Court
With all the repetitive dialogue it felt like I was being hit in the head with what the visuals were supposed to be rather than letting the graphics speak for themselves. Also due to the seemingly endless movement the pacing seemed rushed.
‘Travel' is fast paced, but there is an ergency and emotion behind it. In ‘Garden' it comes off as a novel visual world where the point of view never rests and the observer/reader is just rushed along to view one possibly interesting sight after another without the chance to take any one thing in. It was like sprinting through a museum.
It felt more like art than story.
It was the feeling of film or animation, with the impression of sound and even color. Perhaps it was the introduction that influenced me, but it did feel very much like a journey with a tense feeling.
Despite the ambiguity of the author's intention the visuals are highly satisfying, most likely due to the heavy use of pattern from which I envisioned a busy pallet and/or loud color.
4.5
(Half way through there were different styled eyes that disturbed the cohesion of the piece)
Good introduction picture book to a potentially complex relationship of siblings.
I have one complaint about ‘a note about autism'. I think this terminology is unintentionally damaging: “The healthy siblings learn valuable lessons of responsibility...”
The word healthy stops me, worries me.
I believe the best term is ‘neurotypical'; it is the best choice, if it is fitting. It could also be said ‘siblings without (the challenge of) autism', I understand that it's bulky, but it's better than ‘other' which is also problematic.
I did appreciate that the word normal was in quotes: “Very often the child with autism looks “normal” but reacts so very differently...”
3.5
This book had me waffling between ‘yes, that's how that would go' and ‘how in the world...'.
So the suspension of disbelief was a little weak.
It also felt jumpy in moments and often had to reread bits, or give up.
There were many instances where a detail rang rather true to some of the region's culture or idiosyncratic nature, such as weather phenomena and natural landscape, and it was deeply satisfying. Some portions were excellent in both concept and form.
Listened to the audiobook, which I enjoyed, but if I read it I probably would have rolled my eyes more.
I especially enjoyed multitasking v multi-focusing (especially since I listen to audiobooks while commuting or tidying) and listening to the remarks about Ghandi and other notable figures.
At times it came off too much as a ‘motivational speaker' which isn't my favorite style, but I tried to focus on the main message which I have a hard time disagreeing with.
Might check out some of the other books he mentioned – but only if I can get them in audio format.
I don't recall reading this in 2017, oops.
But I enjoyed it more this time around, amending the rating to 4 stars.
I thought it was interesting that he didn't care for Tolkien, but I'm not surprised that he enjoyed Conan the barbarian.
Also amused that I got a text from my D&D group as I was reading it.
D&D felt like a huge part of my childhood. I played with my dad, my ‘uncle' (long time family friend) would DM, and usually a cousin and best friend would join in too. It was hard for my mom to get a game that didn't have an end, but it got us to think critically, use math, and be artistic/creative.
Now I work with kids and I've heard from parents that D&D (or perhaps the more general concept of table top role playing games) has been used to help kids: face fears, work as a group, connect with other kids, think about consequences, gain confidence, make choices, and so on.
It had potential?
The art is respectable, I just felt it wasn't exactly fitting.
The story was weak. It seemed to throw a bunch of character ideas and tropes (a princess who ‘can't' escape, a king mad(?) with power, a doctor with questionable virtues, etc), but not actual characters. The time era wasn't recognizable and towards the end incongruent things happen (a magical/supernatural force comes out, but is ineffective, he comes to nothing; shift in violence, poison is very different from decapitating someone; etc.)
There isn't any development. I didn't understand the relationship between the king and princess (his daughter) and it's never stated that the princess can't leave, only her fiancé is asked explicitly to stay.
Also an odd side story of a man being asked to stop smoking a pipe by his wife(?).
The illustrations are gorgeous and the medium is clever; open the book in the traditional western way and it begins as a collection of comics, flip it over and it's the collection of full, double page illustrations.
The book as a whole is practically wordless, only titles and words on signs, no actual dialogue.
Mixed bag. Much of my cringing could be due to translation or different cultural concepts.
Also mixed because it is asking one to change, often to change a life long habit or family way of life.
Dislikes:
kept talking about garbage and ‘throwing away'; she didn't mention donating or recycling until about 3/4 of the way through :/
She came off as very judgemental when talking about her clients, there is a way to convey interesting and exciting tidbits without it smacking of ‘holier than thou' mentality
sigh just because the author is Japanese does not mean that she can speak for all of Japan/Japanese culture
Odd mix of ‘no-nonsense' tone with treating inanimate objects with more respect than living beings (not exactly, but it's just a slightly odd concept to this American, at least the degree to which she seemed to take it, or it came off as a bouncing between two stereotypes)
Smacks of (middle)class privilege
Sometimes hard to visualize the concept she was talking about. Did the print version have diagrams, pictures, etc.? Well, I have ‘Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up' in my to-read stack.
Likes:
Well organized (duh). Liked that it was systematic/hierarchical.
Is supportive and encouraging of the one attempting to change
At times is very straightforward
Some great ideas
Comes off as a real person (in part because of her mixed tone)
Made me question certain concepts (such as not having to keep most documentation, which goes against my teachings, haha)
At the end, especially when she was talking about greeting the house(s), I thought that this might make a good manga, then there would be diagrams/drawings to show things, and in an odd way might make the mixed tone more credible.
Couldn't make it through the ‘codas', but the main story was decent and made me laugh in some places and the premise was acceptable.
The writing was mediocre (SO many ‘said's AND in the same place of the sentence) and at times the author seemed to say so too, but to me that's a cop-out :/
So three stars for letting me listen to a ‘Star Trek' parody that breaks/pokes at the fourth wall (more or less) - hey it made me laugh.