This was an extremely short book and fast read. It was very simple- simple language, simple concepts. I might classify it as young adult? I could haveThis was an extremely short book and fast read. It was very simple- simple language, simple concepts. I might classify it as young adult? I could have read it even earlier than that. ...more
You know, I used to love George Saunders. But I don't know, none of these stories did it for me. I guess I've changed? It was a struggle to get througYou know, I used to love George Saunders. But I don't know, none of these stories did it for me. I guess I've changed? It was a struggle to get through the collection. ...more
If you haven't read The Idiot by Elif Batuman, go read that first. If you hated or were indifferent toward The Idiot, don't read this. If you loved ThIf you haven't read The Idiot by Elif Batuman, go read that first. If you hated or were indifferent toward The Idiot, don't read this. If you loved The Idiot, you might still love it more, because this book has basically the same plot but isn't quite as good. This book follows Selin through her second year at Harvard and once more on a summer overseas. There isn't much of a plot otherwise. Selin does have sex this year, which isn't really a spoiler because it's strongly hinted on the blurb on the jacket cover. But that and the fact that Ivan is in California are really the only major differences.
I usually hate stream-of-consciousness books, so it's a sign of how much I like Batuman's writing that this gets three stars. And as Selin reads so much literature that she doesn't really understand, I begin to wonder if Batuman isn't doing something really smart and postmodern over my head with this book. There were a couple of moments, especially in the beginning, where I laughed out loud at Selin, I think when she was wondering why college courses were categorized like they are, because that was something I would have done/complained about....more
I read this because it was listed for the Booker, and because I'm still looking for a work of dystopian fiction that's set in the "wilderness" that acI read this because it was listed for the Booker, and because I'm still looking for a work of dystopian fiction that's set in the "wilderness" that actually makes me believe the author has spent any time in the wilderness. I will say that this one is closer than most. It's very visceral and honest with life and death and injury, which hits about right. But it's still a pandemic and I wanted to read something a bit more uplifting than 'we will devolve into leadership by alpha male, also consensus doesn't work'. It had all the cheesy bits that were the hallmark of the genre- the really vague "city" which is apparently all around and really bad but also nowhere? - bad "Rangers" who are enforcing some sort of rule that I think is probably the Wilderness Act of 1964 of wilderness where "man is a visitor who does not remain." The group is told to go to various ranger outposts and they dutifully follow instructions and we expect something bad is happening but... we never learn what it is? I sort of expected to figure out more about the world partway through the book, but it just remains vague and ominous in a cartoon sort of way. I got really annoyed at all of the characters for continuing to follow instructions for no reason and also continuing to carp on their list of rules that were given to them when they entered the wilderness. Also, I really hated the mother-daughter relationship. I liked the daughter, and the parts of the book from her point of view were interesting. The mother? Eh. Also, I hated the ending. (view spoiler)[ We read this entire meandering book just to have them all rounded up and sent out of the wilderness, even the daughter who grew up there and loved the place?! And she consoles herself by the fact that there's a hole in the chain-link fence she can go through sometimes?!? Is that really all? ARGH. (hide spoiler)] I feel like this book would have been more interesting if partway through it was like 'ho ho you thought this was fiction but this is a true story about how native people were kicked out of our national parks like Yosemite!'...more
I've never before read or encountered a book that counted down someone's memories in the 10 minutes and 38 seconds after they've died. And that only tI've never before read or encountered a book that counted down someone's memories in the 10 minutes and 38 seconds after they've died. And that only takes up half of the book. Very interesting structure. ...more
Ugh. At least this book was short. Every character was totally unlikeable (I think Morrison's intention). Shitty things happen, and then worse things,Ugh. At least this book was short. Every character was totally unlikeable (I think Morrison's intention). Shitty things happen, and then worse things, and then it ends. The writing was also very tell-y, like Morrison would sometimes just say that a person was a certain way. This is much more a hallmark of writing from the past, I think- writers today hesitate at making a claim that a character represents a certain way of being, or categorizing classes of people like this?
I can only think that this book must have been really groundbreaking for its time, and it's her first book, but it was a struggle to get through....more
I've read all of David Mitchell's fiction books. I loved Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. His newer stuff... has been a bit off I've read all of David Mitchell's fiction books. I loved Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. His newer stuff... has been a bit off the mark for me. This book *dragged*. Mitchell (since The Bone Clocks) has been writing fiction that is really looooong. Maybe because he's now famous and can write what he wants. But why did this book need to be this long? It's historical fiction about a fictional four-person band rising to semi-stardom in the late 60's- the characters brush shoulders with all sorts of famous rock stars.
I liked reading the Elf sections, and the Jasper sections (see caveat below) but the Dean sections annoyed me because Dean makes poor choices and Griff was, well, not particularly interesting. The writing was obviously good. It's David Mitchell.
... But WHY did nobody make him edit out the weird fantasy-ish part that ties in with the Horologists in the Bone Clocks? He already didn't do a good job of fantasy the first time around, and now to insert it into a book about the late-60s music scene??? ARGH this composed so much of Jasper's story and it was so unnecessary. ...more
This book was so good!!! I hadn't sought it out because I don't always read YA and figured it might be over-hyped but it wasn't at all! I wish it had This book was so good!!! I hadn't sought it out because I don't always read YA and figured it might be over-hyped but it wasn't at all! I wish it had been around when I was in high school. ...more
Wow. This book. So, if you loved The Goldfinch, you'll probably love this book. If you hated The Goldfinch, you'll probably hate it. Same author, sligWow. This book. So, if you loved The Goldfinch, you'll probably love this book. If you hated The Goldfinch, you'll probably hate it. Same author, slightly shorter book, also strangely compelling (how do I not get bored with her writing, even after HUNDREDS of pages?) There are also hints of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, although this isn't nearly as excruciatingly depressing, none of the characters have such dark past lives, and instead of following four college friends through their lives, it follows them through a year of college and then, briefly, summarizes the years after.
In short, this book is about a group of very unusual college Classics students who successfully execute a murder of someone within their friend group. The why, the how, the aftermath. It's set in liberal-arts "Hampden College," in Vermont, which seems to both have upper-crust students and hippie students. I wasn't 100% sure of the time period it was supposed to be set in? I did love the sly New England references throughout- some real places are mentioned (Brattleboro) but then everything else is only slightly off- there's a real Hampshire College in MA and Hampden is a county in MA, etc. Even the John Vanderfeller that Bunny's family admires is, well, Rockefeller+Vanderbilt.
Within 20 pages I was like, ugh, I hate all of these characters, and I put it down. They're all either super-rich upper-crust or pretending to be super-rich. The narrator is the most 'normal' of the lot because he joins the friend group last and because he's from suburban CA, but he tries as hard as everyone to pretend he's from wealth, becoming a chameleon to fit in.
But then I went camping and didn't have another book to bring and read 200 pages at once. And then I put it down for another month. And then I stayed up until 3 am and 1 am reading it for two consecutive nights in a row. It's a hard book to pick up, and it's a hard book to put down. It's... a lot. And the book manages to put you right on that line between sympathy for the main characters and being appalled that they are doing/have done such a terrible thing. And then, after the murder is accomplished and the manhunt and investigation are over, when you think the tension might go down, you watch as it destroys all of their lives. And you don't feel entirely sorry because they deserved it. ...more
I keep wanting to find that next exceptional book. And here's a book, very highly rated, I was expecting to love. It was okay. I liked it. But I kept I keep wanting to find that next exceptional book. And here's a book, very highly rated, I was expecting to love. It was okay. I liked it. But I kept waiting for some sort of plot to begin. I suppose I shouldn't have. Here's the plot: a man's wife dies, he moves with his aunt and two young daughters to Newfoundland. The end. I mean, vague other things happen. It was like "a portrait of life in Newfoundland," which seemed pretty grim and unappealing. I still don't understand why the aunt brought them back- why she wanted to go back, why she brought her nephew and his kids. Oh well. I forgot I also read "Accordion Crimes" by Proulx years ago, and it was one of the more tedious things I've read. This wasn't tedious. It was fine, and I'm sure she did a ton of research on speech patterns and boats and knots etc. but I really don't understand why it won the Pulitzer AND the National Book Award in 1994??...more
Meh. I really don't understand why Marilynne Robinson needed to rewrite the entirety of her other book, Gilead, from another point of view. It's the eMeh. I really don't understand why Marilynne Robinson needed to rewrite the entirety of her other book, Gilead, from another point of view. It's the exact same events and the exact same plot with a few different scenes thrown in (because point of view). WHY? Gilead was already tedious enough for me with all of its religious arguments... I don't know what the point of this book was, and the ending was also like, what?? Oh well, it's over now....more
This was not the book to be reading as a pandemic hit. It's like creepy haunted house story that just keeps dragging on... and on... and on. I also coThis was not the book to be reading as a pandemic hit. It's like creepy haunted house story that just keeps dragging on... and on... and on. I also could not possibly believe that the doctor was actually attracted to Caroline. ...more
This was a strange book. I was reading it in the car on a trip and it was so odd that I had to read a fair amount out loud to my boyfriend. It occupieThis was a strange book. I was reading it in the car on a trip and it was so odd that I had to read a fair amount out loud to my boyfriend. It occupies a strange place between satire and fiction- I think I would have enjoyed it more if the satire was sharper. Instead, the main character does things like work on a pirate ship. The book also seemed like a bunch of short stories connected together- didn't quite coalesce? Also seemed like something I would have written in creative writing class. It wasn't quite what I was expecting/hoping....more
As you would expect from a novel written by a poet, the language itself was gorgeous. But as others have said, it fell apart a bit in the end. I underAs you would expect from a novel written by a poet, the language itself was gorgeous. But as others have said, it fell apart a bit in the end. I understand that it was supposed to be fragmented- the whole thing is told out of order- because the experience of the narrator's immigrant family escaping from war-torn Vietnam and setting up a ragged life in Hartford is difficult, and fragmented. But I wish it had been fragmented in a more... purposeful way? And the thing I'm still chewing on is: why is this a novel? It makes sure to say it is one right on the front cover, because otherwise I think anyone would mistake it for a memoir. It might be a *better* memoir, because we don't expect memoirs to read like novels. I've read that this is 'semi-autobiographical,' and it leaves me wondering what the author made up, and why? Ocean Vuong has been (rightly) lauded in creative writing circles, but I suppose time will tell whether this was his story and whether he can make up others as compelling (or, I suppose, go back to poetry.) ...more
I found this book to be fairly boring. It was well-written, but I'm not a big fan of slow drawn-out family dramas. Read this one if you liked Gilead bI found this book to be fairly boring. It was well-written, but I'm not a big fan of slow drawn-out family dramas. Read this one if you liked Gilead by Marilynne Robinson....more
The writing in this book was absolutely stunning magical realism, but it was also extremely gross and disgusting. I would not recommend reading while The writing in this book was absolutely stunning magical realism, but it was also extremely gross and disgusting. I would not recommend reading while eating. It turned my stomach a few times. And, I dunno, so well-written but what was the *point* of any of the stories? Gross things happen & then they're over. Ugh, another case of my not liking short stories. Glad this is done with. I kept looking forward to see how soon each of the stories would be over. Also. In the last story the narrator just casually mentions how, in the throes of grief, she pulled her fingernails out to the root. OK. I knew a guy who had a few fingernails torn out to their pointy roots. He had to have them SURGICALLY REATTACHED because you can't just grow new fingernails when they come all of the way out like that. This girl was not going to be able to pull her own fingernails out. Also. Kissing after vomiting? ugh gross. ...more
A novel that moves back in time through through 1940s England and is mostly about a group of queer women and related others. Fantastic. The texture ofA novel that moves back in time through through 1940s England and is mostly about a group of queer women and related others. Fantastic. The texture of the book was incredible- I felt like I was in that time period, and WWII in London was so much grimmer a backdrop than the setting of most post-apocalyptic novels. I loved how, as you traveled back in time, you ended up putting the whole story together and things you read earlier took on new or different meaning than you thought at first time. By the end, you have the whole story and a complete understanding. This is the way to do a backwards story! It did mean the beginning was a bit slow and opaque, but I might actually reread the first section again....more
