Nik Kroushl
I love angst!!!! “None house with left grief” destroyed me. Somewhat more confusing than Gideon but still unputdownable.
I love angst!!!! “None house with left grief” destroyed me. Somewhat more confusing than Gideon but still unputdownable.
I love angst!!!! “None house with left grief” destroyed me. Somewhat more confusing than Gideon but still unputdownable.
I love angst!!!! “None house with left grief” destroyed me. Somewhat more confusing than Gideon but still unputdownable.
I love angst!!!! “None house with left grief” destroyed me. Somewhat more confusing than Gideon but still unputdownable.
I love angst!!!! “None house with left grief” destroyed me. Somewhat more confusing than Gideon but still unputdownable.
A short modern fable. Lots of woo woo about manifesting your true destiny. Peddles in individualism. I just never believed the premise that "when you're pursuing your Personal Legend, the whole world conspires to help you," or that when we don't pursue the dreams of our youth our lives become worthless and out of sync with the universe. Overuse of the phrase "Personal Legend," disappointing relegation of the one female character to the role of personality-free love interest... wasn't for me.
A short modern fable. Lots of woo woo about manifesting your true destiny. Peddles in individualism. I just never believed the premise that "when you're pursuing your Personal Legend, the whole world conspires to help you," or that when we don't pursue the dreams of our youth our lives become worthless and out of sync with the universe. Overuse of the phrase "Personal Legend," disappointing relegation of the one female character to the role of personality-free love interest... wasn't for me.
I finished this book at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning which basically tells you all you need to know. I'm obsessed. It is stunning and beautiful and heartbreaking. Everything that made me love books in the first place. For sure one of the best books I've read this year.
I finished this book at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning which basically tells you all you need to know. I'm obsessed. It is stunning and beautiful and heartbreaking. Everything that made me love books in the first place. For sure one of the best books I've read this year.
I finished this book at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning which basically tells you all you need to know. I'm obsessed. It is stunning and beautiful and heartbreaking. Everything that made me love books in the first place. For sure one of the best books I've read this year.
I finished this book at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning which basically tells you all you need to know. I'm obsessed. It is stunning and beautiful and heartbreaking. Everything that made me love books in the first place. For sure one of the best books I've read this year.
Added to listStuff I Should Rereadwith 9 books.
What I expected: Stories of various attempts at utopian communities over the past several centuries, reportage on current utopian and communal living projects.
What I got: Chapters organized by ways that we organize society (homes/housing, childrearing, education, parenting and the nuclear family), a crash course in 20th century socialist and communist theory, examples in fiction ranging from Plato’s *Republic* to Ursula K LeGuin, examples in real-life ranging from monastic religious societies to modern-day eco-villages, a *Star Trek* themed call to radical hope, an impetus to work toward systemic change *and* individual life choice that upset the capitalist status quo fomented on inequality and exhaustion…
It makes me want to start a book club.
What I expected: Stories of various attempts at utopian communities over the past several centuries, reportage on current utopian and communal living projects.
What I got: Chapters organized by ways that we organize society (homes/housing, childrearing, education, parenting and the nuclear family), a crash course in 20th century socialist and communist theory, examples in fiction ranging from Plato’s *Republic* to Ursula K LeGuin, examples in real-life ranging from monastic religious societies to modern-day eco-villages, a *Star Trek* themed call to radical hope, an impetus to work toward systemic change *and* individual life choice that upset the capitalist status quo fomented on inequality and exhaustion…
It makes me want to start a book club.
Added to listStuff I Should Rereadwith 13 books.
This is a dreamy book, in many ways feels like being dragged into a riptide of beautiful and dense and continuous prose. The perspective tumbles around, between the minds of protagonist Laura Diaz and her family members and lovers, often a narrative that hunts down a truth not consciously known to our narrator but which even so underlies each event. A conversation between Laura and one of her lovers seamlessly cascades into a wordless exchange of secret thoughts, which in their specificity also reveal broad truths about the human experience.
I'm still trying to wrestle with all this book "means". There's so much packed into this lifetime epic that traces the major political events of 20th century Mexico as much as it does the life of Laura Diaz. (It was a very fun way to learn about some of the history, especially the Frida y Diego cameos, but I wish I'd solidified more historical knowledge before I read it.) I resonated with Laura's internal conflicts as she tries to figure out her place in post-revolution Mexico, to figure out what meaning her life can have both in personal relationships and in broader political endeavors, especially as a privileged woman who is also constantly navigating the waters of grief. Laura consistently loses herself in trying to understand and care for others, until she finally discovers the meaning-making and contributory artistic calling that pulls the fragments of her life and experiences together.
The writing is beautiful and often confusing. The symbolism is ripe and lyrical. There are aphorisms that succinctly, cuttingly lay bare the burdens of life in a dark world, the meanings or lack thereof of individual lives. There is the seemingly evergreen conundrum of young revolutionaries (or people who want to change the world, who fight hard and lose a lot for what they believe) who find their ideals and dreams trodden into the ground as time goes on, the struggle of idealism that either dies young or lives long enough to become a villain. There's the long confusion of family members who don't understand one another or who understand one another too well, and to their detriment. The characters are stunningly wrought if not always easy to understand or to like; they're larger than life in their arguments, their martyrdom, their ideals.
There are pieces I found frustrating: I don't think this book passes the Bechdel test (which is not an end-all, but indicates the focus of the book on the men in Laura's life). Her relationship with Harry felt like it could have been cut from the book -- the dynamics bothered me and I think the points made in this piece of the plot could have been made elsewhere. Fuentes seems to have a fascination with Jews and the Holocaust that feels... weird, including the martyrdom of Raquel Mendes. At times the poetry of the writing undermines the point.
But I think there's much more here for me to mine, and I'll hopefully be returning to re-read this book.
This is a dreamy book, in many ways feels like being dragged into a riptide of beautiful and dense and continuous prose. The perspective tumbles around, between the minds of protagonist Laura Diaz and her family members and lovers, often a narrative that hunts down a truth not consciously known to our narrator but which even so underlies each event. A conversation between Laura and one of her lovers seamlessly cascades into a wordless exchange of secret thoughts, which in their specificity also reveal broad truths about the human experience.
I'm still trying to wrestle with all this book "means". There's so much packed into this lifetime epic that traces the major political events of 20th century Mexico as much as it does the life of Laura Diaz. (It was a very fun way to learn about some of the history, especially the Frida y Diego cameos, but I wish I'd solidified more historical knowledge before I read it.) I resonated with Laura's internal conflicts as she tries to figure out her place in post-revolution Mexico, to figure out what meaning her life can have both in personal relationships and in broader political endeavors, especially as a privileged woman who is also constantly navigating the waters of grief. Laura consistently loses herself in trying to understand and care for others, until she finally discovers the meaning-making and contributory artistic calling that pulls the fragments of her life and experiences together.
The writing is beautiful and often confusing. The symbolism is ripe and lyrical. There are aphorisms that succinctly, cuttingly lay bare the burdens of life in a dark world, the meanings or lack thereof of individual lives. There is the seemingly evergreen conundrum of young revolutionaries (or people who want to change the world, who fight hard and lose a lot for what they believe) who find their ideals and dreams trodden into the ground as time goes on, the struggle of idealism that either dies young or lives long enough to become a villain. There's the long confusion of family members who don't understand one another or who understand one another too well, and to their detriment. The characters are stunningly wrought if not always easy to understand or to like; they're larger than life in their arguments, their martyrdom, their ideals.
There are pieces I found frustrating: I don't think this book passes the Bechdel test (which is not an end-all, but indicates the focus of the book on the men in Laura's life). Her relationship with Harry felt like it could have been cut from the book -- the dynamics bothered me and I think the points made in this piece of the plot could have been made elsewhere. Fuentes seems to have a fascination with Jews and the Holocaust that feels... weird, including the martyrdom of Raquel Mendes. At times the poetry of the writing undermines the point.
But I think there's much more here for me to mine, and I'll hopefully be returning to re-read this book.
Cute, fun, queer! Marching band!
