Eva
The life story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, who was dissatisfied with the career opportunities the study of literature gave a young driven woman in the early 20iest century and set out to find a challenge, and found it on the estate of a wealthy science and conspiracy lover. She learns the ropes of codes and ciphers by first investigating Shakespeare's plays, and then contributes crucially to the invention of cryptology as WWI presents more pressing puzzles to be solved. Over the years - together and separately - Elizebeth and her husband William Friedman invent code breaking methods, document their craft in numerous influential pamphlets, and go on to spearhead several government institutions focused on the decryption of criminal and enemy communication. The era didn't make it easy for Elizebeth to fulfil this role in a world of men, yet her skills and her successrate continue to get her jobs in the business. During WWII she and her team help bring down a Nazi spy ring in South America, but no one can talk about it as it falls under top-secret classification. Head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover and his misogyny (he fired the few female FBI agents when his leadership began and didn't allow women to join for the next 40-50 years) and his perfect publicity stunts to claim other people's achievements, was part of the problem. So slowly Elizebeth is forgotten, while her husband continues to be celebrated.
A clever woman in a men's world, who is also a code-breaker, this was absolutely a book for me. It had a bit too much detailing on the Nazi spy activity during WWII, and sometimes too many assumptions about her and her husband's interior lives, but else this was a great read.
A strange lyrical dystopia where toxins and radiation caused the only remnants of humanity to transform into hairless sexless white-skinned androgynes that live a life of surveillance on a space station above the barren and destroyed earth. (And it's only 2049). They are doomed to die out, unable to reproduce. They graft their bodies with tattooed stories of their lost love, sexuality and humanity. Yet there is hope in the form of mythical Joan, a warrior that bonded with the dirt and has power over nature.
Lush poetic writing, and an interesting setup, but the characters and plot stayed too simplistic for my taste, and ultimately I was disappointed. More abstraction and less fantasy probably would have made me like this more. Still worth it though.
Loosely connected fragments and lives centred around the 1980 Gwangju uprising when the South Korean government brutally killed and tortured many students. We inhabit different minds, in the past and the present, of the living, the survivors, and the dead. The novel questions the acts we as humans are able to commit against each other, and the scars and weight those who suffered have to carry with them forever. I love Han's [b:The Vegetarian 25489025 The Vegetarian Han Kang https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478196580s/25489025.jpg 18449744] but I couldn't quite connect with this one. The writing is beautiful and haunting, yet it had too many POVs for my taste and the storytelling was too vague, too torn.
Set towards the end of the 21st century, the US is a place in tumult, battled by regular nature disasters and a civil war of south vs north over the use of clean energy vs fossil fuels. We follow the story of Sarat, a girl that's recruited and trained for the cause of the south, fueled by her anger over the death of family members and a childhood in a refugee camp.
My interest in this waxed and waned, which I probably have to blame on the disruptive mix of personal storytelling from several perspectives and the drier historical reports in between.
2.5
C'etait un roman psychologique tres exquis. L'histoire commence avec la fin; la nounou a tue les enfants. Apres nous apprenons comment nous sommes arrives la. Comment la mere a-t-elle lutte pour retrouver sa vie en retournant au travail, comment les parents sont tombent amoureux de la nounou et son devouement a ses taches, et comment la situation s'est lentement dissoute dans un drame d'attachement malsain. J'ai vraiment apprecie que toute l'histoire soit devenue plus inquietante en faisant connaitre la fin.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's rare to find literary scifi / speculative fiction that's so subtle and careful in the building of plot. Halfway in, when the thing happens, I was almost disappointed, wishing it would have stuck to just being about those small discrepancies and the general feeling of unease. But, obviously, the 2nd half was good too.
We're in the very near future, autonomous cars and algorithms are ever-present, a physicist works on a causality violation device and his wife has these moments of uncanny, where things just don't seem quite right. The book's title will eventually come into play and it's done very elegantly and all the geeks will be satisfied. But it's far from just a scifi book, it's also about the lives of scientists, all our realities in this age of data, about addictions and regrets and all the different versions of people we are.
Also, isn't that cover great?
4.5
I just had to look again at the book's cover and the blurbs to question where I was lead astray to think that I'd enjoy this book. Nothing indicates that about half of it would be about the linguistics of Sanskrit and Indian poetry. It started out well, with the author's personal history and his musings about coding and writing literature, and then followed with ok chapters borrowing (but citing) from Charles Petzold's [b:Code 44882 Code The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software Charles Petzold https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328830222l/44882.SX50.jpg 44204] and Cordelia Fine's [b:Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference 8031168 Delusions of Gender How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference Cordelia Fine https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348833681l/8031168.SY75.jpg 12635310]. The in-depth chapter on Sanskrit was still interesting even when too long, as it drew comparisons between the rigid rule-system of the language to programming languages. But somehow the book then diverged into the author's wish to recreate the language and narrative structure of old Indian poetry, giving us an academic overview and listing way too many poems. Also, the balance and connection between chapters felt off. About halfway in I allowed myself to skim pages and to even skip chapters.
I quite like the world setting (in a frozen world all survivors live on a perpetual-motion train with 1001 wagons, forming their own cruel hierarchical society that can only be traversed along 1 dimension) but the graphic novel fails in so many other ways for me: There's only one female character who immediately (and inexplicably) starts up a romance with the hero, and all the other women in the background are whores/sex slaves. The drawing style sometimes made it hard for me to distinguish characters. And the writing and plot development isn't that great.
I took home the bound volume that had all 3 Transperceneige volumes, but now won't read the other two.
A fever dream of a novella with a nightmarish quality to it. It's short and incredibly hard to put down, partially because you need to know where the plot is going and partially because it's basically one long conversation that pulls you in and never gives you breathing space (in a good way). I really liked the flow of the writing and the flow and the haziness of the plot, as it weaves and loops between present and the past. It reminded me of Daniel Kehlmann's [b:Du hättest gehen sollen 32800965 Du hättest gehen sollen Daniel Kehlmann https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477673977s/32800965.jpg 53397104] as both are nightmarish novellas experimenting with storytelling.
I mainly wanted to check this one out as it is a Montreal author writing a story set in Montreal, at the beginning of the 20iest century. All other comparisons (mainly to [b:The Night Circus 9361589 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387124618l/9361589.SY75.jpg 14245059] already warned me I probably wouldn't like it much, but as my taste threshold for audiobooks is lower and the story quite fast-moving, I didn't mind as much. That said, fairytale-like stories of fate-entwined lovers are definitely not my thing. Especially when the writing is too much in love with their entwined destinies (symmetrically walks and simultaneous sighs). It redeemed itself a bit again with it's melancholy and independence-seeking ending, but while I did enjoy parts of it, in total I am happy I am done with it. 2.5
The cruel and oppressive days on an Austrian mountain farm after WWII. Our protagonist is a boy who's deposited at his father's and stepmother's farm in young age, and because of his bastard status, is cruelly exploited and kept like a servant. His childhood is full of hard work and accompanied by constant humiliation and fear, lacking any kindness.
The writing is an interesting stream of consciousness that's wild and hard to get into, as it doesn't stop to introduce us to new characters. It just keeps going, long sentences stringing together experiencing and emotions, dark thoughts, laced with moments of brutal honesty about the human conditions. It's a portrait of a culture where nobody seems to escape the repetition of cruelty and violence. Where one has to beg for and then say thank you, after receiving a whipping. When we and the protagonist finally encounter a kind soul - Helga, who's giving voice to the treatment he and the other bondsmen receive - it's such a relief. I couldn't have taken this book to end on a sad note. The recognition he received from Helga starts a transformation that finally leads to his rebellion and escape from that horrid place.
A hostage situation slowly turns into a secluded world in a bubble, where terrorists and hostages communicate in all their different languages, fall in love with opera singing and gradually - through stasis and new emotional connections - learn to forget all about the differences between them. It ends where it has to end, and it's perfect.
This was too simplistic for my taste - or did I miss the fact that this is YA? It has light tones of Butler's [b:Lilith's Brood 60926 Lilith's Brood (Xenogenesis, #1-3) Octavia E. Butler https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439247785l/60926.SY75.jpg 3739] which is intriguing, but everything is just too neatly resolved, in a too short time and without many explanations. What I liked best is Binti's relationship to otjize, the clay mix she and her people wear as a second skin. Google “otjize Himba”. (But did it have to have healing powers?)
The Russian Revolution and all it's tumult and misery and energy through the eyes of a young heroine, who stems from privilege but is driven by passion and restlessness into a life of poetry and poverty, espionage and abuse, adventure and self-discovery. As most stories of wars in starving cold countries, her main driving force is her will to survive, to have food and a safe spot to sleep. And then there are also two love affairs running in parallel, the story always falling asleep a little with Genya around, but then waking up again as soon as Kolya reappears.
Marina lives through so many adventures and hardships in such a short time, that I often had to check the year and then was taken aback, when it turned out she was still only 18. Towards the end it felt there are almost too many experiences amassed at her feet, like she's running down a checklist of all wild scenarios a young girl could get herself into during those times. Especially the cult assembling around mother at the end, felt one step too many. Plus, it's only part 1 of 2! Though I am definitely curious what Fitch has in store for Marina in part 2. The epilogue seems to indicate it's not as happy an ending as one could hope for her.
Maybe a bit long, but it's quite a page-turner at parts. The writing is especially rich in details of Russian culture, historical events and politics. All the Russian revolutionary parties and coups and counter-revolutionary coups are confusing enough to feel very solid. And the city of Petrograd is clearly one of the main protagonists of the novel.
3.5
The slightly-Gothic Victorian tale of a headstrong young widow who delights in nature and discovery and her new-found freedom from a cruel marriage. Cora, and her entourage of lovable and eccentric companions, come to Essex for the air and her amateur passion for palaeontology, and end up enthralled by the local's belief in the return of a feared mythical creature. While there, she finds a deep and untypical friendship/love with a local vicar, Will.
The novel has a little bit of everything, part Gothic beast story, part love story, part historical portrait of Victorian times, part feminism, part socialism, but none of these parts ever take the upper hand, so I mainly see it as a portrait of a wide range of vividly painted characters that range from slightly wacky to stubbornly love-struck to loyal revolutionary, that are all tied to each by love of one sort or another. The more I think about the characters and their bonds, the more I admire the novel. The writing is atmospheric and clever, sometimes very funny, and always quite beautiful.
In the suburbs again with Celeste Ng. This is a story about motherhood, about the children we choose or have to let go, and the mothers we'd chose if we had the option.
This is the second audiobook of a Ng novel I've listened to, mainly because it's been on top of a bunch of 2017 lists and because it'll get a TV adaption treatment. But same as with her first book, I couldn't fully connect with it, even though I was engaged enough to breeze through the audiobook. There's something about the way she analyzes her characters while always staying at a safe distance from them, that keeps me from liking anyone in her stories.
A sceptic sets out to tell the story of transhumanism by meeting all the dedicated and odd front runners of the movement. We meet Max More who owns 1 of only 4 cryogenics facilities in the world, neuroscientist Randal Koene who ‘s working towards brain uploading techniques, Nick Bostrom who's worried about [b:Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies 20527133 Superintelligence Paths, Dangers, Strategies Nick Bostrom https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1400884046s/20527133.jpg 37286000], Tim Cannon of Grindhouse Wetware who hacks technology into his own body, gerontologist Aubrey De Grey who is researching ways to keep our bodies from aging, and Zoltan Istvan who ran for president in 2016 to raise awareness for Transhumanism. In between there are short primers on the singularity and robots, and a detour to a DARPA Robotics Challenge. The whole book is an outsider's look in, and you never get the feeling that O'Connell truly wants to understand the perspectives of the people he meets. It definitely is a very different book to the usual overviews of technological/futuristic movements, and I doubt many of the people featured in it, enjoy it, as he doesn't shy away from cheekily insulting the oddballs. Despite that the book still gives a great overview of the movement, and the subtle jokes combined with his own musings on death and immortality add up to a very entertaining read.
This novel presents timely perspectives (immigration, terrorism, family, love, social impact) and makes you ask complicated questions (do you stop loving someone just because he changes? is it someone's fault if he expertly gets manipulated into something? do you do the right thing or the most strategic thing?). I like it for that, possibly more than the actual story and writing itself.
3.5
13 year old Leni, her PTSD-plagued vietnam-vet father, and her mother who can't stop loving her abusive husband - move to Alaska for a new start. We learn about the harshness of living in Alaksa, a lot of drama with the dad ensues, and Leni finds love. First I was all charmed by this book, as I love stories about living in deserted tough places, the storytelling was fast and engaging, and the father's outbursts and his paranoid survivalist nature gave the whole thing the touch of a milder version of [b:My Absolute Darling 33572350 My Absolute Darling Gabriel Tallent https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498911183s/33572350.jpg 54375969]. But somewhere around the middle everything just become too predictable and was missing a layer of depth for my taste. And then the ending was straight from a Hollywood tearjerker.
Back in the brutal world of Takeshi Kovacs. I enjoyed the writing that just plunges you into this dark and grimy future with all its tech, weapons and warring factions, without taking much of a breath to ease you into it. Kovacs' cynical voice is fun read. And the whole book seems a meditation on the nature of war and why we fight them and why we might never escape them.
The Martians felt like a new further-out, slightly mystical level to this scifi world. Which was a bit surprising. And the ending is a bit unclear to me. Why'd he attach so tightly to his “pack” from the expedition and could so easily kill his old “pack”? Does his wolf conditioning only apply to recent memory?
3.5