Rat 🛸

Meaningful and silly and fucked-up and fun and really insightful? Idk?? Starts strange and ends up in places I didn't imagine it could. I love July's character style, the way Cheryl presses a lift button with 'a fun loving finger', is self-possessed and insecure at the same time. It's funny how we start out thinking Cheryl is weird but it pretty soon becomes apparent everyone here is at least sorta weird.

The Clee-Cheryl dynamic is really interesting. It definitely went in places I was not anticipating and I actually thought it was really interesting? Speed-running all relationship dynamics and phases of life.

I only really have one issue which is that the pacing seems really off. The pregnancy is so rushed and seems so disjointed from the rest of the book.

Yayyy!!! This was really fun, way better than Strange Houses, as there's a lot more to it and it's fun to try and figure out how all the pieces link together. The only thing I'd want to be improved upon are the really bland main characters. They are Nothing. Thankfully it doesn't really matter to the story, but you'd think there'd be a little characterisation.

What is it with Uketsu and amputees?

I really liked the water mill chapter and the article chapter - it's fun when the narrative style get's switched up and I thought they were cool concepts

Fun and pleasantly incomprehensible! I liked Complicity the most, it's mixed-up style and the evocative descriptions. Felt good to stretch my brain with something difficult and experimental.

Elements of this I really loved - a lot of Shibata's messed-up internal monologue, especially her connection to and esteem of pregnant women. I enjoy her colleague who smells of glue. The section near the end where her friend confides about her experiences as a mother really stands out. But unfortunately it did get quite repetitive - so much about her diet and exercise, which was only relevant or interesting half the time.

While this is a feminist story, I did find myself struggling a bit with the premise just because I know that pregnant people themselves are an oppressed class. So many people don't have adequate parental leave, or find that people think they are incompetent during their pregnancy. Sexism can often be worse as a pregnant woman is often seen as 'more feminine' and so more guilty of perceived feminine faults like spiritual weakness and irrationality. This is barely touched on in the book (maybe because they would have to spend more time justifying Shibata's lie?), but I think it would be stronger for dealing with these issues. I was pleased it dealt with the overwhelming nature of motherhood though.

Took a while to grow on me but then I got hooked, felt like I was getting so much depth (and gossip) about these women.

My favourite chapters were: Dominique, Bummi, LaTisha, Grace and Winsome. I loooove a woman in a messy relationship.

Got off to a rough start because I think Yazz is the worst written. Evaristo understands 30+ year old people a lot more than the current younger generation. Similar problems with Morgan's chapter (better than Yazz's but a little out of step)

Overall found this book a lot less meaningful than anticipated but still a decent read. Bechdel's signature poking-fun-at-lefties-like-herself is here in full force, although I think there are some misses real on that front. Like it's clear Bechdel is in support of non-binary, polyamorous and asexual people but it doesn't seem like she really "gets" it so her jokes in relation to those demographics feel a lot less funny.

I find Alison's wife Holly so endearing, I would love her GoatTok.

didn't realise this was a sequel of sorts to Dykes To Watch Out For, it was fun to see the gang back together.

I mean what can I say? This is possibly my favourite book, I love Ursula's writing, the rhythm of it, the world-building, the insight into politics, patriotism, duality.

By far the standout is the 1/3 of the book spent with Genly and Estraven journeying together. The relationship and intimacy that builds between them is one of my favourite relationships in any book I've read - the way that Estraven is devoted to his cause and in that way becomes devoted to Genly. The way that Genly describes the journey on the ice as some kind of joy - through the horror of the cold and starvation he feels such purpose and connection. Makes me crazy.

Also really meaningful to me in terms of what patriotism is, and could be. I love the quote about loving one's country so much. It's so reflective of how I feel about the UK; in love with the landscape, with so many of the people, but that love isn't defined by borders and shut out when you cross that line. I hate the government, it's history of empire and the rising number of white supremacists with seats in parliament, but I always wish the best for the people of my country.

Anyway Genly x Estraven 4eva, off to read fanfic now.

okay damn!!! this was really good. Isabel and Eva are such great characters, I absolutely love how messed up and repressed Isabel is. Shoutout to Stina Nielson and Saskia Maarleveld for the audiobook because it was so consistently well-read, they were making such great acting choices.

Never read a book before that is this well-written and deserving of mainstream critical acclaim while also being sexy lol. Very impressed by it. Told my sex therapist I was reading this and she was like yes!!! that book is hot!! which is quite a recommendation lol. Thanks Carlin for the rec <3

Really love the themes of complicity, memory, repression and wilful forgetfulness of great evil. I was absolutely gagged when it came to the diary entries - I'd figured Eva was Jewish but not the full context. I love how she was written with such anger and such tenderness.

I really got a lot out of this. Obviously learnt a lot about disease and healthcare, but consistently as I was listening I was really appreciative of the lengths Green goes to emphasising that economic inequality is the major barrier today for TB treatment worldwide. Made me think a lot about how healthcare and welfare are not separate, and have only artificially been separated in an attempt to organise our funding and priorities. At what point does food become healthcare? If someone is starving, then food is the cure - does that not then mean that food is an essential part of any treatment? Obviously someone having in-house treatment will be provided with food, but what if they need it at home? IDK these are just ramblings but Everything Is Interconnected So Much and this book does a good job of bringing this across.

While I was very taken with Henry and his writing and his story, I initially found myself bumping up against how often he was used by John as an example. It reminded me of the charity impact segments they do between skits on Red Nose Day - documenting a real and important story, but built for easy consumption for a western audience, not bringing across the real depth and detail of a person's life. But as it went on, my perspective changed; Green does a good job of trying to tell us about Henry's whole life, the complexities, his family and his drive. I started thinking 'Well why are you telling us John. This is Henry's story, I want to hear it from him.' But of course that is on me. I didn't pick up a book by Henry Reider. I probably wouldn't have, even if it existed. I chose to read a book by John Green, a well-known author who I trust to entertain as he educates, someone who is familiar to me. Thanks to this book, I have now checked out Henry's YouTube channel, and have enjoyed several of his videos so far (One that stands out to me is him celebrating the historical Dr Alan Hart, a trans man who was one of the first people in the US to receive gender affirming surgery and was very influential to TB healthcare in the States. I know that Sierra Leone has a very low rate of LGBT+ acceptance so I thought it was especially meaningful for Henry to share this with his largely Sierra Leonean audience.)

Anyway, appreciated this book. Funny that I'm now someone who has only read John Green's non-fiction.

Really enjoyed this!! Love the way that it plays with form - the testimonies are obviously iconic for a reason. Parts of the descriptions I loved, especially the way he likens multiple things to apricots. The titular story is very sad, but I found it really evocative.