witzelsucht

So fascinating and dense with content that it gets 4 stars even though at least a third of it sailed straight over my head. Eco makes you work for it, but it's worth it.

My first Squirrel Girl experience. The art style is endearing but hard to follow at times, and I found some of the quirky presentation irritating, e.g. the microscopic jokey footnotes that break the flow of reading but can't not be read if you want to get the punchlines at the right times. The story is sweet and upbeat. The squirrels are adorable, of course. Overall, I enjoyed it! “Teamwork beats totalitarianism, yo!”

Ahh, I wish this was longer! Plenty of great, gruesome imagery. Not enough femme Pinhead. I really enjoy the film and it's very faithful to the book, but it does some heavy lifting to expand on this.

I loved most things about this. Violent, visceral and gross - it's totally unsubtle. I was left cold by the ending - I wasn't sure if it was intentionally undermining the story's manifesto, but I found it so. I think Ursula K. Le Guin's quote about [reinforcing] the masculinist idea of women as primitive was directed at exactly this - but nonetheless I really enjoyed reading about a tired mother just biting stuff!

The content about developing a character-driven story is good and interesting. The “brain science” is a barely-there gimmick. The author's quippy writing and lengthy case study of her friend's inane dognapping novel get old very quickly. A mixed bag to be taken with a pinch of salt, like all writing books.

An immersive non-linear study of a woman from troubled girlhood to middle-aged breakdown. Hard work to get into, initially - I found the prose off-putting until it just clicked for me. I love JCO's ability to capture the interiority, gnawing insecurities and painful dysfunctions of her characters. A slow burn but worth it.

A hard one to rate. When it's good, it's really good - essential - but when it's less good, it's bone dry. The good bits, I really loved. I loved that the entirety of the Lord of the Rings is summarised in pretty much three pages right at the end. Makes me wonder what some of the other stories would be like if they were written and characterised in detail.

The way JCO puts words to nameless, conflicting, batshit emotions, man.

Most loathsome guy of all time, but I could've read more of him, as the book ends quite abruptly for me. I enjoyed the jumbled love-it-or-hate-it prose and the ampersands.

I can't be mad at this kid.

Beautiful, immersive writing about one of the most insufferable guys you can imagine. Sedate to start with but gripping once it gets rolling. I enjoyed the meticulous descriptions of food, nature and domesticity by the sea. Looking forward to reading more Murdoch!

The high concept is great, and sometimes the prose too, but it's all wasted on a tedious wanker of a main character. Why would the plot revolve around this guy? Why should I care about his Deep Thoughts™? Pretentious misanthropic writers are a bore in real life and in fiction. The story's two cornerstone devices of sleep and etymology don't fit together in any conclusive way. On the plus side, it's short. I'd love to see a better sleep-apocalypse book.

Approached this with high hopes and really wanted to like it. The plot's worthy of some wretched erotic novel from the depths of the Kindle Store (Kidnapped and Forced to Marry a Hot Scot?) but is somehow spun out for at least 400 pages too long. It had some moments of genuine interest, but was mostly a tedious and sour experience. Erratic characters with only momentary glimmers of behaving and reacting like real people. Sex scenes worthy of Jean M. Auel. Too much dubious consent. Too many adverbs. Loch Ness monster not “historically accurate”.