mind of Sebastian.

The story of their relationship is told in short chapters which read like ethereal wisps of stories. There is a story here, and despite the light feeling of the prose, there is depth and weight. There are also moments of incredible humor. Familiarity with Buddhism, while not necessary for the enjoyment of this novel, will certainly add new depth to some of the story.

The Kardapa Lampa was both a reincarnating lineage, and a theory Tom ascribed to. The current title holder had been empowered through a series of events whose legitimacy provoked controversy and much bitter debate. People loved him or they hated him. The Kardapa Lampa was either tearing Buddhism apart, or he was a living embodiment of the teachings.

There was no middle way here.

The word “kiss” as it came off Tom's lips was a kind of blue that melted from the edges and faded, but lingered.

The word “Tom” also became bluer after this. Thoughts of Tom were oddly tinged blue somehow, in a new development.

The Metamorphosis

The narrator lacks humility. I just can't take his conversational “oh, I'm so clever” tone anymore.

This is a powerful book, told from the POV of Peter. Peter is an art dealer, and while he's not a big time player, he loves his job. Thinks get turned upside down when his wife's brother Mizzy(short for Mistake) shows up claiming to want to clean up his act and do “something in Art”. We really see the world through Peter's eyes, and I especially liked how his interior monologue was interjected into conversations so we know what he really wanted to say.

One of the best pieces of experimental literary fiction I have ever read.

A melancholy book filled with sad, and sometimes deranged, characters. All of the main characters are perfectly drawn human beings with motivations that seem somewhat alien, but understandable. In lesser hands these characters would be unlikeable. Fortunately, John Brandon handles them with care, and even though we don't always like them, we still want to see where they're headed.

This is definitely my favorite book of all time. It traces the journey a southern family makes to bury their mother in another town. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character, so we move in and out of the heads and viewpoints of all the major characters and a few minor ones. All in all, a great book.

While I preferred “Here Comes Everybody”, this book was interesting as well. It's basically an examination of how people use online tools to change the world. The book tends to feel Polyannaish and I don't think Shirky went nearly deep enough in his examination on how tools like Facebook and Twitter can be used for evil. I also think that LOLCats is a rather trivial example of group collaboration(Shirky admits this), so why bother with it at all. I'd liked to have seen discussion of 4chan, anonymous and other places/personas on the Internet that don't always work as a force for good. Shirky is obviously pro-sharing, and pro amateur production without really discussing the filter failure this creates and how we might deal with it, whether it be by curation or algorithm. Clearly, Shirky set out to prove or at least suggest a positive use for online tools, but ignoring the less than savory uses doesn't make them go away, nor does it give users an adequate picture of how online tools really work.

While it's an interesting experiment - a book written like a möbius strip - it ultimately fails because of its poorly written female characters, who seem to lack compassion and understandable motivations, and its confusing and unsatisfying ending. I wanted to love this book, and I love some of it (the Sheperd part of the book in the center is especially powerful), but I can't recommend it to anyone except fans of experimental literary fiction.

If you've read The Safety of Objects, this is a must read. If you haven't, this is still a highly recommended book. It's equally strange and familiar characters are beautifully drawn, and the situations, no matter how odd, feel as intense as a disaster and a family Thanksgiving dinner all rolled into one.