Weadee
I guess I'm done?? I thought I had another 70 pages but that was just the afterward, dang. Honestly a bit upset that it ended there because I felt like it was just getting started? The dialogue actually made me laugh and the characters were great (even if the premise of the earth being totally obliterated, save for Arthur Dent, hurt my heart). T'was a good book but I'll admit that it'll take a while before I'm in the mood to read the others. After this short little adventure, I think I've had enough sci-fi for one night
This book left me feeling very conflicted and hurt my heart but I really liked it. Of course Enquist is a psychoanalyst. This whole book is essentially a character exploration and she does that extremely well. Doesn't mean I liked Johan- in fact I pretty much hated him, but at least the other characters made up for it. Also, the way she explores the bond between his twin sons is the most accurate I've ever seen.
The ending did confuse me although I'm not sure if that's just because of the translation or simply my stupidity. Appropriate ending either way and I'm excited to read more of her stuff :)
This was such an odd (yet clever) book. By the time I finished, I sat quietly for a few minutes trying to make sense what I had just read but felt just as bemused as I did at the start. The book feels like a nod and ponder after a long conversation about nothing in particular yet everything significant. I probably won't remember a single thing from it in three weeks.
On the train I was asked a few times what I was reading and I truly struggled to describe the book because well, there's not much to say! It's mostly just about life and by extension, death (but isn't everything?) Like someone else said, this book should be read by everyone planning to die. It probably won't change much but at least you'll have something to distract you until then.
The dialogue is amazing, I loved the literary style and I truly admired every character, yet on the whole I never quiet felt completely hooked? I like being pulled into a story but here I just felt like I never could quite settle in
Pretty sus of the people that gave the book 1 star........Wood's writing was definitely not that bad and he makes his case pretty clear. Just say you don't want Chechnya to be independent and go.
I appreciated how comprehensive the book was despite its length and he has a very measured approach with each chapter. It is a bit dated now but does a good overview of Chechen history and Soviet/Russian atrocities in the nation without going down the rabbit hole. I just wish he would've written more on civilians. I never really felt like I got an image of people with actual flesh and blood. More just the idea of them.
I think this book is a very good introductory read on prison abolition. There wasn't any complicated jargon so it was pretty easy to follow along and it's fairly compact (you could read it in one sitting if you wanted to). I do wish however, that more time was spent talking about alternatives to the prison system. She only really explores decarceration in the last chapter and doesn't necessarily offer viable solutions. Still a really good read though.
This book has such a sombre undertone that I actually had to take a break from it for a while because it was making me so...sad (at least more than I usually am). But I think that's why I liked it so much. Sinclair Ross' writing is so immersing on it's own, and coupled with the melancholic dairy entries of Mrs. Bentley, the book makes you feel just as trapped in that little town as she did.
It definitely is a slow book so I wouldn't recommend it to people that prefer more action-packed stuff, seeing that some people found it quite boring; but I really did appreciate the complexity between their relationship and Mrs. Bentley's loneliness.