Awescape
Pros: Really funny, great slice of life description. The best part of this book was the small details. My favorite character was Morris and I found that aspect incredibly charming, and also Andy's mother. I also loved the perspective shift at the end, and the endearing flaws of everyone involved.
Spoilers:
Cons: Not enough plot, meandered near the middle and end. Also while I liked the perspective shift at the end, it felt overdetermined, some minor plot holes in character reactions.
Pros: Really funny, great slice of life description. The best part of this book was the small details. My favorite character was Morris and I found that aspect incredibly charming, and also Andy's mother. I also loved the perspective shift at the end, and the endearing flaws of everyone involved.
Spoilers:
Cons: Not enough plot, meandered near the middle and end. Also while I liked the perspective shift at the end, it felt overdetermined, some minor plot holes in character reactions.
Pros: Really funny, great slice of life description. The best part of this book was the small details. My favorite character was Morris and I found that aspect incredibly charming, and also Andy's mother. I also loved the perspective shift at the end, and the endearing flaws of everyone involved.
Spoilers:
Cons: Not enough plot, meandered near the middle and end and I got bored. Also while I liked the perspective shift at the end, it felt overdetermined, like Jen was Alderton's mouthpiece trying to make a point about men and women in relationships and female singledom in the patriarchy and worked the characters around it even if it didn't quite fit.
Andy was an inconsiderate and self-absorbed partner but the book repeatedly tries to make the false equivalency that Andy's flaws represent hetero romance in general, and therefore Jen's only options are be unappreciated and bearing unequal load in a relationship (as Jen's female friends say when she talks to them about her issues with Andy, "Welcome to relationships"), or be single. The book also tries to say women have vast emotional support networks in their friends and men do not, but none of Jen's friends in relationships give her any genuinely helpful advice regarding her relationship like, "Talk to him and make it clear you feel unappreciated" or "Maybe he isn't the guy because he's a bit shit and selfish, for you but not all relationships have to make you feel this way, and being in a relationship doesn't automatically mean becoming someone's doormat". Instead all her friends give the message she needs to just put up with it because that's the way it is if you date men if she wants to be in a relationship, and this is somehow supposed to be a feminist angle.
Don't get me wrong, I fully support someone being single or leaving a bad partner, but the way it was written leaves no choice for anyone to want anything but because it's presented as so obviously bad- even women who are in relationships or have children secretly wish they didn't. Andy's mother imagined if she had never had children to Jen, and Jen's grandma imagined never getting married all the time, with this tone of "Most women secretly feel they'd be better off single". Even the one healthy relationship in the book, Jane and Avi, had Jane basically managing Avi, with him calling her panicked at 3 am asking how to support a sick friend. There was not a single competent man or happily married person or happy mother in this book who wasn't wistfully dreaming of the state of freedom of being untied. Jen's portion of the book felt like more an essay by Alderton tacked onto the end of a novel.
Jen also never communicated her issues with Andy during or after their break-up, and the book never acknowledged that as abnormal. The fact Andy wasn't going insane and showing up at her house demanding answers or calling all the time, or at least scheduling a time to talk over coffee a week or two after the break up to have a mature conversation about why it ended, I consider a plot hole. It would be traumatic and incredibly confusing and feel like a personal betrayal to have a four year relationship end with no attempt at an explanation. He would be way more mad at her than he was, and way more distraught. Then Andy wants to be friends with her despite her total lack of communication? What friendship, they never talked or repaired anything?
Pros: Really funny, great slice of life description. The best part of this book was the small details. My favorite character was Morris and I found that aspect incredibly charming, and also Andy's mother. I also loved the perspective shift at the end, and the endearing flaws of everyone involved.
Spoilers:
Cons: Not enough plot, meandered near the middle and end and I got bored. Also while I liked the perspective shift at the end, it felt overdetermined, like Jen was Alderton's mouthpiece trying to make a point about men and women in relationships and female singledom in the patriarchy and worked the characters around it even if it didn't quite fit.
Andy was an inconsiderate and self-absorbed partner but the book repeatedly tries to make the false equivalency that Andy's flaws represent hetero romance in general, and therefore Jen's only options are be unappreciated and bearing unequal load in a relationship (as Jen's female friends say when she talks to them about her issues with Andy, "Welcome to relationships"), or be single. The book also tries to say women have vast emotional support networks in their friends and men do not, but none of Jen's friends in relationships give her any genuinely helpful advice regarding her relationship like, "Talk to him and make it clear you feel unappreciated" or "Maybe he isn't the guy because he's a bit shit and selfish, for you but not all relationships have to make you feel this way, and being in a relationship doesn't automatically mean becoming someone's doormat". Instead all her friends give the message she needs to just put up with it because that's the way it is if you date men if she wants to be in a relationship, and this is somehow supposed to be a feminist angle.
Don't get me wrong, I fully support someone being single or leaving a bad partner, but the way it was written leaves no choice for anyone to want anything but because it's presented as so obviously bad- even women who are in relationships or have children secretly wish they didn't. Andy's mother imagined if she had never had children to Jen, and Jen's grandma imagined never getting married all the time, with this tone of "Most women secretly feel they'd be better off single". Even the one healthy relationship in the book, Jane and Avi, had Jane basically managing Avi, with him calling her panicked at 3 am asking how to support a sick friend. There was not a single competent man or happily married person or happy mother in this book who wasn't wistfully dreaming of the state of freedom of being untied. Jen's portion of the book felt like more an essay by Alderton tacked onto the end of a novel.
Jen also never communicated her issues with Andy during or after their break-up, and the book never acknowledged that as abnormal. The fact Andy wasn't going insane and showing up at her house demanding answers or calling all the time, or at least scheduling a time to talk over coffee a week or two after the break up to have a mature conversation about why it ended, I consider a plot hole. It would be traumatic and incredibly confusing and feel like a personal betrayal to have a four year relationship end with no attempt at an explanation. He would be way more mad at her than he was, and way more distraught. Then Andy wants to be friends with her despite her total lack of communication? What friendship, they never talked or repaired anything?
Kind of fun but also cheesy. Its basically med-high quality fanfiction. Feyre is the self insert MC who is shy but brave, beautiful but doesn't know it and desired by everyone. The hot faerie love interests are part beast part man but change forms and also have masks so they are impossible to imagine, when I try to visualize them I see a blur. The world building is interesting although the plot beats are often forced or cliched. Cool things about the series: the female main character is never punished by the plot for being sexual. Entertaining, but not that deep and not that sexy either.
Kind of fun but also cheesy. Its basically med-high quality fanfiction. Feyre is the self insert MC who is shy but brave, beautiful but doesn't know it and desired by everyone. The hot faerie love interests are part beast part man but change forms and also have masks so they are impossible to imagine, when I try to visualize them I see a blur. The world building is interesting although the plot beats are often forced or cliched. Cool things about the series: the female main character is never punished by the plot for being sexual. Entertaining, but not that deep and not that sexy either.
This is a beautiful book. One review I read described it as "clear running water", and that is accurate. In this book, not much happens but it is never boring. The mystery engrosses you, but the mystery isn't the point. Satisfying, painful. About loneliness, and the will to live.
This is a beautiful book. One review I read described it as "clear running water", and that is accurate. In this book, not much happens but it is never boring. The mystery engrosses you, but the mystery isn't the point. Satisfying, painful. About loneliness, and the will to live.
My favorite book of this year. Clearly it's polarizing and a lot of people found the main character annoying. Every single page gripped me. The writing style is amazing. It was like eating something delicious, the way it was written. The humor and the motivations of the character sneak up on you, as though you're inside her, discovering as you go things you don't even know about yourself. Every page was so witty even when it was heartbreaking or cringey or vulnerable. It was laugh out loud funny, so wry, and vulnerably, diving into desire, self-narrative, fear of aging, menopause, artifice, love, art, connection, disconnection. A beautiful, beautiful book.
My favorite book of this year. Clearly it's polarizing and a lot of people found the main character annoying. Every single page gripped me. The writing style is amazing. It was like eating something delicious, the way it was written. The humor and the motivations of the character sneak up on you, as though you're inside her, discovering as you go things you don't even know about yourself. Every page was so witty even when it was heartbreaking or cringey or vulnerable. It was laugh out loud funny, so wry, and vulnerably, diving into desire, self-narrative, fear of aging, menopause, artifice, love, art, connection, disconnection. A beautiful, beautiful book.
A really well written biography of Sylvia Plath that aims to be as neutral as possible and uses mostly letters, journals, calendars, and various points of view to establish what happened. It was 900 pages but I read it really fast so it must have been good. The book did a good job giving Sylvia's own voice to explain what may have been happening and not treading into mythologizing her or making too much of apocryphal stories or opinions others have of her like other bios. It focuses on her art, ambition, the effect her perfectionism, people-pleasing, and the sexist pressure at the time had on her as an artist and a person, as well as her romantic life and mental health issues. One aspect of her death and mental health struggles rarely explored is how the barbaric treatment of the time that forced unperfected shock treatment and potential life in an asylum to mentally ill or difficult women was a genuine threat, and so scared Plath she was wiling to do anything to escape it, and that her death was an attempt to control her dignity and life, not necessarily the "sad girl suicide" or the result of her marriage breaking down, although that is for sure a factor.
Plath's most amazing trait was her voice, her earnest desire to create art despite the patriarchal norms of the 50s and 60s she was coming up in, and her dedication to her dreams above all else. She was clearly a very intense and sincere, authentic singular artist with a precise and intelligent voice. This bio made me re-read The Bell Jar and understanding more about her and her history made the book more moving, witty, incredibly funny- it isn't my first re-read but it seems to get better with every year, as do her poems, Ariel, especially since I am now 30, about the age Sylvia Plath wrote the Bell Jar and the age she wrote Ariel, her magnus opus book of peoms. She was really a genius.
A really well written biography of Sylvia Plath that aims to be as neutral as possible and uses mostly letters, journals, calendars, and various points of view to establish what happened. It was 900 pages but I read it really fast so it must have been good. The book did a good job giving Sylvia's own voice to explain what may have been happening and not treading into mythologizing her or making too much of apocryphal stories or opinions others have of her like other bios. It focuses on her art, ambition, the effect her perfectionism, people-pleasing, and the sexist pressure at the time had on her as an artist and a person, as well as her romantic life and mental health issues. One aspect of her death and mental health struggles rarely explored is how the barbaric treatment of the time that forced unperfected shock treatment and potential life in an asylum to mentally ill or difficult women was a genuine threat, and so scared Plath she was wiling to do anything to escape it, and that her death was an attempt to control her dignity and life, not necessarily the "sad girl suicide" or the result of her marriage breaking down, although that is for sure a factor.
Plath's most amazing trait was her voice, her earnest desire to create art despite the patriarchal norms of the 50s and 60s she was coming up in, and her dedication to her dreams above all else. She was clearly a very intense and sincere, authentic singular artist with a precise and intelligent voice. This bio made me re-read The Bell Jar and understanding more about her and her history made the book more moving, witty, incredibly funny- it isn't my first re-read but it seems to get better with every year, as do her poems, Ariel, especially since I am now 30, about the age Sylvia Plath wrote the Bell Jar and the age she wrote Ariel, her magnus opus book of peoms. She was really a genius.
This book was so good! Despite being about 900 pages, it was incredibly addictive and I read it really fast and with pleasure. Madonna is an incredibly strong person, and her life was moving. The book covers her coming up as an artist, her decision to be an artist and embracing of her sexuality and strength despite her conservative Catholic upbringing, her years at dance school, going to New York where she became part of the New York art scene in the late 70s and early 80s, dancing at gay clubs and making friends with Basquiat and others. Madonna over and over championed her right to express herself and be an embodied, sexual, open women when both conservatives culture and feminists at times took issue with her. She's been through a lot and while not perfect still is inspiring to so many people, and her committment to her art is unwavering. The book described her attention to every aspect of her success, to every part of her shows, visual, auditory, and thematic. Madonna is a performance artist and views her much as a way to connect with people and express bigger themes, personal and political, and reading about her attention to detail, artistry, ambition, and focus was really moving in a culture that she forced to take her seriously even when they tried to make her a joke.
I deducted .5 stars because sometimes the book tried to ties themes of feminism into Madonna's story into other events happening at the time regarding politics ect to make a pleasing and neat universal narrative, which the author is not as educated in, especially in the later half of the book- for example, making sweeping statements about Hillary Clinton not being elected as a result of sexism and Hillary and Madonna being the same fighters of a sexist climate, in the middle of Madonna's story- where there may be some truth to that, Hillary's story is as complicated and nuanced as Madonna, and the trite, sweeping generalizations trying to tie Madonna's feminism and journey into a neat narrative involving other women or politics without proper research or nuance just felt really ham-fisted and like a different narrative that didn't belong in a book that was otherwise very objective and nuanced.
This book was so good! Despite being about 900 pages, it was incredibly addictive and I read it really fast and with pleasure. Madonna is an incredibly strong person, and her life was moving. The book covers her coming up as an artist, her decision to be an artist and embracing of her sexuality and strength despite her conservative Catholic upbringing, her years at dance school, going to New York where she became part of the New York art scene in the late 70s and early 80s, dancing at gay clubs and making friends with Basquiat and others. Madonna over and over championed her right to express herself and be an embodied, sexual, open women when both conservatives culture and feminists at times took issue with her. She's been through a lot and while not perfect still is inspiring to so many people, and her committment to her art is unwavering. The book described her attention to every aspect of her success, to every part of her shows, visual, auditory, and thematic. Madonna is a performance artist and views her much as a way to connect with people and express bigger themes, personal and political, and reading about her attention to detail, artistry, ambition, and focus was really moving in a culture that she forced to take her seriously even when they tried to make her a joke.
I deducted .5 stars because sometimes the book tried to ties themes of feminism into Madonna's story into other events happening at the time regarding politics ect to make a pleasing and neat universal narrative, which the author is not as educated in, especially in the later half of the book- for example, making sweeping statements about Hillary Clinton not being elected as a result of sexism and Hillary and Madonna being the same fighters of a sexist climate, in the middle of Madonna's story- where there may be some truth to that, Hillary's story is as complicated and nuanced as Madonna, and the trite, sweeping generalizations trying to tie Madonna's feminism and journey into a neat narrative involving other women or politics without proper research or nuance just felt really ham-fisted and like a different narrative that didn't belong in a book that was otherwise very objective and nuanced.
I feel bad giving this a two star review but it was just not for me. I just didn't like the writing style. Pros are the writing was often funny and wove a lot of Mexican culture, and the visuals were often vivid. That said, the story felt like the author was making it up as he went and was so unrealistic in a way that felt toothless and unrealistic in a way that removed all stakes and drama.
The towns elders and grown women sends a group of teenage girls in a dangerous area alone across the country and across the border? With no contacts to help them except a phone number from decade ago who no one bothered to call and verify they agree to help or are even still alive? This book was written by a man and I understand its a bit of a fairy tale but it just felt like stupid things happened to make the plot work. Living as a woman, the idea of naive high school age girls being sent to represent their town with no worldly knowledge and hardly any resources where they could be disappeared, sex trafficked, raped, or worse, is just so ridiculous. It would NEVER happen. The girls seem very unaware how much danger they're in or have any plan which I understand teenagers are dumb but I doubt most are this clueless. At times there are creeps or bad people, but then it's undercut by good luck, jokes, or an almost cartoony turn of events. At one point a character pole vaults over the border. A kind border guard decides to drive them across after they get caught and returned. And then the major plot resolution, if they manage to bring people back to protect he town, isn't even shown- the last couple pages is they make it across the border and then a quick scene of them coming back to town with an "army".
I feel bad giving this a two star review but it was just not for me. I just didn't like the writing style. Pros are the writing was often funny and wove a lot of Mexican culture, and the visuals were often vivid. That said, the story felt like the author was making it up as he went and was so unrealistic in a way that felt toothless and unrealistic in a way that removed all stakes and drama.
The towns elders and grown women sends a group of teenage girls in a dangerous area alone across the country and across the border? With no contacts to help them except a phone number from decade ago who no one bothered to call and verify they agree to help or are even still alive? This book was written by a man and I understand its a bit of a fairy tale but it just felt like stupid things happened to make the plot work. Living as a woman, the idea of naive high school age girls being sent to represent their town with no worldly knowledge and hardly any resources where they could be disappeared, sex trafficked, raped, or worse, is just so ridiculous. It would NEVER happen. The girls seem very unaware how much danger they're in or have any plan which I understand teenagers are dumb but I doubt most are this clueless. At times there are creeps or bad people, but then it's undercut by good luck, jokes, or an almost cartoony turn of events. At one point a character pole vaults over the border. A kind border guard decides to drive them across after they get caught and returned. And then the major plot resolution, if they manage to bring people back to protect he town, isn't even shown- the last couple pages is they make it across the border and then a quick scene of them coming back to town with an "army".
Written in a really fun way. I loved how joyful the friendship between the main character and her best friend James were, and how dirty her relationship with her boyfriend Carey was. The plot twist wasn't my favorite part of the book although it was part of the drama, my favorite part was the loving detail of the characterizations in their relationships with eachother, the descriptions of their dialogue and mannerisms. Very charming.
Written in a really fun way. I loved how joyful the friendship between the main character and her best friend James were, and how dirty her relationship with her boyfriend Carey was. The plot twist wasn't my favorite part of the book although it was part of the drama, my favorite part was the loving detail of the characterizations in their relationships with eachother, the descriptions of their dialogue and mannerisms. Very charming.
This is a beautiful book. One review I read described it as "clear running water", and that is accurate. In this book, not much happens but it is never boring. The mystery engrosses you, but the mystery isn't the point. Satisfying, painful. About loneliness, and the will to live, and the value of the future, and humanity.
This is a beautiful book. One review I read described it as "clear running water", and that is accurate. In this book, not much happens but it is never boring. The mystery engrosses you, but the mystery isn't the point. Satisfying, painful. About loneliness, and the will to live, and the value of the future, and humanity.
I feel bad giving this a two star review because it's not a badly written book. The book is about a small Mexican town where all the men have gone north to the USA for work, leaving the women behind. Concerned about the lack of protection from bandits and weirdos coming to bother them, a young group of girls travel across the border to bring their family or at least "soldiers" back to protect their town. The prose was funny although in a way that didn't always click with me, and wove a lot of Mexican culture and turns of phrase into the book which was cool, and the pictures of life in their hometown were vivid. That said, the story felt like there wasn't much to it- all the plot points were fantastical and unrealistic in a way that removed all stakes and drama because it was so patently unrealistic. The towns elders and grown women sends a group of teenage girls in a dangerous area alone across the country and across the border? With no contacts to help them except a phone number from decade ago to someone who used to live in Tijuana who no one has talked to in decades or bothered to call and verify they are still there and willing to help the girls before they send them, risking their lives? This book was written by a man and I understand its a bit of a fairy tale but it just felt like stupid things happened to make the plot work. Living as a woman, the idea of young girls being sent to represent their town with no worldly knowledge and hardly any resources where they could be disappeared, sex trafficked, raped, or worse, is just so ridiculous. They would send some older men or at least the old women. It would NEVER happen, and the book refuses to acknowledge who serious the stakes are- the girls seem very unaware how much danger they're in or have any plan which I understand teenagers are dumb but I doubt most are this clueless. At times there are creeps or bad people, but then it's undercut by good luck, jokes, or an almost cartoony turn of events. At one point a character pole vaults over the border. A kind border guard decides to drive them across after they get caught and returned. And then the major plot resolution, if they manage to bring people back to protect he town, isn't even shown- the last couple pages is they make it across the border and then a quick scene of them coming back to town with an "army". So how did they find these "soldiers", how did they get back across, how did they establish order? Wasn't for me.
I feel bad giving this a two star review because it's not a badly written book. The book is about a small Mexican town where all the men have gone north to the USA for work, leaving the women behind. Concerned about the lack of protection from bandits and weirdos coming to bother them, a young group of girls travel across the border to bring their family or at least "soldiers" back to protect their town. The prose was funny although in a way that didn't always click with me, and wove a lot of Mexican culture and turns of phrase into the book which was cool, and the pictures of life in their hometown were vivid. That said, the story felt like there wasn't much to it- all the plot points were fantastical and unrealistic in a way that removed all stakes and drama because it was so patently unrealistic. The towns elders and grown women sends a group of teenage girls in a dangerous area alone across the country and across the border? With no contacts to help them except a phone number from decade ago to someone who used to live in Tijuana who no one has talked to in decades or bothered to call and verify they are still there and willing to help the girls before they send them, risking their lives? This book was written by a man and I understand its a bit of a fairy tale but it just felt like stupid things happened to make the plot work. Living as a woman, the idea of young girls being sent to represent their town with no worldly knowledge and hardly any resources where they could be disappeared, sex trafficked, raped, or worse, is just so ridiculous. They would send some older men or at least the old women. It would NEVER happen, and the book refuses to acknowledge who serious the stakes are- the girls seem very unaware how much danger they're in or have any plan which I understand teenagers are dumb but I doubt most are this clueless. At times there are creeps or bad people, but then it's undercut by good luck, jokes, or an almost cartoony turn of events. At one point a character pole vaults over the border. A kind border guard decides to drive them across after they get caught and returned. And then the major plot resolution, if they manage to bring people back to protect he town, isn't even shown- the last couple pages is they make it across the border and then a quick scene of them coming back to town with an "army". So how did they find these "soldiers", how did they get back across, how did they establish order? Wasn't for me.