Jessica
I forgot just how good a storyteller [a:John Irving 3075 John Irving https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1257375547p2/3075.jpg] really is. There was a time when I read his books as they came out. [b:The Hotel New Hampshire 11768 The Hotel New Hampshire John Irving https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1318013543l/11768.SY75.jpg 1786995], [b:A Prayer for Owen Meany 4473 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1260470010l/4473.SY75.jpg 1734019], and Cider House Rules. Then I just stopped. Excited for [b:Queen Esther 225642083 Queen Esther John Irving https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1738783700l/225642083.SY75.jpg 231200406], so I decided to pick up Cider House Rules again. Some books do not age well. Not so here. As timely now—maybe more so—as when it was written. It does not disappoint. “He was an obstetrician; he delivered babies into the world. His colleagues called this ‘the Lord's work.' And he was an abortionist; he delivered mothers, too. His colleagues called this ‘the Devil's work,' but it was all the Lord's work to Wilbur Larch.”Pleasure: 4 - easy to read, when you put it down, you want to come back soon and see where the characters are going.Plot: 4 - nothing has you hanging at the edge of your seat, but for its length, nothing drags, you are always interested in the journeyProse: 4 - vivid, accessible writing, nothing earth-shattering, but very good.Purpose: 5 - necessaryPersonal: 5
I know schizophrenia is a great bogey man, but people with schizophrenia are more likely to be victims rather than perpetrators of violence. I really wish there was more Neighborhood Watch representation, rather than stories where the schizophrenic acts out on the delusions. Otherwise, an tidy little story, and I will probably read the sequel as I am a sucker for an Irish narration.
I liked this one better than Assembly. IDKY it annoys me, but I would have loved for the last chapter to have also been a different POV. Or maybe there was just no need for the last two chapters to be seperated? I just was sure we were going to get a Martin or a Jake POV at the end. But definitely a quick and worthwhile read.
Grabbed this in anticipation of reading [b:Universality 214269374 Universality Natasha Brown https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1722064775l/214269374.SY75.jpg 195300856] which just made the Booker Prize longlist. It is basically a short story, so very easy to put away. Needed the 5 Ps to figure out how I ranked this one.Pleasure? 3Purpose? 4Plot? 3Prose? 4 Personal? 3Avg 3.4 → ⭐️⭐️⭐️Short, melancholy. Some very, very well-worn tropes. But I think if this were my first exposure to these insights, it might have felt revelatory. Instead it just felt... superficial. Saltburn meets Industry.
Pleasure: 5 - not actually really ‘pleasurable' given the content... but devoured it. Literally read it in one sitting.
Purpose: 5 - absolutely a necessary book. And told in a heart-rending and unflinching way.
Plot: 4 - I think the plot is as good as a plot can be for memoirs, but I would struggle to give any memoir a 5 for plot.
Prose: 5 - Beautiful sentences in the service of communicating truth.
Personal: 4
P-average: 4.6 → ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5Ps - straight 4s with a 5 for personal.
A sister book. Super fast read. Started off pretty confusing. Still not 100% sure about some of the structure... Who actually is the narrator for the first part?? But it definitely got better and better. Definitely will bump other books by this author up my tbr.
Pleasure? 3Purpose? 4 Plot? 3 Prose? 5 Personal? 3 Avg 3.6 → 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Lots of body horror elements. Generally not a horror fan, and this was no real exception. Very [b:Annihilation 17934530 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) Jeff VanderMeer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403941587l/17934530.SX50.jpg 24946895]-y vibes. Kind of wanted more payoff somehow, but the gentle love story made it a worthwhile read.
Using Gabriella's 5P system:
Pleasure? 3 This one was a little hard to read for various reasons.
Purpose? 4 I think this was an interesting thought exercise, but kind of a cheat because Annares is such a difficult place to survive. Only when there is abundance are you going to see massive inequities.
Plot? 4 Not a lot of tension here. But a satisfying journey.
Prose? 3 Pretty didactic and dry, but effective.
Personal? 4 Probably will think about this quite a bit. Definitely some personal resonance.
Average: 3.60 → 4 stars
5P system FTW.
Second book in my Camus re-read. Like Sisyphus before it, my opinon has not changed. Still find this contrived and unsatifying.
Yes, I have read all the arguments, but it is just very hard not to see Mersault as just a boring, run-of-the-mill sociopath. Never does he really express any empathy or morals. The trial continues to feel a contrivance to get Mersault to a place where he can “philosophize” his way to articulate an absurdist position. And last, perhaps in 1942 this was much more radical, but the confrontation with the priest just lacks stakes.
Honestly, hoping my “yes, I was right the first go-around” holds for The Plague which is up next (in a new translation!) in my Camus re-read, because honestly it is hard to believe that the same person wrote this insufferable book as wrote The Plague...
Just as much of a slog the second time around as it was the first.
Sooooo much deconstruction and explication. When really, it is all just beautifully stated in the final five words, “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
Not sure I really buy into the distinction between absurdism and existentialism....
Humans just do seek and create meaning...
But I am going to read The Stranger next and will try to hold space for this distinction to see if affects the way I receive it.
Just always love a [a:Christopher Moore 16218 Christopher Moore https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1460399391p2/16218.jpg] book. Just as mad-cap as ever. But also, so well researched?? How can both those things be so true..? You just have to read it to find out. Also, the audio narration is amazing.
Really this is just the second half of [b:The Sparrow 334176 The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1) Mary Doria Russell https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1230829367l/334176.SY75.jpg 3349153]. Do not be turned off by the title. This book, like the Sparrow, does talk about a lot about God, but in a way that does not exclude or condemn the atheist and does not proselytize in any way.
