carlin
a book club read and so not something I would've picked nor read this quickly. But I'm glad to have had the urgency of reading it as it's been nice to do so instead of reading social media
I have mixed feelings. I think the chief word that comes to mind is "indulgent". This book is mining something pretty simple — in Part 3 Ch V Jonny summarises the whole story in a sentence — for a long time and for me I didn't really get much out of this particular story.
I think for me I find it hard to give the narrator (JJ) much grace as this is a story mourning a self-professed racist (among other fascist tendencies). And sure, these things can happen, you can love people who hold upsetting views, but for me I can only really understand it in a family context. When it's romance or friendship, I do have to question your character if you can look past that, and 10x moreso if that person becomes someone who is this important to you.
I also struggle to find much I can connect with otherwise: JJ lives to party and I am not a party girl. The story isn't concerned with family, health, hobbies, etc, and I find it curious how much reference there is to classic films when this doesn't seem to be an interest of hers during the parts of her life documented. Also personally I find her desire for living in the US a bit perverse, like it's just not something I can relate to at all.
I found the quality of the prose fairly decent, if a bit overly defensive, and I can see how this could mean a lot to people who resonate more with this experience.
On a side note, I'm trying to improve my vocabulary and this book was great for that effort; I gained about 50 words.
Regardless, I am interested to hear what people have to say at the book club and I don't think it was a waste of time or anything. I'm very glad I didn't read this over 2-3 months like I would've pre this reading era
a book club read and so not something I would've picked nor read this quickly. But I'm glad to have had the urgency of reading it as it's been nice to do so instead of reading social media
I have mixed feelings. I think the chief word that comes to mind is "indulgent". This book is mining something pretty simple — in Part 3 Ch V Jonny summarises the whole story in a sentence — for a long time and for me I didn't really get much out of this particular story.
I think for me I find it hard to give the narrator (JJ) much grace as this is a story mourning a self-professed racist (among other fascist tendencies). And sure, these things can happen, you can love people who hold upsetting views, but for me I can only really understand it in a family context. When it's romance or friendship, I do have to question your character if you can look past that, and 10x moreso if that person becomes someone who is this important to you.
I also struggle to find much I can connect with otherwise: JJ lives to party and I am not a party girl. The story isn't concerned with family, health, hobbies, etc, and I find it curious how much reference there is to classic films when this doesn't seem to be an interest of hers during the parts of her life documented. Also personally I find her desire for living in the US a bit perverse, like it's just not something I can relate to at all.
I found the quality of the prose fairly decent, if a bit overly defensive, and I can see how this could mean a lot to people who resonate more with this experience.
On a side note, I'm trying to improve my vocabulary and this book was great for that effort; I gained about 50 words.
Regardless, I am interested to hear what people have to say at the book club and I don't think it was a waste of time or anything. I'm very glad I didn't read this over 2-3 months like I would've pre this reading era