Atlas

Hello! This is my very first review on Hardcover. I felt this book deserves a much better place than Goodreads shelves, and for the sake of myself and Eleanor's!

Warning: This book might trigger trauma!

I like the title very much. It clearly implies that Eleanor is not fine. Not fine at all. Before checking it out, part of me knew I would like this book! I have no idea how but I was keeping an eye on it for a very long time from afar, and awhile back put it on my bucket list before turning 30.

The story resonated with me and my life more than I had expected. I wonder how a complete stranger can put down words in the exact order that are in my mind... I'm just very grateful that Gail Honeyman considered the topic of young people deal with loneliness, and even further than that; dealing with childhood trauma. So, this book is very dear and personal to me.

Dies ist der erste deutsche Roman, den ich auf Deutsch gelesen habe, und ich muss sagen, dass ich viel Spaß dabei hatte – nicht nur, weil ich 98 % des Textes ohne Wörterbuch verstehen konnte, sondern auch, weil mir die Geschichte selbst sehr gut gefallen hat. :)
Leider ist die Geschichte nach 51 Jahren immer noch relevant, aber ich kann mich zumindest freuen, dass es dieses Buch gibt, aus dem ich lernen kann. :)
Ruhe in Frieden, Michael Ende!

Well, well, well, what do we have here? :)

Very pleased to get to read this book, thanks to Wes Anderson!
I wish I was familiar with Roald Dahl when I was a kid. I find all stories in this book fascinating. Even I found many new subtle things from them, let alone the kids!
- “The Swan” hit me. I never thought he would have written such a heavy story. Every kid needs to know this story before going to school!
In the short movie The Swan by Wes Anderson, the adult version of the poor kid narrates the story, which shows how traumatizing getting bullied is!
- The kid who talked to animals and The wonderful story of Henry Sugar stories point out respecting and protecting animals + social classes. The sooner children learn these topics, the better, otherwise they will learn it the hard way, when they are already in the society and have no idea how to put up with that! (like me)
An my god! How extraordinary his own life was! And what an amazing first story he had written! A piece of cake! He was born to do this!

I can't describe with words how happy I am finally reading this book in original language. It's been on my bucket list since 15 years.Reading its translation at first (in The Complete Robot) was the right decision, I would say. It did help me to get to know Asimov's world of early robots, as I had presumed.I don't think I am exaggerating: Considering the years these stories are written and published, the plots are mind-blowing, so are Three Laws of Robotics and how firm and yet flexible they apply. I like how Asimov just kept on cooking. Sometimes the characters or other aspects of the futuristic worlds didn't make sense though! which is annoying.Powell and Donavan are not bad. I would have like them better if their scenes were somewhat comedy. Then Nick Frost and Simon Pegg could play them in a miniseries.And at last, Dr. Susan Calvin. I must mention again that I'm not quite satisfied with the description of her appearance and her private life, which is obviously because of the patriarchy and the white male author! Other than that, she has been my favorite character, the voice of reason, analysis and passion for robots.####################SPOILERS####################Stephen Byerley could be an advanced version of [b:I,Robot 30525004 I, Robot (Adam Link, #0.1) Eando Binder https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1465707411l/30525004.SX50.jpg 51047598]Adam Link, my sweet boy T_T

Spoiler WarningIf you were confused like me by Victor's characteristics and his dummy behaviors through his pov story, I recommend you read about Mary Shelley's parents, her personal life and the shitty society she was living in. You could also watch the movie Mary Shelley (2017) which shows a great deal of what I mentioned.This was my first read.Unfortunately, I was deceived by the media and the very bad but famous picture in 1935 which I now must say fortunately always refused to watch.I have not read [b:Paradise Lost 15997 Paradise Lost John Milton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526070678l/15997.SY75.jpg 1031493] because of its heavy text and language. But I know its summary + the story of Prometheus.I must say I am glad that I got to read Mary's masterpiece with open eyes.The character Victor Frankenstein represents typical men around Mary: some of them intelligent, yet most of them ignorant and narcissistic. They gaslit her (+ all women), underestimated her, belittled her, and even accused her of stealing the story just because she was a “teenage” AND a “girl” AND her husband was the great poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley! They forced her to publish the story ANONYMOUSLY! Five years later her name appeared in the second edition, and she was recognized for it.I'd also reckon a great influence of Elizabeth (I) and her mother Anne Boleyn on Mary's inspiration and the concepts of creation, love, and abandonment.It aches my heart that her real-life miseries have not actually been solved through the last 206 years; humans still have toxic societies under theocracy and patriarchy, with many men who hate women and underestimate them more than ever, counting “feminism” as a curse word. I feel ashamed of all men in history who have systematically erased women's names and contributions by gaslighting, dismissing and overlooking them and their works. It makes me nauseous to think of all those great women's works being signed under the name of a man by force! Henrietta Swan Leavitt is only one of them!I can see how men loved her book and still do and would probably cum every 2-3 pages, but they are still too jealous, too ignorant, and too arrogant to admit it publicly. They have tried, many many many times, to shove their unoriginal ideas and bad stories into the great gothic world she created. It's March 2, 2024, and there is still NO direct and complete movie adaptation of Frankenstein!Enough said.Mary takes the reader to various real places and describes families and society differences in detail (yes, I love realistic details). Even when the reader does not necessarily travel to an Arab country, Mary shows the true face of Islam through Safie's life so well that I could only nod YESSSSSSS! in awe. (The quote does not exist in the quote pages of GoodReads, so I added it myself, to the top of my list. I read that page several times and admired her knowledge only more, the knowledge many women in 2024 still do not have. This book can wake up many people. Well, if they are willing to wake up!I must mention some of my comments while reading the book:Considering the 17th century in the story, it makes me sick to see how social conventions have constantly changed for the worse. Back then, male friendship wasn't a big deal. In 2024, guys can't express their simple feelings because they're instantly pointed out as “gay” by their very own male friend! But look how openly Victor and Henry speak their mind and feelings. No need to remind that words like “gay” and “intercourse”, which were repeatedly used in the book, have also lost their positive meaning and turned into curses!P.S.: I wish I knew which Persian poems were Henry's favorites. And which were Mary's favorites...The different narrators and POVs make the characters more sensible and it's not like the writer is either preaching or promoting ideas. She's just showing us inside of the characters. I despised the recurring word “monster” from Victor's goddamned mouth. I call him Adam like he himself claimed, which is a fact, and not his personal opinion!!First when Victor was telling his story + how Walton described Victor's appearance, I seriously thought Adam was evil, and wanted to know so badly what the hell he had done that made Victor like this... BUT NO NO NO BABY! The plot twist is right here. Victor believes he's the victim!!!!! MY MY! He has had the best childhood any child could ever have: literally zero problems. He'd never had to ask for all the good things he had in life. He was free to do whatever he wanted, which unfortunately, led him to become a self-centered crybaby. Adam speaks of his intentions and next victim(s) so obvious that a retard could understand but not Victor. He was passionate and motivated in his major, but he was narrow-minded. He never had any responsibility and so never learnt what “consequence” means. Even after all his miseries, even on his deathbed, he did not realize it was all his own fault:Victor obviously represents gods every religion has [pointing to Paradise Lost]. All of them created (an) Adam and sent him off to live without teaching him properly. And after they committed the so-called “sin”, god banished him. Both religious gods and Victor abandon their creature, more importantly their child. A perfect god would never do such horrible things to his creature and expect them not to turn into evil. Additionally, how dare god/Victor blame Adam for the sins he'd done when god/Victor condemned him and left him on his own?! This is too unholy and irresponsible of a good god!!!! (That's just one of the many reasons I believe all religions are man-made.)Children are innocent and have no idea what's going on. It's adults' responsibility to take care of them and educate them. This is the very first rule of parenting, something Victor refused to do even though his father was bright and wealthy to provide for him and some other kids, and his mother took good care of him, two things most kids his age did not have. Take Henry, his friend, whose father did not let to go to Inglostadt to study further! And later in the story, we see how hard Adam tried to educate himself, fortunately and sadly, by reading Paradise Lost.Another thing that bothers me is how Adam's appearance still counts as “hideous” in our time. He says he can only be happy if he had a female companion. And we, in 2024, can confirm that because we've seen this coming true in Shrek. I'm serious. No sarcasm. We are still judging people based on their appearance. If someone does not fit our standards, we refuse to talk to them. I say we, because now I am also including myself.Coming to Paul Cantor's essay: It was boring, and I do not agree with most of what he said.The one thing that I agree with and very much bothered me was Victor and Elizabeth's relationship which I still cannot process. When Henry was introduced, my ultimate guess was Henry and Elizabeth getting married at some point and I had no problem with that BUT “Victor and Elizabeth” ship is beyond me: too “incest”. No other way. End of line.Now, regarding AI, humans have taken the path Victor took. I guess you only learn from the best! which is god himself!!!!But I do believe that we must break the cycle of generational irresponsibility. I would like to refer to [b:Point of View 28182378 Point of View Isaac Asimov https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1449977400l/28182378.SY75.jpg 48202954] by Isaac Asimov to clarify that matter,and to [b:I, Robot 30525004 I, Robot (Adam Link, #0.1) Eando Binder https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1465707411l/30525004.SX50.jpg 51047598] another great story for what could have happened if Victor had not panicked.If we want our societies to improve, we need to start with ourselves, put the irrational biases and prejudices behind, and be better parents, and so, better humans.Looking back, I was captivated the whole time reading the book. The dark atmosphere was shivering! Just getting to know that Mary was a pioneer in forming the gothic genre by writing Frankenstein blew me away.She is the mother.She is the creator.She is immortal.