jude
This book reads really differently in 2020 than it did when I read it in 2013. I hate that this book is so relevant now.
Also a bit of disability politics in here that I didn't notice in 2013: If you disable a character but make their magic skill so the disability doesn't matter, it's effectively meaningless
When I got to the afterword, I was surprised. I had read the Beast player, and watched Beast Player Elin when it was still on Crunchyroll (sorry anime fans I think it's no longer streaming) and while I KNEW there was a sequel, it felt mostly closed. Sure some things were open-ended, but it wasn't screaming for a sequel. I think that (and presumably success) is why there is no anime sequel to Beast Player. (Come on, Ghibli!)
Basically this book is “consequences: the book” (Yes, I KNOW that's what a plot is)
Consequences and fallout for the climax of the Beast Player.
Consequences for breaking taboos, that are finally explained.
Consequences for daring to live a peaceful life.
Basically, what I really liked, in reflection of both books compared to the anime is I felt I got better grasp of the character Ialu. He complements Elin very well, so them getting married compared to when I watched the anime makes more sense?
I basically have no complaints to how this book / duology ended, partially because it felt like the seeds were sowed? It felt planned, and fitting. And it's the closest thing you get to closure.
This was just what the doctor ordered: queer fantasy.
It takes you into a really interesting world, where a revolution occurred some years back, and now the nobility are openly-reviled by the ruler.
There's also a song-magician class of people who are more open to the changing norms. Poly-relationships are referred to, most characters in this book are under the queer umbrella (which is why I don't mind that the villain is queer, because there is so much representation).
There was so much world-building that I'm really hoping for more in this world.
I remember a question on Goodreads about The Hate U Give, saying which would be better to read, THUG or Dear Martin. IIRC, the most popular answer given was something along the lines of “is it better to breathe or to drink water”.
Maybe it's because this came out later (I Think), but Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro never came up!
But basically, that Goodreads question and my answer to it kept me up after I dried my tears from this book last night.
I firmly believe if you can only read one, or at least one to start with, and non-fiction about policing is off the table, and you are white, you should read this one.
I know that's a pretty bold statement! I will back it up, I promise.
Undeniably, all books in this micro-genre of “Police Brutality fiction” at least consider the white audience reading it. I've been told they're too big a market to ignore, I don't know if that's still true, but a lot of people believe it.
But all the books approach different angles while considering a partially-white audience. I'm gonna keep these comparisons short because it's been over a year since I've read the other books, please note there are more to them than this.
The Hate U Give shows that some cops at the very least, are not as corrupt or racist as others. It also shows Code-switching and the problem with white feminism. These are important! I won't deny it!
Dear Martin is mostly about how even being the perfect black boy is not good enough, and talks about the often spat out idea of how “Martin Luther King Jr. would be disappointed in BLM” by having the protagonist write what are effectively diary entries addressed to Dr. King (who to be clear, is long dead because this is the modern day). Obviously this is important!
Anger is a Gift deals with organizing protests (and the ways cops try to destroy these protests, this is like at least a 3rd of the book), the problem with white savior complexes, the problem with school funding being tied to tests, and what I think is most important of all: Complacency.
Do you want to know why people talk about defunding or abolishing the police? Because even if police offer relative is, according to you, not a violent, racist cop, they are complacent in a system. Maybe your Uncle John, a cop, didn't shoot an unarmed black child, but did he even try to stop it? Did he try to have justice done to the child's family by calling for accountability for the person who shot the child? I really doubt it. Many of us are guilty of complacency, just oftentimes with less deadly consequences, or consequences we're deliberately ignoring. That is the essence of Hashtag ACAB.
I'm not saying Dear Martin or The Hate U Give don't deal with this. But I feel it's clearest, most-spelled out in Anger is a Gift And that is why I say to start with this one if you are white. Because we often don't think about complacency.
If you pick this up expecting fake-dating, you're a bit off the mark.
It is in fact a fake relationship book, on the basis of renting a boyfriend for specific holidays, and the consequences that entails.
Also this was the FIRST time I understood a guide to Pinyin, so it should be celebrated for that fact alone. Seriously though this is a solid read (though it's kind of a long one. About 450 pages Digitally?) and very cute, besides the overall serious matter.
I don't know if Gloria Chao has plans to make spinoffs or sequels to this book, but I bet it's totally possible and I'd love to see it! There's a lot you can explore with the premise.
My blog has a more in-depth essay of how I related to this book. https://blogs.booktoot.club/lapis/on-being-seen-in-stories
What I love about this book is that while there is a romance, that really isn't the point of the book.
It's a mental health book that made me feel extremely seen.
Now I will warn you: One of the viewpoint characters struggles with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. If you also struggle with those things, reading this becomes a really unpleasant experience, but I highly recommend you tough it out if you are in a mental place where you are able to do so!
This is the best depiction of intrusive thoughts and anxiety I have seen. I don't know if Jennifer Dugan personally has anxiety problems, but if she doesn't, she really did her research. Seriously, as Nebraska's most anxious person, I felt very seen.
I also felt very seen because of its frank discussion of suicide. I know not everyone can handle that, but I could really use more books that discuss it and make me feel like less of a freak for having had these problems. And books that teach you how to talk with suicidal people (spoiler: it's not by demonizing them).
I think if you pick up this book, you know that it's about the Emily Doe of the Brock Turner Case. So I don't think the contents of “Oh god I was raped and now I have to reckon with a court case and my own definitions of justice and identity” will be all that shocking. It's obviously a difficult read, but it's not without hope. If you are looking for something inspiring, you will find it, you just have to dig through hundreds of dark and depressing pages.
Take care of yourself if you choose to read it, and if you are not in a place where you can read it, that's okay too.
I will confess, Anastasia Romanov is a special interest of mine, has been for like, more than a decade. I'm not getting into why I really got into her, because in retrospect (of last time someone asked), it wasn't the well known Fox movie, it was a game, and no one played the game I'm talking about, and I'd be mortified to recommend it now because I know it hasn't aged well!
This is a fun (well, as fun as the subject can be) tale combining the Romanovs with fantastical magic. It diverges from history around the 50% mark.
There's an afterword explaining the historical differences.
I'm saying it everywhere, but the following is mostly for the tankies:
If you are looking for a critique of Russia / the Russian Revolution / the USSR besides “communism doesn't work!” look elsewhere. This is not the book for that. Honestly probably try a nonfiction book addressing the USSR.
And this probably goes without saying, but if you are looking for a critique of Czar Nicholas II's ruling, look elsewhere. There's mild critique (in the sense very few people historically knew about Alexei's hemophilia and yeah that was probably a bad move) but if you're expecting one of the Romanovs to suddenly go “yeah that 1905 Bloody Sunday was absolutely shameful, we suck” I don't even want to do the math to figure out how old any of the kids would have been, but I'm guessing pretty young. I mean I think you could find a way to do it (coming from one of the soldier's mouths, not the protagonist) but I mean, come on.
If you wanted to write a book and tailor (heh) it specifically to me, it would have fiberarts and gender-bending antics. I don't know WHY the book is labeled “Project Runway meets Mulan” because that only describes the first half the book, where there's a contest that she needs to pretend to be a boy for. Then after that it rapidly switches gears. I'm not saying I minded, and I know the author wasn't responsible for the tagline anyway, but from what I can tell from negative reviews:
1. being closer to the Mulan folktale than the Disney versions (it's almost like Disney takes folk and fairytales and puts their own spin on them!)
AND
2. having a radically different second half is what really turned people off.
It's a perfectly fine book, especially if you know how to knit, embroider, etc (but no Crochet love for obvious reasons, I'll just be in here crying in my Crocheted Corner if you need me)! I daresay I became scholarly whenever the protagonist was embroidering, which is probably why the book took so long to finish.
Oh by the way, there's a romance. If you don't want a romance (you are perfectly valid), steer clear of this one, because it's like half the point of the book.
4.75 Stars for reasons I???ll get into.
Okay, things to know. My brother, who is pretty good at Japanese (not just saying, he passed the top JLPT, so it???s kinda hard to test him further) read the first volume of this, has the second, and watched the anime of this (I think it???s under the title ???Beast Player Erin???), so he knows the basic plot when I discussed it with him. This, as sites say, is a compilation of the first two volumes.
I???m shelving this as Young Adult, because I agree with Pushkin Press that it is. However, it???s sort of weird in tone for a Young Adult tone. Maybe ???New Adult??? would be a better term. It???s very obsessed with biology, and it sort of sticks out in my mind compared to the typical English YA book I read. Elin doesn???t really deal with love triangles for example. Romance is there and it does drive the plot, but not in the traditional YA sense.
The plot takes place over, roughly ten years (I may be off by a few). It???s a bit slow-moving, especially for the majority of the first half/book, so if you???re looking for something fast, this may not be for you.
The names are really interesting. They???re Romanized in a way that???s not difficult to say (though I???d personally write them with dashes or something for syllable breaks, but that???s preference, don???t mind me), but gives them a fantasy-feel. I would love to pick Nahoko Uehashi???s brains about the naming scheme in the book, not just for the characters, but for the terminology. I know she has an anthropology degree (excellent choice, but I???m biased), but I don???t know if she has any linguistics or foreign language background. Part of why I want to pick the author's brains is that the back cover I have has the protagonist's name romanized as “Erin”. In the books, it's “Elin”. I'm like 90% sure that it originally was Erin in the translation, and author approval changed it to Elin. I find this interesting, as while I don't know the Japanese terms for much, there's stuff like a character being born in spring called “Halumiya” and Elin being a name that derives from a specific Apple. Basically I'm saying I really don't believe Cathy Hirano put in all those l's in the prospective translation draft.
Let???s talk about Romanization of Japanese terms for a bit. I am by no means an expert (se habla espa??ol ), but this is basically why it???s not a perfect 5 for me, because when I dug into this book, I could not understand why the decisions were made that were.
You have two main beasts (the kanji may be wrong; my brother wrote them from memory). ?????? Tohda, ?????? Oujuu.
The first translates as ???War Serpent??? if you want a poetic name (Battle Snake would probably be more accurate but that???s kinda??? ) The Latter IS translated in the book as Royal Beast. The former is left as ???Toda???. I can???t figure out why both aren???t translated. It seems inconsistent to me. I assume this is the author's request, but I really want to know more!
To end with: Pushkin Press puts this in their children line. I think that???s that???s up for debate, but anymore I don???t think there???s any shame in reading Young Adult books as long as that???s not all you???re doing, like how literally no one cares if you watch anime except the people who also watch anime.
READ THE BOOK.
This book is so ugly in an amazing way. You feel like crap reading this horrible, sad sack of a man as the protagonist. He has such ugly thoughts.
But as a disabled person, I'm well aware while people may not go as far as Bird does in this book, this ugliness does exist in people.
And it's worth noting that he's not the only one. There's lots of dehumanizing dialogue from people in this book.
I recommend that people stomach Bird (and the rest) and make their way through the book. It's short, and I found it worth it. It's a gut-wrenching book, but powerful.
I probably read this book too fast. When it came to the last few chapters, I wanted desperately to know what was going to happen, plus my dog was demanding my attention, so I rushed through. And you know what? I regret that.
Take this book slowly, and just enjoy it.
This book has a lot to say, especially on identity in a Male / Female Gendered language. Even if you don't know Spanish, I feel like you'll grasp what the Spanish parts say. Though if you do understand Spanish, it's like, Bonus Material for you!
- If you have an e-ink e-reader (as opposed to a tablet that can see all colors) please, please please get the physical edition. I learned the physical edition is printed to resemble an Ikea catalogue (I would not know this from experience) and they tried to replicate it in the e-book edition and it frankly looks like ass. Gray text that I couldn't change the contrast of on top of a white or yellow (at night) background.
2. I'm not really a horror person, but this this is a poverty horror story costumed as horror book filled a nice niche I haven't seen since The Graveyard Apartment (a book I didn't like that much, but did Poverty Horror very well).
3. It's very short. You can easily go through it in a night, and not just because you want to know what happens next.
4. Obviously you will get more out of it if you have been to an Ikea or are a frequent shopper there, but not much is lost on you as long as you get the gist of Ikea (for example, I have never been there, and I got the general idea)
- She explains why there was a 7 year wait for the book.
2. It's sad.
3. It's more than internet detectives on Goodreads thought it was (though I am thankful they didn't know the full story, that would be a disgustingly creepy amount of detail)
4. This is a beautiful book, and there are necessary-to-read chapters like the chapters on depression in her first book.
5. Chapter 17 is the funniest chapter.
Before I begin, I want to be clear, I think this is worth reading.
It may have been bad timing on my part, because I lost my maternal grandmother while reading this. Though it's a book about grief, maybe it's good timing?
And honestly, this book is big on food and community, two things that feel lacking in a Covid America. I haven't exchanged greetings with any of my neighbors in at least a month. My favorite Ramen place is serving burritos, I hope because that's easier takeout and not because they've given up on Ramen. It hurts thinking about this wonderful community with great dining. So yeah, maybe consider that before reading.
This is not my favorite Banana Yoshimoto book. I think that'd either be NP or Goodbye, Tsugumi.
There's a slur in this book. An Anti-chinese slur. I questioned the use of it, because the word in question comes across as antiquated, dated, and I don't mean in the sense of “We've progressed past racism” I more mean, I'm pretty sure we use different slurs now. Like, it came across as something a racist old lady says without realizing language has changed.
Maybe that was the intent? I actually learned (while asking online about this book) that anti-Chinese racism is a big thing in Japan. This isn't me being completely oblivious to the flaws of Japan; I more mean: I only knew about the Anti-Korean racism.
Anyway, I don't know if the point is that Banana Yoshimoto has anti-Chinese sentiments, or more wanted to use language to reflect the racist views many people in Japan have.
There's a lot I could say about this:
1. This is a look at Ferrante through letters and interviews.
2. They are very context-dependent, just read the wikipedia page if you haven't read her books and are for some reason despite that interested in this.
3. Skip the first 50% if all you've read are the Neapolitan Novels because without context, you will be Very confused.
I plan on revisiting this some time after I've read her other works and maybe some of her named influences.
I really recommend (if you can get a hold of it) to start with ??gota Krist??f ‘s The Illiterate , because:
1. It explains part of her life (which gets reflected in her works, like The Book of Lies Trilogy and Yesterday)
2. You understand deeply why her prose is the way it is.
3. It's like 50 pages. This is not gonna take you weeks unless you choose to read and reflect that long.
I'm not saying you can't learn that from other places, but it gets you right at home with her alienation.
The alienation is very present in this book. And the book is very fucked up, but it's a masterpiece.
My piano teacher often likes to talk about the narrative of progress. That it's not a straight line forward of constant improvement, that sometimes you're objectively worse, sometimes you're objectively better, sometimes you take a step back, and sometimes you move forward.
Anyway, I bring this up because this is a school that in the modern day says no to queer couples at prom.
When I went to school in the 00's, there were no queer couples at prom. It was expressly forbidden, (I have memories of my homeroom teacher deleting “joke” prom sign-ups of same-gender couples). But the ACLU took a school to court about it and won in the last decade I think. So I assumed that would be the end of it, and the narrative of progress blah blah blah.
But of course small towns are gonna be small towns. I know this.
This stars a closeted queer black girl in a small town. She's not afraid of hate-crimes, she's afraid of standing out, something she does simply by existing.
But she has to sign up for nominations to be prom-queen, because there's a scholarship she desperately needs attached.
And she falls in love, with someone who will DEFINITELY ruin her chances of being prom queen.
(Drama ensues)
Anyway this caused me to reflect a lot on the proms I didn't go to, because I couldn't articulate a reason I didn't want to go with a boy (though there was a definite cost factor too).