Sebastian Rodriguez

4.5. speechless, such a magnificent and powerful story told thru two sisters.

What an instant iconic book. Everything from the deeper and complex character construction, to expanding the literary world in which its based. This may be based on our past but so eerily familiar of our present. This book itself defies itself from any perception.

Even as someone who hasn't read Huckleberry Finn in a long time - you don't need to - to understand that this book is the ultimate companion and must read.

“With my pencil, I wrote myself into being. I wrote myself to here.”

This one hit close to home - as someone with a family member with an advanced Parkinson's diagnosis - this is the most intimate I had to live with being inside someone who is afflicted by it. Couldn't put this one down.

3.5/4 - still processing it. Def. big ideas and too many themes covered. Elements felt familiar from so many ‘first contact' stories, but at the same time I feel like the story was never about that - it's more intricate it explores humanity, family relationships and perhaps in an odd enough way to me felt like an examination of the impact of work and obsession. I will need to come back to this book eventually, I feel like the first chapter invites me for one more dive - I just need time away from this story.

3.5ish/4. Captivating, fast read. Def. A good set of short dystopian stories that are packed with complex dynamics of relationships, immigration and so much more.

It started with the preview, and 2 days later I found myself completely engulfed in all these feelings. Time is harsh, cruel and yet so wise. A relationship as strong as the ones we share with our parents could be just as fragile as those memories. And the author shared it all - smells, taste, small acts of kindness - at times without the need to process but just to get out into the world.

Kurt Vonnegut's capacity of constantly breaking the fourth wall, bending time and space, observational comedy - reminds me why I wanted to pick this up.

However, it's that same back and forward that just feels like the story moves too slowly and takes too long. To the point where I just wanted to get to the end.

A 3.5 on the verge of 4.

A captivating story that at times eerily - the author reminds us of the fragile earth we live in and the even more fragile human element to it. A social critique, a love story - all intertwined in a dystopian future which feels more real than not.

“We all die. We have only the choice, if we are privileged, of whether death comes with a whimper or a bang; of what worlds we taste before we go.”

This book is beautiful, just poetry weaving its way through two souls and time. I had the inherent need of reading out loud sentences to strangers on the plane, subway and in small cafes - to remind them the beauty in the mundane observation of Caleb's prose. There's so much of this I can relate to, and so much that now lives with me.

“Every time you remember something, the memory weakens, as you're remembering the last recollection, rather than the memory itself. Nothing can remain intact. Still, it does not stop you wanting, does not stop you longing.”

4.5. I keep saying I'm not a short story kind of person but I'm two George Saunders books down, and I'm amazed and at the edge of my seat. The explorations of class dynamics, surrealism and dystopian fever dreams are stories I could be lost in all day.

4.5, Zambra, no se si está vez me llegaste a lo más profundo de mi ser - fue como compartir una botella de vino con un amigo a quien no veo hace años mientras comparamos notas y observaciones de ser padres. No quise terminar este libro, leí más lento a medida que menos hojas quedaban, no quería que se terminara la conversación.

“Los apellidos son prosa, los nombres poesía. Hay quienes se pasan la vida leyendo la novela irremediable del apellido. Pero en el nombre laten caprichos, intenciones, prejuicios, contingencias, emociones. Y suele ser la única obra que la madre y el padre escriben juntos.”

A 3.5 but stretches to a 4.

Two Sherpas, the abyss and the longest introspective look into class dynamics, age, dreams and youth
all while intertwining Shakespeare .One of those books that the style and format it was written in makes the book that much better.

Loved the format and the “story within a story” - a rich investment in characters and the story being told in layers, was the hook. Hernan Diaz made it hard for you to have a reliable narrator, which is part of the hook of the book - however by the time you get to the “third book”, you're already in cruising mode, and if it did not have that third book - this would be a 5.

Not much of a short story reader, came into this at times struggling but finding myself completely enveloped by Saunders writing, thought provoking prose and yet familiar rhythm. Not a bad way to get into George Saunders - a few more of his books on my TBR.

“Mama used to tell me that blood is everything, but I think we're all out here unlearning that sentiment, scraping our knees and asking strangers to patch us back up.”

Every sentence reads as it's part of a poem - where words pierce you and stay with you for longer than air stays in your lungs. This is a beautiful story, and I say beautiful with caution and more in regards to how much feelings it can produce.

“On their deathbeds, people don't think about their work or their life experiences or the items remaining on their to-do list. They think about love and family.”

There were strokes of solemn guiding words, illuminating and calming mantras. But at times, repetitive and redundant.

This book is genius. I'll miss opening the book to Sam, Sadie and Marx. To be a fly in the wall of their process to create worlds - and to live their game life's as they have their own personal earthly adventures. I'll miss overlooking the sliver of the ocean from that rooftop view from a small office in Abott Kinney.

“There was the life you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen. And sometimes, this other life felt as palpable as the one you were living.”

.

I could see why this book is a must-read, and Jennette does take us for laughs, emotions and walk us through a complicated relationship with her mom. The only reason I'm not stretching for that whole 5 stars is just given that some portions seem way too long or more detailed than needed, and that's subjective at best.

3.5/5

“Conversar es abrazarse con palabras”

Mi primer libro de Arelis Uribe, y debo decir que quedé gratamente sorprendido. Y aún más aliviado dado lo difícil que es encontrar algún libro, dado que la intención original fue que encontrara “Quiltras”.

La narración de Arelis es fácil de seguir - hay un ritmo en sus memorias que hace que no quieras bajar el libro. Ciertas frases golpean como poesía directamente en la nostalgia colectiva. Y es eso, la nostalgia colectiva pero a la vez tan individual que hace que este libro sea tan lindo.

This was my first Becky Chambers book and I now understand the craze and I'm sure it won't be my last.

This is a book you didn't know you needed - but you are thankful to have found. It's a feel good story, about something we can all connect to: The need to explore not only the world but ourselves.

“You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don't know how to answer that, because it is enough to just exist in this world and marvel at it. You don't need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live.”

“I hope they find each other in a room where a song that they know all of the words to crawls up the walls and rattles the lights above their heads.”

Hanif lived rent free in my head for days - his words, his prose - his insights into my own past thru what I couldn't imagine someone half across the world was also experiencing. I will miss this book, but I close this one - extremely thankful for what I've learned.

“They say the earth spins and that's why we fall but everyone knows it's the music”

I would need multitudes to deconstruct this whole book, but all I needed were a few words to feel.

It reads as a bingeable show - you don't want to stop at the end of each episode and you let it play on. The themes and motifs feel familiar and yet at the same time explored in an all new narrative.

The first half of the book is slow - but right at the middle - it just picks up and does not slow down. It builds and delivers. I'll miss Piranesi - and the halls and the tides.