Jess
Contains spoilers
Mystery is not my usual genre, but I did enjoy this. It was particularly distressing due to the core mysteries both being about children. The ending had comforting elements, but I felt it was too wrapped up— not every element of a story needs to be explained in the end (especially ghost stories children tell each other at camp).
The adventures of huckleberry fin is an interesting book because it displays a grim, dystopian society through the bubblegum-shaded glasses of boyish fun. In that way, it’s a very important insight into the collective American psyche.
This book is so much better than that. I would say that the first third or so follows the huckleberry fin plot told through Jim’s perspective, and where it branches off is much more interesting, sad, real. The story holds a mirror up to the ugliest, most vile realities of American slavery. Everett consistently created devices for reflection on the nature of identity, language, double consciousness, and many other philosophical concepts throughout the book. When he does so, it is usually through the incredibly insightful titular character’s musings as he tumbles through his odyssey. I particularly loved Jim/Jame’s (towards the end we see him lean into James more intentionally) dream conversations with different Enlightenment philosophers.
There was a lot of violence, racism, sexual violence, slurs, and terrible things said and done throughout the book, which can be really difficult to hear/read (audiobook version was still a really good way to experience this story, but it’s very visceral and a little nauseating at times for its portrayal of deeply brutal historical realities).
I thought it was really interesting! I really enjoyed the themes of nature as a living thing one can be in relationship with. I thought the ending could have been elaborated on, left some things to be desired. Plus the racial dynamics were sort of brushed over in ways that could have been more interesting if brought to the forefront. Overall I found it entertaining, surprising, and well written. Character development certainly could have gone deeper for many of the characters.
My favorite Dostoevsky. Utterly tragic and deeply hilarious. I found myself immediately pulled into this world. Each of our main characters depicts a well of hubris so real, so human, and so wholly that one cannot possibly expect a happy ending for any of them, yet cannot help but to hope for one in vain.
More than anything, it is a thoughtful reflection on the relationship between the senses and memory. I believe this is also where the novel is strongest; in reflection rather than plot. I received a lot of insight into the social inter-workings of the French aristocracy; their anxieties especially. I didn’t think I would find it so funny. The most interesting points to me, within this social sphere, were the two moments of discourse around lesbianism and specifically the moral panic provoked by it.
I really loved so many of the poems in this collection— others fell flat and I wander if it is an issue of translation or just not my taste. Cardenal is a talented and passionate poet, I look forward to reading more of his work. Some favorites: Apocalypse, Katún Ahua, Coplas on the Death of Merton, and Condensations.
Grann clearly put a lot of research and care into the telling of this story. It is thorough, it is biting, and it is real. It was extremely difficult and sad to read, but an incredibly important story to tell. I appreciated how much Grann stressed that, although it centers around a conspiracy of a few men, it was a deeply structural situation that created the Reign of Terror of the Osage.
I had high expectations for this book, based on the description, that were simply not fulfilled. I'd rate this higher if I had the ability to give it 2.5 stars. I usually round up, but I just didn't enjoy it enough to give it 3.
I would describe the protagonist as a grown woman version of The Catcher and the Rye's protagonist Holden Caulfield. She is really the only character in the book that we get an actual dimensional view of, the others' being quick and hardly developed looks from the protagonist's eyes.
The novel begins with a look into a very badly, quickly formed relationship that the plot centers around until the last few pages. What really struck my curiosity when I picked up the book were the topics of birds and eco-terrorism. The conversations around birds did not feel very organic... it made me truly wonder if any birders were involved in the making of the story at all. The beginning pieces of the plot involving the wallcreeper do not make sense, are not advisable (If you hit a bird, take it to a rehabber, not your house), and are dropped early on in the book. Eco-terrorism makes a brief, ultimately uneventful appearance that does very very little for the plot. It is treated as an aimless thing-to-do that does not come to fruition in any kind of action or change of mind. If it does anything at all, it shows the protagonist that she is utterly devoid of her own inner voice that she would follow one man from the next to any kind of enterprise. This is not even stated directly or in introspection from the character, but my (I think generous) interpretation of one paragraph where she chides herself for what occurs in order to stop that plot development in its tracks. (This odd phrasing is my attempt at avoiding spoilers?)
Other than the beginning description of bad, coercive sex (which is also dropped without further mention), is the end. It simply ends, with a rapid-fire description of personal development from the protagonist. What is told in 5 paragraphs could have been an important, introspective chapter to round out this unlikable character as she discovers the importance of her own mind, autonomy, and drive, instead leaves the reader dizzy and confused.
I am a reader who often grows attached to certain authors. Italo Calvino is definitely one of those authors who I know, without any other knowledge of the book, I will enjoy whatever work of his I pick up. Invisible Cities is a fine example.
Calvino's prose is always a fascinating leap into another world; a world of poetry, absurdity, and bewilderment. Invisible Cities contains bite-sized probes into the worlds of impossible places that Marco Polo describes to Kublai Khan as they wander about a palace garden pontificating on the nature of life, communication, and existence. Enjoyable, delightful, sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing. A great read.
Clarice Lispector is a newly found favorite of mine. The hour of the star is a novella that plays with form, like much of Lispector's works. Her ability to stretch, poke, and prod at the fourth wall in a way that does not feel contrite is one of the most enjoyable parts of her writing.
The narrator is simultaneously divorced from the reality of the protagonist's world and intimately privy to its details. He is a character in and of himself, anxious and unsure of himself. He pities, and is often disgusted by, the pitiful protagonist Macabea. The two are foils- she has every reason to be unhappy and yet she is ultimately not. He has many reasons to be content, and yet he is deeply disturbed by life and his role in it.
It starts off a bit clunky, and I was unsure if I would get into it. Quickly, though, I found myself pulled in. A melancholic window into the world of Miles Davis and Frances Taylor. The novella follows a traumatic encounter Miles has with some cops as he processes the event via flashbacks as he drives around New York. Frances also processes the event in her own way, waiting for miles to come home. What is being processed along with the police brutality is the brutality between the two; what Frances has been asked to give up— a huge part of herself— and how she has still been treated in the aftermath. I think Brown did her justice by telling the story in a way that centers her perspective alongside Davis's.
This is apparently a book that Calvino was not proud of. The introduction explains, Calvino was not fond of the genre of autobiography nor fictional works that veer into its territory. Though he may find himself embarrassed in indulging in the use of memory in the crafting of a story, he does it extremely well.
The three stories all give us, the reader, a window into the world of a young Italo Calvino as fascism rises and war looms in Italy. Through this setting, we see the existential qualms of a young man facing a world on the horizon of large and terrifying possibilities. We also see how the peaceful nature of his parents contributed to his outlook on life and his rejection of Italian fascism.
This also gave me the chance to learn more about his life by doing a little research on my own before and after reading.
This book is marvelous, inspiring, and informative. Wow. I knew that plenty of it would contain disheartening knowledge, and it does, but it contains so so so much more than sad facts about the way that capitalist-imperialism has harmed our planet. It is extremely skilled in its combination of these harsh realities with the equally important realities of possibility, of projects being built now by people who care, and of detailed ways to move forward. I highly recommend to anyone suffering from climate anxiety who may feel there is no way out or through.
This book is remarkably thorough, informative, and critical in its analysis of the history of pre-colonial imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, and imperialism at large in Africa and African response throughout those eras. Written when it was written, We now know more about some of the topics discussed (re: the Soviet Union, China, and how those states developed) than was probably possible in the 70s. The introduction by Vincent Harding is also very beautifully written, and speaks to who Rodney was to his peers. Definitely recommend reading it in full, including the reading guides which include interesting commentary on lists of related books for each section.
I wish I could give this 3.5 stars. It is a very well written, well researched work of non-fiction. It is informative and compelling in a number of ways. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in food forests, especially if you want to feel hyped-up about the wide breadth of possibilities out there. It was exciting to learn about all these different projects surrounding fruit trees in cities. What's missing for me is a deeper, more critical lens on the global situation that leads to a lack of knowledge and interest in local food. Specifically, while Moncrieff makes important nods to indigenous food-ways she also romanticizes the colonial system that has displaced indigenous communities. While she makes important notes to the rise in processed food, she doesn't draw the important connection between global capitalism, food scarcity, and malnutrition. It isn't that I expect one book to speak on everything, but I'd like to see books like this go beyond a simple nod or passing mention. I'd like to get excited about what's possible without romanticizing the damage that was done that got us to this point.
Excellent, thorough work on topics simultaneously prescient and historical. I would recommend to anyone interested in diving deeper into the violent history of police and the liberating nature looting can have. Subverting the property relationship in America- a relationship that begins with the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans and the genocide and displacement of indigenous groups- is necessary if we ever want to see a world worthy of the label “free.”
This book was difficult to read. It challenged a lot of the anger within me. I would recommend this book to anyone who is pro-abolition but struggles with the coming to terms with the fact that that includes rethinking how we deal with sex offenders. I was disappointed by the last section... it was the one I was most looking forward to and I felt let down by it. It seemed rushed, for starters, but it also reproduces the dichotomy between sex positivity and sex negativity- which causes a lot of problems. I would have liked to see more nuance in the final section, especially the section on consent. I think it's very important to think beyond consent when thinking about sexual ethics. Thinking beyond consent means a lot of things- confronting the ambiguous nature of most of our relationships is one, but another is thinking about harm without automatically thinking about punishment. This is what I expected a discussion of abolition feminism to do, but instead I received a half hearted paragraph explaining how BDSM is a good example of “playing with consent” by “saying no and not meaning it.” This simply lacks critical examination and reproduces the neoliberal assumptions worth critiquing in consent in the first place.