Rat 🛸
Love so much of this, has really deepened my way of thinking about nature, reciprocity, and the value of plants innately as organisms. There's a playfulness to how Wall Kimmerer talks (I love WallMarsh), and more than that a sincerity. At some points I had to stop myself from finding it cloying and remind myself that sometimes earnestness and true belief can come across as corny.
Highlights include: rewilding and cleaning the pond, Sky Woman story, the study of sweetgrass, working with the students on the cattails, learning the Potowotomi language through post-its. Also love that she is consistently political, talking about colonialisation, the war in Iraq, the attempted genocide of indigenous peoples and suppression of language, the unhealthy "infinite growth" of capitalism and the climate change it has caused, the conflict of the American identity reconciling that it is a country founded by colonising immigrants that remains deeply phobic of modern immigrants.
Using her ex-partner's attempted suicide in a car as an example of discomfort with artificial surroundings is crazyyy work. It's well written but I'm not sure that's ethical.
Parts of the book were overly long or repetitive but I did really enjoy and I'll be thinking of this for a long time.
Love so much of this, has really deepened my way of thinking about nature, reciprocity, and the value of plants innately as organisms. There's a playfulness to how Wall Kimmerer talks (I love WallMarsh), and more than that a sincerity. At some points I had to stop myself from finding it cloying and remind myself that sometimes earnestness and true belief can come across as corny.
Highlights include: rewilding and cleaning the pond, Sky Woman story, the study of sweetgrass, working with the students on the cattails, learning the Potowotomi language through post-its. Also love that she is consistently political, talking about colonialisation, the war in Iraq, the attempted genocide of indigenous peoples and suppression of language, the unhealthy "infinite growth" of capitalism and the climate change it has caused, the conflict of the American identity reconciling that it is a country founded by colonising immigrants that remains deeply phobic of modern immigrants.
Using her ex-partner's attempted suicide in a car as an example of discomfort with artificial surroundings is crazyyy work. It's well written but I'm not sure that's ethical.
Parts of the book were overly long or repetitive but I did really enjoy and I'll be thinking of this for a long time.
Fun!!! My first time reading something like this and I did really enjoy lol. Some of it is genuinely very hot and some if it is just very funny. Currently watching A Discovery of Witches and I kept thinking about the worldbuilding comparison.
They keep saying they shouldn't be fired but besties are literally not doing a single bit of work lol. And they deserve hell for installing a sparkling water dispenser. Unless this is set in Germany in which case I respect it as part of their culture 🙏
Fun!!! My first time reading something like this and I did really enjoy lol. Some of it is genuinely very hot and some if it is just very funny. Currently watching A Discovery of Witches and I kept thinking about the worldbuilding comparison.
They keep saying they shouldn't be fired but besties are literally not doing a single bit of work lol. And they deserve hell for installing a sparkling water dispenser. Unless this is set in Germany in which case I respect it as part of their culture 🙏
wild wild wild. a group of the most messed up characters I've ever read in my life and I love to see it. reading the last part of Ahegao on the train was such a bad idea lol. Possibly the best writing I've ever read on the topic of internet culture or performative social-justice culture.
We hateeee how harsh the world is to narrow-shouldered men 😓😓😓
My favourites are probably Main Character and the Feminist.
*spoilers*
Low-key not a fan that they all have very similar endings (I know it's intentional at least) but I still think this was such a great collection I'm not gonna drop a rating for it. I hope that Kant is eventually ok lol.
edit: Maybe this is a rare opinion but I don't actually think Kant's fantasy is that bad. I did find it a really cringe request, but only because it seemed like way to much to be asking of a service worker for $8000. That's a wholeass movie he is asking for.
wild wild wild. a group of the most messed up characters I've ever read in my life and I love to see it. reading the last part of Ahegao on the train was such a bad idea lol. Possibly the best writing I've ever read on the topic of internet culture or performative social-justice culture.
We hateeee how harsh the world is to narrow-shouldered men 😓😓😓
My favourites are probably Main Character and the Feminist.
*spoilers*
Low-key not a fan that they all have very similar endings (I know it's intentional at least) but I still think this was such a great collection I'm not gonna drop a rating for it. I hope that Kant is eventually ok lol.
edit: Maybe this is a rare opinion but I don't actually think Kant's fantasy is that bad. I did find it a really cringe request, but only because it seemed like way to much to be asking of a service worker for $8000. That's a wholeass movie he is asking for.
Wildly impressive and genre-defining for a reason. I've watched a few films/TV shows that have dealt with modern people back in time forced to experience slavery so I thought I kind of knew what I was getting myself into reading this but honestly Kindred is on a whole other level when it comes to themes, characterisation, and confronting really difficult conflicts with how a person relates to their family's history. Also really this book's depiction of a modern interracial relationship and the baggage that they can't avoid. I would really recommend the audiobook (read by Kim Staunton) that I listened to as this book is very dialogue-heavy and I think voice acting lends itself very well to that.
*spoilers below!!!*
Probably The Single Most interesting relationship I can imagine between protag and antagonist. I wanted Rufus to suffer so much but I could also see why Dana held out hope after hope for him.
I was initially apprehensive about the fact that Dana's experience is not as bad as a regular enslaved person's (although it's still terrible!!) as I thought it would minimise the horrors of the enslaved experience, but as it went on I appreciated that that was an intentional part of the story Butler wanted to tell. Dana struggles to relate to both her black and white ancestors, and the power dynamic with Rufus is really interesting in that it somewhat goes both ways.
This also goes into the messed-up things that happen to a person's psyche when they are forced to live under such bleak circumstances. Dana hates the way it twists her mind to be grateful for a thing so small as having paper to write on.
Obviously Rufus does so many things that made me angry but I was so fuming over what he did to Alice that I had to take a break. She was free!!! agh!!!!!
Wildly impressive and genre-defining for a reason. I've watched a few films/TV shows that have dealt with modern people back in time forced to experience slavery so I thought I kind of knew what I was getting myself into reading this but honestly Kindred is on a whole other level when it comes to themes, characterisation, and confronting really difficult conflicts with how a person relates to their family's history. Also really this book's depiction of a modern interracial relationship and the baggage that they can't avoid. I would really recommend the audiobook (read by Kim Staunton) that I listened to as this book is very dialogue-heavy and I think voice acting lends itself very well to that.
*spoilers below!!!*
Probably The Single Most interesting relationship I can imagine between protag and antagonist. I wanted Rufus to suffer so much but I could also see why Dana held out hope after hope for him.
I was initially apprehensive about the fact that Dana's experience is not as bad as a regular enslaved person's (although it's still terrible!!) as I thought it would minimise the horrors of the enslaved experience, but as it went on I appreciated that that was an intentional part of the story Butler wanted to tell. Dana struggles to relate to both her black and white ancestors, and the power dynamic with Rufus is really interesting in that it somewhat goes both ways.
This also goes into the messed-up things that happen to a person's psyche when they are forced to live under such bleak circumstances. Dana hates the way it twists her mind to be grateful for a thing so small as having paper to write on.
Obviously Rufus does so many things that made me angry but I was so fuming over what he did to Alice that I had to take a break. She was free!!! agh!!!!!
Love how it shows the community and coming together behind a revolution - katniss was not the first to revolt, neither was Haymitch. The movement just needed it's time.
20/03/26, From second read:
I had this whole big review planned for this reread and now I've finished it and I'm crying again and I'm too emotional to get it all out. I'll give it my best go, though:
Collins is clearly really interested in implicit submission and I think that this book explores it well - we see Haymitch grapple with why he does as the Capitol tells him to do, even in situations where he has a temporary upper-hand, we see the self-hatred this inspires, and the way that this differs from Lenore Dove's actions. Later we see him refuse to submit, doing everything he can to rebel, and face the horrific consequences. We are given our answer; this is why we submit. We can ask if it's worth it, both from looking at Haymitch, and to a lesser extent Beetee, see if it's worth risking other peoples lives so that you can be the one to rebel. I obviously found this pretty thought provoking, and I really appreciate how blatant Collins is at expressing the themes of the book and what she wants her readers to consider; this is a book for teens, and it treats readers accordingly. They can deal with hard topic, serious thought, but in a lot of cases it will be their first time encountering these ideas and the lack of subtlety is valuable in making sure they can be processed by this age range.
But as I talk about being impressed by this topic, I'm also a little hesitant. The book begins with a series of quotes, two of them from philosopher and enslaver David Hume, who I believe coined the term 'implicit submission'. One of the quotes even seems to the be the source of the book's title. I don't personally know a lot about Hume's philosophy - I know more about him in a cultural sense, as someone who lives in Hume's hometown of Edinburgh. He's been a big source of controversy here - one of my university's buildings was named after him, but this was changed after the BLM protests, when more people started talking about his history as an investor in the slave trade.
There are times where I would say 'you can separate the art from the artist'. But Hume was an enslaver who wrote about implicit submission. This is not separable, these are directly linked. There's either a massive amount of cognitive dissonance going on here, or he was thinking in detail about this idea and using it to justify slavery by saying that these people were submitting to it. We know that this was not the case - just look at Haiti, look at Palenke, look at any of the thousands of rebellions of enslaved people. People who lived through and did not rebel were survivors, and no matter what Hume thought, we should not put any responsiblity for their enslavement on them.
I am not remotely saying that Suzanne Collins did something wrong in writing this book, or in finding inspiration from Hume's work. A terrible person can still give you enourmous food for thought (I'm writing this as someone who just had an amazing time reading The SCUM Manifesto for god sake), but I would really like to read an analysis of this from someone else, someone more educated in philosophy or black history and the idea of implicit submission than I am. Collins, for what it's worth, seems to come to a very well reasoned conclusion about implicit submission; never putting the blame on the districts, but still showing that without their struggle there will be no change to the status quo.
Love how it shows the community and coming together behind a revolution - katniss was not the first to revolt, neither was Haymitch. The movement just needed it's time.
20/03/26, From second read:
I had this whole big review planned for this reread and now I've finished it and I'm crying again and I'm too emotional to get it all out. I'll give it my best go, though:
Collins is clearly really interested in implicit submission and I think that this book explores it well - we see Haymitch grapple with why he does as the Capitol tells him to do, even in situations where he has a temporary upper-hand, we see the self-hatred this inspires, and the way that this differs from Lenore Dove's actions. Later we see him refuse to submit, doing everything he can to rebel, and face the horrific consequences. We are given our answer; this is why we submit. We can ask if it's worth it, both from looking at Haymitch, and to a lesser extent Beetee, see if it's worth risking other peoples lives so that you can be the one to rebel. I obviously found this pretty thought provoking, and I really appreciate how blatant Collins is at expressing the themes of the book and what she wants her readers to consider; this is a book for teens, and it treats readers accordingly. They can deal with hard topic, serious thought, but in a lot of cases it will be their first time encountering these ideas and the lack of subtlety is valuable in making sure they can be processed by this age range.
But as I talk about being impressed by this topic, I'm also a little hesitant. The book begins with a series of quotes, two of them from philosopher and enslaver David Hume, who I believe coined the term 'implicit submission'. One of the quotes even seems to the be the source of the book's title. I don't personally know a lot about Hume's philosophy - I know more about him in a cultural sense, as someone who lives in Hume's hometown of Edinburgh. He's been a big source of controversy here - one of my university's buildings was named after him, but this was changed after the BLM protests, when more people started talking about his history as an investor in the slave trade.
There are times where I would say 'you can separate the art from the artist'. But Hume was an enslaver who wrote about implicit submission. This is not separable, these are directly linked. There's either a massive amount of cognitive dissonance going on here, or he was thinking in detail about this idea and using it to justify slavery by saying that these people were submitting to it. We know that this was not the case - just look at Haiti, look at Palenke, look at any of the thousands of rebellions of enslaved people. People who lived through and did not rebel were survivors, and no matter what Hume thought, we should not put any responsiblity for their enslavement on them.
I am not remotely saying that Suzanne Collins did something wrong in writing this book, or in finding inspiration from Hume's work. A terrible person can still give you enourmous food for thought (I'm writing this as someone who just had an amazing time reading The SCUM Manifesto for god sake), but I would really like to read an analysis of this from someone else, someone more educated in philosophy or black history and the idea of implicit submission than I am. Collins, for what it's worth, seems to come to a very well reasoned conclusion about implicit submission; never putting the blame on the districts, but still showing that without their struggle there will be no change to the status quo.
I've never had so much fun reading something that I so disagree with! SCUM flips so wildly from genuine insight, to rebellion, to fascism, to bioessentialism, to just the most ridiculous lack of scientific understanding I've read since the Cass report. It's a wild ride.
Love how groovin this is, and how she consistently says women should be arrogant.
Funny that I read this not knowing that Solanas shot Andy Warhol. Like ohhhh the section about hating Great Artists is Personallll.
I've never had so much fun reading something that I so disagree with! SCUM flips so wildly from genuine insight, to rebellion, to fascism, to bioessentialism, to just the most ridiculous lack of scientific understanding I've read since the Cass report. It's a wild ride.
Love how groovin this is, and how she consistently says women should be arrogant.
Funny that I read this not knowing that Solanas shot Andy Warhol. Like ohhhh the section about hating Great Artists is Personallll.
love, just extremely well executed. Murderbot needs access to tumblr soo bad. One of the most fun POVs I've ever read, and a really well-actualised use of tech-communication for the plot and humour. Such a fun little bite of Scifi, will be reading the sequels.
love, just extremely well executed. Murderbot needs access to tumblr soo bad. One of the most fun POVs I've ever read, and a really well-actualised use of tech-communication for the plot and humour. Such a fun little bite of Scifi, will be reading the sequels.
didnt really live up to expectations, as most of the essays either talked about scifi in the broadest and most obvious terms ("imagination is what makes us human" girl how do you know that a bee doesnt dream?), or in minutiae that aren't even that interesting if you know the very specific subject. There were a few things that stood out to me, some of the essays were more enjoyable, but overall felt like the editors should have sought essays on topics that have an essay-length-amount to say about them (eg. an essay on eco-fables, an essay on time travel writing, an essay on digital companionship). Did provide ok food for thought tho.
didnt really live up to expectations, as most of the essays either talked about scifi in the broadest and most obvious terms ("imagination is what makes us human" girl how do you know that a bee doesnt dream?), or in minutiae that aren't even that interesting if you know the very specific subject. There were a few things that stood out to me, some of the essays were more enjoyable, but overall felt like the editors should have sought essays on topics that have an essay-length-amount to say about them (eg. an essay on eco-fables, an essay on time travel writing, an essay on digital companionship). Did provide ok food for thought tho.
Love how it shows the community and coming together behind a revolution - katniss was not the first to revolt, neither was Haymitch. The movement just needed it's time.
Love how it shows the community and coming together behind a revolution - katniss was not the first to revolt, neither was Haymitch. The movement just needed it's time.
I dig how weird this was. I've never read a book before that has such a full-sensory set of descriptions, the smells and the textures described were so evocative to me. Literary scifi is just A+.
*Spoilers* I wish we found out a little more of what happened - I appreciate the vagueness in some ways, but I could have done with knowing about 10% more.
I dig how weird this was. I've never read a book before that has such a full-sensory set of descriptions, the smells and the textures described were so evocative to me. Literary scifi is just A+.
*Spoilers* I wish we found out a little more of what happened - I appreciate the vagueness in some ways, but I could have done with knowing about 10% more.
beautiful, weird and very touching.
beautiful, weird and very touching.