Court
I've been wanting to read this for years; I really liked [b:Bandette Volume 1: Presto! 50551033 Bandette Volume 1 Presto! Paul Tobin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582085465l/50551033.SX50.jpg 25455666] another collaboration of Coover and Tobin. The concept is really clever as in the fairytale of the gingerbread man he runs away and when he is caught it leads to his demise; Ginger is running out of self preservation. Additionally, gingerbread serve as a connection to to concept of a golem/homunculus.However, the telling of the story gets muddled, it feels like its trying too hard and it gets in its own way. Too many characters are telling...things, I say things because they're not always telling the story which is tiring. I like factoids and think names and etymology are interesting, but the bulldog talking about the breed being used for bull baiting and that's how they got their name takes me away from the story. At least the pigeon talking about breadcrumbs eventually connects to Chili's metaphor.Also I like Coover's art but I longed for Annah to have some color to her. She's drawn with these cute freckles, but she's always rendered in black and white even though the only other color used in the book would have been a great color for her freckles and/or highlights in her hair.
I enjoyed the beginning with the fairy realm but then I set it down for a little bit. After picking it back up it just seemed insipid.
The poor art was also making unlikable characters even less so. The teenage friend was drawn to look 40 and at times Tim looks like he has mumps. Hettie and Yo-yo were the best part.
I don't think I'll be picking up the third volume
My approximation if this is a picture book with an essay at the back. An essay that I want to quote from and figured ‘hey, there'd be quotes on goodreads' and returned the book without quoting from it. However, I didn't see any quotes here :/
But I liked this, it made me think and feel hopeful.
I should browse online for Jeffers' essay...
The book is a good illustration (haha pun) of bipolar disorder, health insurance is still seemingly needlessly complicated, and at a certain point I felt that the story turned into a cathartic story of good triumphing over a clear evil.
The afterword is fantastic. Founds talks about calling ahead to insure (haha another pun) that her insurance covers a psychiatrist at a Stanford clinic is told ‘yes' and then has to pay $650. I am livid on her behalf and she's absolutely right that in addition to having the stress of experiencing bipolar disorder she also has to cope with the added stress of dealing with health insurance.
I wanted to like this.
The art wasn't to my taste. AMF says ‘I couldn't draw very well' and that she had been run over, so she had Stick Girl. I didn't love Stick Girl but due to the quality and presentation of the photos and other visual it reminded me of fifth grade reports.
AMF doesn't owe me anything and is allowed to set the parameters of the story she wants to tell, but it seems like she wanted to say more about immigration and didn't. It feels like a missed opportunity.
Oh and * that didn't correspond to anything on the page was confusing and annoying. Use an arrow or other symbol, if one is even needed, ugh.
My favorite part of this is the very beginning where she explains how she's (part) Chinese, born in Japan with a Korean birth certificate.
“But in my spiritual exaltation, discretion and civility were alike forgotten, and I opened the door.”
Read at: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/MoxoMast.shtml
Made me think of The Mechanical Turk, also known as the Automaton Chess Player https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Turk#:~:text=The%20Mechanical%20Turk%2C%20also%20known,chess%20against%20a%20human%20opponent.
I read the first two parts about nine years ago and that the rest I read for the first time.
I feel that the beginning is stronger, that the latter story with Antoine is less cohesive. I was interested in that part of the story but the part that precedes it seemed more structured.
I also like the end.
A scatter of thoughts and appreciations:
Love Death as a character and the talk she has with Tim about biology and identity are different things
I like that Tim talks to himself.
I like Fairie as an established realm, as well as the use of Titiana, Oberon, and Tamlin.
The unicorn and manticore were well done.
References to dreams and characters from the other books.
Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors; I love the way that she writes. I especially love how Kingfisher writes horses and her other characters.
This is such a well done 'ghost story' and I love the way she wrote dreams. Miss Potter's reaction to Easton's assumption that she didn't believe in supernatural things because she's a scientist was most excellent as were her attempts at Galatian. The widow's character was also so well done. Loved the commentary on the doctor, people either call him for everything or nothing because he might as well be an undertaker or an omen of death, was fantastic.The way she wrote what the characters experienced was also amazing; the way Easton's chest felt, the silence in kan ears.Loved how Kingfisher wrote with pronouns too.
Ugh this might have been a four but there were several things that annoyed me. First Tom Fowler's depictions of faces was maddeningly distracting and confusing, was the character hurt? No, Fowler just draws weird faces sometimes rendering teenager to look like they're geriatric or oddly puffy. I didn't understand the animosity between Tyler and Tim, I guess there needed to be an antagonist? But that feels pretty weak as the much more interesting antagonist is the threat of other magicians. Because teenage boys? That feels lazy and unimaginative.
And the last thing, why is Tim so open about magic at school?
Maybe this is closer to a 2.5
But things that I loved: the return of Yo-yo, the tie in to the storyline about The Dreaming crumbling, Hettie, and the ravens
I don't know how to feel about Dr. Rose
I don't love Brown's style (especially when she gets a bit autobiographical) but I do like her overall message. I found myself enjoying this book closer to the end. I liked what she said about anxiety being ‘both a trait and a state'. I said ‘duh' aloud a few times during this book but I have a background in psych and work in ABA so I may not be the general audience.
She talks about ‘protecting the flame' a metaphor I get but don't love. The schools I've worked in use what I assume is an equivalent metaphor of bucket filler for mood/energy. People can be bucket fillers or bucket dippers, you can affect your own bucket as well others.
