Eduardo Santiago
Beautiful writing, ... but way, way too much of it. It grew wearisome. If the characters had been interesting, or the story, I would've devoured. A clever friend aptly suggested that it would make a good coffee table book: pick it up once in a while, read and appreciate a few lovely paragraphs, put it back down and forget it for a spell.
What I found most interesting was discussing the book with friends. It's a Rorschach test! Everyone I spoke to focused on different aspects of its many themes. For me, shallowness and classism stood out. Desai packs in a ton of cultural insight; I found it at times fascinating and at other times overwhelmingly dense.
Am I glad I persevered? Ambivalent. The Covenant of Water was another 700-page tome with exquisite writing, but in that one I cared about the people and the story. I still rave about it. This one, I found Sonia and Sunny mostly flat, and all (ok most of) the other characters were contemptible. But hey, there are all kinds of people. Some even liked Wuthering Heights. (This one isn't as bad as that. Nothing is as bad as Wuthering Heights).
Beautiful writing, ... but way, way too much of it. It grew wearisome. If the characters had been interesting, or the story, I would've devoured. A clever friend aptly suggested that it would make a good coffee table book: pick it up once in a while, read and appreciate a few lovely paragraphs, put it back down and forget it for a spell.
What I found most interesting was discussing the book with friends. It's a Rorschach test! Everyone I spoke to focused on different aspects of its many themes. For me, shallowness and classism stood out. Desai packs in a ton of cultural insight; I found it at times fascinating and at other times overwhelmingly dense.
Am I glad I persevered? Ambivalent. The Covenant of Water was another 700-page tome with exquisite writing, but in that one I cared about the people and the story. I still rave about it. This one, I found Sonia and Sunny mostly flat, and all (ok most of) the other characters were contemptible. But hey, there are all kinds of people. Some even liked Wuthering Heights. (This one isn't as bad as that. Nothing is as bad as Wuthering Heights).
Was not expecting screwball. This often felt like a Preston Sturges movie: zany, sweet, whiplash-quick dialogue and action. That works better when the artist controls the pacing than when the reader does: in print, I kept pausing at plot holes and way too many no-it-doesn't-work-that-way moments. Maybe it'd have been more enjoyable as an audiobook, or maybe Osman is hoping to have this movieized?
Ultimately, it just didn't add up. Too contrived, too many loose ends. Some laugh-out-loud moments, and fairly fun throughout, but not enough to compensate. If you're already a fan of Osman, and need to read this, maybe try the audiobook and let it flow.
Was not expecting screwball. This often felt like a Preston Sturges movie: zany, sweet, whiplash-quick dialogue and action. That works better when the artist controls the pacing than when the reader does: in print, I kept pausing at plot holes and way too many no-it-doesn't-work-that-way moments. Maybe it'd have been more enjoyable as an audiobook, or maybe Osman is hoping to have this movieized?
Ultimately, it just didn't add up. Too contrived, too many loose ends. Some laugh-out-loud moments, and fairly fun throughout, but not enough to compensate. If you're already a fan of Osman, and need to read this, maybe try the audiobook and let it flow.
Added to listMoralitywith 12 books.
Added to listSciencewith 12 books.
Added to listFavoriteswith 21 books.
Possibly the most heartening, joyful, and meaningful book of the past many years. (Ugh. This makes the book sound like self-help or inspiration or somesuch. It's not: it's purely science, with occasional side trips into philosophy).
The book covers so many of my favorite topics, so much of what I've learned over my life about how the Universe works and how to live in it: chaos; randomness; living with uncertainty; designing for efficiency vs resiliency; cognitive biases; the nature of consciousness; heuristics and probability; eudaimonia; and, most importantly, cooperation and doing good. Klaas gets it, REALLY gets it, and he's a brilliant writer to boot. Great pacing. His examples are fascinating, relevant, sometimes chilling, always insightful. Even his chapter on free will--a subject I find inane and tedious--had fresh perspectives. He has thought about everything I think about, in much greater depth, and he describes it all so elegantly. It irks me that he talks about lower-case stoicism without understanding the slightest bit of capital-S Stoics, but nobody's perfect. He can learn.
Reading this in January 2026, as I helplessly watch the U.S. collapse, is counterintuitively an exercise in hope. It reaffirms many of my most important life choices, those related to building and strengthening community. I will be recommending this book to everyone in my circles.
Possibly the most heartening, joyful, and meaningful book of the past many years. (Ugh. This makes the book sound like self-help or inspiration or somesuch. It's not: it's purely science, with occasional side trips into philosophy).
The book covers so many of my favorite topics, so much of what I've learned over my life about how the Universe works and how to live in it: chaos; randomness; living with uncertainty; designing for efficiency vs resiliency; cognitive biases; the nature of consciousness; heuristics and probability; eudaimonia; and, most importantly, cooperation and doing good. Klaas gets it, REALLY gets it, and he's a brilliant writer to boot. Great pacing. His examples are fascinating, relevant, sometimes chilling, always insightful. Even his chapter on free will--a subject I find inane and tedious--had fresh perspectives. He has thought about everything I think about, in much greater depth, and he describes it all so elegantly. It irks me that he talks about lower-case stoicism without understanding the slightest bit of capital-S Stoics, but nobody's perfect. He can learn.
Reading this in January 2026, as I helplessly watch the U.S. collapse, is counterintuitively an exercise in hope. It reaffirms many of my most important life choices, those related to building and strengthening community. I will be recommending this book to everyone in my circles.
One paragraph exalts the natural wonders of the North American continent, the next bemoans the corruption and venality of its inhabitants. Repeat, repeat. It was a little too choppy for my taste, impossible to get into a flow. I also felt completely unable to relate to the author: her neuroses match mine to some extent, but her life choices baffle me to the point of annoyance.
There's beautiful writing about magnificent places, many of which I've experienced, some that I haven't and appreciated learning about. Hidden amid the handwringing there's sharp writing about evils perpetrated by monsters big and small; mostly reminders, not much new to someone my age but perhaps informative to younger folks. Chopping and dicing the two together, though, did not work for me.
One paragraph exalts the natural wonders of the North American continent, the next bemoans the corruption and venality of its inhabitants. Repeat, repeat. It was a little too choppy for my taste, impossible to get into a flow. I also felt completely unable to relate to the author: her neuroses match mine to some extent, but her life choices baffle me to the point of annoyance.
There's beautiful writing about magnificent places, many of which I've experienced, some that I haven't and appreciated learning about. Hidden amid the handwringing there's sharp writing about evils perpetrated by monsters big and small; mostly reminders, not much new to someone my age but perhaps informative to younger folks. Chopping and dicing the two together, though, did not work for me.
A disheartening indictment of white supremacy and ultimately humanity itself. There were so, so many chances for things to go better than they did: decent moral people here and there, in positions where they could do good or at least prevent greater harm, all of them replaced or killed or simply worn down by the system. Really drives home the inevitability of Might Makes Right, how subhuman bullies can destroy entire worlds in brief times. Reading this in 2025 is depressing AF. Like seeing a roadmap of the next thirty years.
Although nominally centering around Kit Carson -- a more complex and tragic figure than I had thought -- the book is much more epic in scale. Carson is a major player, but the focus is really on the white expansion into the West through bullying, force, lying stealing cheating. Sides attempts to write with objectivity, giving (what comes off as) fair voice to the many NDN tribes involved. He repeatedly stresses the role played by misunderstandings, by cultural divides that could have been bridged... had anyone in power bothered to try.
Well researched and engagingly written. Highly, highly recommended, especially to anyone in New Mexico.
A disheartening indictment of white supremacy and ultimately humanity itself. There were so, so many chances for things to go better than they did: decent moral people here and there, in positions where they could do good or at least prevent greater harm, all of them replaced or killed or simply worn down by the system. Really drives home the inevitability of Might Makes Right, how subhuman bullies can destroy entire worlds in brief times. Reading this in 2025 is depressing AF. Like seeing a roadmap of the next thirty years.
Although nominally centering around Kit Carson -- a more complex and tragic figure than I had thought -- the book is much more epic in scale. Carson is a major player, but the focus is really on the white expansion into the West through bullying, force, lying stealing cheating. Sides attempts to write with objectivity, giving (what comes off as) fair voice to the many NDN tribes involved. He repeatedly stresses the role played by misunderstandings, by cultural divides that could have been bridged... had anyone in power bothered to try.
Well researched and engagingly written. Highly, highly recommended, especially to anyone in New Mexico.
Added to listBarack Obama's Favorite Books of 2025with 11 books.
I read Kingfisher because of her great big heart. Conflicted characters (mostly) doing their best, with touches of sweetness and humor. This one just didn't work for me. Characters were wooden, the story too constrained by the House of Usher gimmick. I really should give up on Gothic: I find the drama and gloom and "creepiness" tiresome.
I read Kingfisher because of her great big heart. Conflicted characters (mostly) doing their best, with touches of sweetness and humor. This one just didn't work for me. Characters were wooden, the story too constrained by the House of Usher gimmick. I really should give up on Gothic: I find the drama and gloom and "creepiness" tiresome.
A bit forced: the Phantom of the Opera gimmick was fun but the constraints it imposed made things awkward at times. Too many sections just dragged. But oh, the finale! Tender, snort-out-loud funny. Completely made up for the rest.
A bit forced: the Phantom of the Opera gimmick was fun but the constraints it imposed made things awkward at times. Too many sections just dragged. But oh, the finale! Tender, snort-out-loud funny. Completely made up for the rest.