Yuhan
This book manages to make a whole ass plague boring. Or maybe plagues are meant to be boring, and this is actually a stroke of genius done so flawlessly that I didn't appreciate it. Either way, I fell asleep.
(idk I usually enjoy philosophical discussions. I fear my experience of this book might be victim of translation (it's kinda difficult to follow what's going on at a lot of points), and maybe the concept of a documentation of a plague was novel when it was published, but after covid, all it gives is the faint familiarity of boredom.)
((at the reveal at the end that Rieux is supposed to be the narrator, umh, I always thought that they were the same anyway from the beginning???? so turns out I was reading the whole book wrong. Goes to show that I don't think I followed a thing through the whole ass book LOL))
This book manages to make a whole ass plague boring. Or maybe plagues are meant to be boring, and this is actually a stroke of genius done so flawlessly that I didn't appreciate it. Either way, I fell asleep.
(idk I usually enjoy philosophical discussions. I fear my experience of this book might be victim of translation (it's kinda difficult to follow what's going on at a lot of points), and maybe the concept of a documentation of a plague was novel when it was published, but after covid, all it gives is the faint familiarity of boredom.)
((at the reveal at the end that Rieux is supposed to be the narrator, umh, I always thought that they were the same anyway from the beginning???? so turns out I was reading the whole book wrong. Goes to show that I don't think I followed a thing through the whole ass book LOL))
Y'all if you plan on reading this book (and do, it's great) don't read up literally anything on it - any sort of content discussion would be a massive spoiler so I'll talk about something else instead.
Heads up - I read the original in Chinese, and I've heard that a lot of people think the translation is great, and I knowwwww that translation is a tough job, but man the translated text is dry (I read this as a buddy read with someone reading the english translation). I wish y'all could experience the original and the cultural contexts that come with it, the translation loses a couple of dimensions. The translation also shuffles some chapters around, which honestly I disagree with a lot of those decisions especially the flashback being taken to the very beginning of the novel - honestly I think this is probably the most confusing/dry part for any english readers not familiar with that part of history, but also changes the weighting of the different narritives of the book , but yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Frankly this book feels more real than my actual life LOL and for me that's what makes it shine. No exaggerated characters (well, one, but let's face it we kinda love him), no silly grand mission, no magical chosen ones, just real people going about their real lives and playing their piece. The horror at the beginning with the photos - ik this isn't even a big thing but it really stayed with me honestly made me 👀👀👀 DDDD:, I frickin love the VR segments it so doesn't take itself seriously it's almost serious I reaaaaaalllly appreciate the watertightness with plot holes and justifications.
Anyway I need to get back to work and will stop gushing about my million opinions on this book lol. I'm almost tempted to give it five stars but I'm currently reading the second book and that's EVEN MORE REAL and I LOVE THAT so I can't ceiling the scores just yet LOL ok right imma get back to writing my diss
Y'all if you plan on reading this book (and do, it's great) don't read up literally anything on it - any sort of content discussion would be a massive spoiler so I'll talk about something else instead.
Heads up - I read the original in Chinese, and I've heard that a lot of people think the translation is great, and I knowwwww that translation is a tough job, but man the translated text is dry (I read this as a buddy read with someone reading the english translation). I wish y'all could experience the original and the cultural contexts that come with it, the translation loses a couple of dimensions. The translation also shuffles some chapters around, which honestly I disagree with a lot of those decisions especially the flashback being taken to the very beginning of the novel - honestly I think this is probably the most confusing/dry part for any english readers not familiar with that part of history, but also changes the weighting of the different narritives of the book , but yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Frankly this book feels more real than my actual life LOL and for me that's what makes it shine. No exaggerated characters (well, one, but let's face it we kinda love him), no silly grand mission, no magical chosen ones, just real people going about their real lives and playing their piece. The horror at the beginning with the photos - ik this isn't even a big thing but it really stayed with me honestly made me 👀👀👀 DDDD:, I frickin love the VR segments it so doesn't take itself seriously it's almost serious I reaaaaaalllly appreciate the watertightness with plot holes and justifications.
Anyway I need to get back to work and will stop gushing about my million opinions on this book lol. I'm almost tempted to give it five stars but I'm currently reading the second book and that's EVEN MORE REAL and I LOVE THAT so I can't ceiling the scores just yet LOL ok right imma get back to writing my diss
