Epic. Brilliant. While making my way through this story, it was all I wanted to do in life.
I listened to the audio, but also picked up a hardcopy bookEpic. Brilliant. While making my way through this story, it was all I wanted to do in life.
I listened to the audio, but also picked up a hardcopy book at the library to check names, spellings, and read the appendices in the back of the book. The glossary in this edition was very helpful in keeping all of the mythology and worldbuilding straight. . . ETA on 2nd reading (9/5/2020): Still struck with the overall story. I understood a lot more this time around - no doubt since I've continued reading the series since initial reading in 2018. Looking forward to Villaneuve's film even moreso now. I was able to picture many of the actors as the characters while re-reading....more
Another Goodreads review of this book said something like Murakami is a replacement for the dreams I didn't even know I had. These words rang true forAnother Goodreads review of this book said something like Murakami is a replacement for the dreams I didn't even know I had. These words rang true for me.
This was my first full-length Murakami (I've read only essays and short stories) and Kafka on the Shore was what I needed to make the dive right in.
I listened the the audiobook version of this masterful story, which was so well done. The reader for Kafka and Oshawa, Oliver La Suer, had the *perfect* voice for these characters. I loved the long conversations between these two about philosophy, love, and art within the walls of the Kamura Library. Nakata's passages were so simple and beautiful, and I especially loved the conversations with the cats.
One of the best - and oddest - books I've ever read....more
For when you want to get stabbed in the heart and laugh at the same time. But... in a good way.
I used a receipt as a book mark, and for each little qFor when you want to get stabbed in the heart and laugh at the same time. But... in a good way.
I used a receipt as a book mark, and for each little quote - each passage that made me pause, or laugh, or just think - I tore a sliver off the receipt to come back and read - and to copy here in my GR updates so I could keep them for the future. By the end, my bookmark was a sliver itself.
The first two books of this series were probably the best works of fiction I have read in the last decade, so needless to say, the stakes were pretty The first two books of this series were probably the best works of fiction I have read in the last decade, so needless to say, the stakes were pretty high for this 3rd book of the MaddAddam trilogy.
Highlights: -Really liked Zeb and Adam's back story. This was my favorite part of the book. -Blackbeard the Craker -The "humanity" of the pigoons
Lowlights: -Ummm... how/why did Toby turn from this amazingly strong woman to a lovesick teenager? -Other than Zeb, Toby, and Blackbeard (and a small part of action from Snowman-the-Jimmy), all of the other characters were just props. They did very little in this book (minor spoiler: other than get pregnant and fight)
In the end, this book itself probably is more a 3-star rating, but since I love Atwood and this series so much, I bumped it up.
A Hello Kitty lunchbox washes up on a backwater beach in British Columbia - inside, a handwritten diary in Japanese, an old watch, and another handwriA Hello Kitty lunchbox washes up on a backwater beach in British Columbia - inside, a handwritten diary in Japanese, an old watch, and another handwritten diary in French. On one of her beach walks, Ruth (Ozeki places herself firmly in this story) finds the box, and brings it home intending to throw it out. Her curious artist-cum-scientist husband opens the box and the story unfolds... The Japanese diary belonged to Nao, a Japanese teenager.
Nao's story is framed as a biography of her great grandmother, an anarchist-feminist who later became a Zen Buddhist nun. Nao's own life story is interspersed - her relationship with her father, the heartbreaking incidents of bullying at school, and later, how she stays with her great grandmother for a summer in the monastery.
As a side note, I really like the way Ozeki worked in an epistolary style into this novel with the various diaries - and the character of Ruth pondered the writings, just as the reader does, along with her.
The themes in this book are heavy: suicide and existence, Zen, sexual abuse and assault, quantum physics and space-time continuum, agency of the writer/reader... but even with these themes, the book remains hopeful, and has mystical elements. It will make you smile, and may make you cry, and most assuredly, it will make you think. Highly recommended.
Profoundly brilliant. Had I not read this directly after reading Oryx and Crake, I would have missed so many things - little nuances, passing commentsProfoundly brilliant. Had I not read this directly after reading Oryx and Crake, I would have missed so many things - little nuances, passing comments made by the characters... it just enriched the earlier story and brought so much depth, context, and elegance. Like looking at the Rubin's vase optical illusion and only seeing it one way for so long, and then someone points out the other image right before your eyes. Of course, it was Ms. Atwood herself who constructed the image and slowly sheds light on it with each chapter in her books - alas, I think she has one (possibly two!) more story to tell here.
Year of the Flood has two narrators - both survivors of an apocalyptic event (a "waterless flood"), and both linked from their associations with "God's Gardeners", a religious sect. The two women are of different generations but share the foundations of the Gardeners' beliefs long after they have left the group's compound. The story moves back and forth in time (before and after "The Flood"), describing the lives of the women as they move about, and how they eventually come back together after "The Flood" mentioned in the title of the book.
Atwood's creation of the "Gardeners" is so fascinating - she has gathered the cult's doctrine and principles from 19th-century transcendentalism, Jain and Hindu philosophies, post-modern environmental thought, the zeal of 1970's "born-again" Christianity with a tad of Hare Krishna devotion, the apocalyptic asceticism of the Essenes, as well as the homesteading, return-to-the-land movement of post-Industrial North America. The hierarchy is based around a group of senior leaders, called the Adams and Eves. "Adam One" is the group's leader and "pastor" of sorts, because he teaches the group and is featured in several chapters in the book with some of his sermons, followed by songs that are sung by the Gardeners. (The audiobook version had all of the composed songs with accompaniment, and the songs are also available on Atwood's website.) The group canonizes scientists like Dian Fossey and Jacques Cousteau, and has feast days for St. Rachel Carson and so many other well-known luminaries in the fields of ecology, zoology, and life sciences. They also celebrate days like "Mole Day" and "Predator Day", noting the importance of food chain, the smallest creatures and their contributions, etc.
I will admit, there were a few times that I just had to take a pause, Atwood "blew my mind" more than once.
One of the most profoundly moving books I have read in years - the only other one that comes to mind of this magnitude was As a Driven Leaf by Milton One of the most profoundly moving books I have read in years - the only other one that comes to mind of this magnitude was As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg (yet, it was historical fiction, not sci-fi). This book was so well done; my first foray in to anything resembling science fiction, and it was so worth it. I am definitely glad I stuck with it - I usually give a book 50 pages, and it was around that time when I finally began to understand what was happening. I was impatient for the story to get moving, and once it did, I couldn't put it down... when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it.
This book was so unique in the way that it was told in two dimensions and time periods - but I found both of them utterly compelling. This book left me in a contemplative mood, thinking much about the events in the book and how they led to the end result. It is not the perfect novel, no - I wanted more development in the characters and more rationale as to what was actually happening on Rakhat... but in the end, it is okay that I didn't get those answers. Some things seemed a little rushed or struck me as a huge surprise (not a good surprise, either) but this book gets 5 stars because it made me *feel* so deeply. It brought those emotions through type on a page. That is a work of art.
I am very much looking forward to the sequel... I already placed it on hold at the library. ...and now I am wondering if there is possibly other SF that I turned aside that would have this same effect. Suggestions, anyone? ...more
Once this one got rolling, I really couldn't stop thinking about it. Very engaging story that slips back and forth in time, describing a post-apocalypOnce this one got rolling, I really couldn't stop thinking about it. Very engaging story that slips back and forth in time, describing a post-apocalyptic world and how it got that way. Cloistered childhood friends with brilliant minds, with a penchant for violence and pornography, growing up in a compound where everything is genetically modified and very few things are "real" and unaltered.
I wanted to read this book first, as I heard that Atwood's newest book, The Year of the Flood, is a sort of companion piece to this one. All the more intrigued to hear that side of the story.
Fascinating and disturbing, but worth every minute. It was an amazing book. ...more
I read this book for a course in college, and it spoke volumes to me. An amazing historical account of the rabbinic age during Roman occupation. I havI read this book for a course in college, and it spoke volumes to me. An amazing historical account of the rabbinic age during Roman occupation. I have only read it once, but I remember it so fondly. Profound emotions and I have thought about it for years... ...more
I read this in my freshmen year of high school and I remember that no one else in my class liked it. I couldn't believe it, because I loved it! My teaI read this in my freshmen year of high school and I remember that no one else in my class liked it. I couldn't believe it, because I loved it! My teacher told me after class that she was really glad I enjoyed it because it was also one of her favorite books. ...more
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