It had its moments of humor, but mostly I found the tone a little dated. In the first half, I appreciated Lary as a foil to Redmond and missed his difIt had its moments of humor, but mostly I found the tone a little dated. In the first half, I appreciated Lary as a foil to Redmond and missed his different perspective, even though it wasn't completely different from Redmond's. This is a man's story about man, with men's thoughts and ideas. That's okay, I suppose, but not my thing. Even the humor was mainly sex or poop related.
I did learn some fascinating things from the moments that focused on animals and plants....more
Especially interesting reading after the COVID-19 pandemic (this was written before). I like the interplay of art/creative expression with pure survivEspecially interesting reading after the COVID-19 pandemic (this was written before). I like the interplay of art/creative expression with pure survival and defense. I also like the variety of characters and the jumps back and forth in time (pre- and post- Georgia flu in each of their lives). The weaving is masterful and the characters are fun to follow and root for if not always fully rounded.
The plot is relatively fast-paced and not perfect - there are a few forced moments where you can see the author putting together a few pieces that don't quite fit.
There are many low-stakes mysteries throughout and all these threads are neatly tied up by the end, but ultimately the ending is open-ended and hopeful. A good choice....more
This was a wonderful reading experience and left me with so much to think about. Honestly, I was expecting trite and lots of healing platitudes, so I This was a wonderful reading experience and left me with so much to think about. Honestly, I was expecting trite and lots of healing platitudes, so I was thrilled and refreshed by Suleika's honesty and specificity about her experience.
Some quotes and ideas rattling around in my head from this:
Being a naive young romantic and feeling incomplete without a partner, always searching and forcing it when you could be seeing what comes.
Our broken medical system and the privilege of even having access to complex care. Even with good access, Suleika goes unheard and undiagnosed for years, and isn't told everything that she should be, like the impact of cancer treatment on fertility.
The ways that limitations (like sickness) spark creativity.
The bifurcation of the self in the face of sickness or another life-altering shift.
And some quotes:
"Healing is figuring out how to coexist with the pain that will always live inside of you, without pretending it isn't there or allowing it to hijack your day. It is learning to confront ghosts and to carry what lingers."
"I've put so much pressure on myself to be either fully in or fully out. I've been so caught up in assessing the risks and armoring myself against them that it hasn't occurred to me that there is a third way: to let things grow and change and evolve, to uncover who we are and what we want along the way -- to live in that middle terrain."...more
This was just the right length (short) and I love that the author set this in a (nearly) post-human world, without telling us how or why the world gotThis was just the right length (short) and I love that the author set this in a (nearly) post-human world, without telling us how or why the world got that way. There's no preaching, so gnashing of teeth. And there doesn't need to be because as a reader I know how all too real this future feels.
Most of the book is calm, careful description of survival tasks (felling the right tree, shaping a bow, hunting a deer, smoking fish, tanning a hide, sewing shoes, building fire, and many more). We see it all when the girl is learning from her dad and it's packed with feeling because of their relationship. Then we see it all again when it's just the girl but it's all packed with emotion because we know what she had, and lost. I didn't mind the bear, and the puma - is it a dream or delusion of grief? I chose to suspend disbelief because my heart didn't want the girl to be alone.
I read The Vaster Wilds last year which echoes The Bear in theme (girl doing survival tasks) and place, though it's set in a completely different time. The books both start to culminate in a similar way - we suddenly find our girl an old woman, having lived a solitary life. But The Vaster Wilds makes meaning of this fate by questioning it, retracting it. The Bear makes meaning of this fate by letting it stand and closing the loop with the bear. I'm not sure either is perfect - one feels like it tries to hard to wring philosophy out of the story, and the other is too feel-good, too simple. But I like the comparison....more
The book opens with several epigraphs and the one that speaks to the story most is from Annie Dillard: "The sea pronounces something, over and over, iThe book opens with several epigraphs and the one that speaks to the story most is from Annie Dillard: "The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out."
At the surface, this is the story of Declan O'Donnell. He sets out from Oregon on a boat, alone, planning to head west forever. He's escaping to silence, to the ocean he loves, to be away from the mess and noise of land and people. As he goes, though, he gathers other people who are lost, alone, often silenced.
Silence is a theme - silence as a prison (Pippa especially) and silence as protection. Hearing is also a theme, including hearing souls and hearing animals.
And speech/language is a theme too - everything has a language of its own whether people can hear it or not. Pippa, while silent, can hear the souls of the creatures around her, and can send her soul out to them, even deep in the ocean below. The ocean has a voice, the boat too. And there's attention paid to the different names things and people have in these different languages. Even one character's long beard speaks a language through objects woven into it.
I was especially struck by this line: "We are verbs in noun packages." And also by the idea that the problem with civilization is that when people can do anything, they do nothing.
While the themes feel rich and are frequently invoked and manipulated, I didn't find a whole lot of meaning to make from them. Perhaps it wasn't the right timing for me to read this, but the ideas of silence, hearing, language, friendship felt like laundry tumbling in a dryer. When the cycle ends, everything is in a specific position, sure. But there's no meaning behind it. There's no point to examining it as a whole. The ocean is a jumble too - but the ocean has currents, tides, patterns of movement that lead somewhere.
Below the straightforward story level, this book was more laundry than ocean - I could spot a really beautiful blouse or a favorite sock here and there in the mix, but it's a bit random and unmoored. This made the moments of magical realism (animals speaking, Pippa's recovery) feel zany and unjustified....more
There are an awful lot of caricatures of women here. There's beautiful and perfectly good (Gemma) and there's beautiful and perfectly evil (Maria) andThere are an awful lot of caricatures of women here. There's beautiful and perfectly good (Gemma) and there's beautiful and perfectly evil (Maria) and no one less than perfect or beautiful to be found. No one of importance, anyway.
Our main character Dmitri is a pawn to his impulses all throughout the story, and gets his comeuppance. The story moves along briskly and is interesting enough. But did the women have to be so flat? Did we have to compare Maria to a wild animal?
In part, it's the times - this was published in 1872. (But so was George Eliot's Middlemarch, so my expectations for women characters aren't outrageous.) Gemma can't be good without being shackled by society, and she does manage to find a good life (or at least, so we're told). And Maria can't be free without being evil. She finds a way to own her life and make her own choices, ahead of her time. The sense seems to be that she's an evil witch. But maybe the men around her are just stupid....more
I expected to like this, and get more out of this, than I did.
It's a travel memoir, with the insight of contemporaneous journals and the hindsight ofI expected to like this, and get more out of this, than I did.
It's a travel memoir, with the insight of contemporaneous journals and the hindsight of being written 30+ years after the journey. And it's about walking across Europe, exploring culture and landscape. And Fermor walks across Germany in the early days of the Nazi party's rise, before a war was quite on anyone's mind. Recipe for greatness, right?
But it feels a bit... shallow. The focus is more on turns of phrase than anything else. The descriptions of people and places are often beautiful, sometimes memorable, but always glossy or just a little too self-aware.
The experience itself, it's emotional resonance or insights fall to the side. Young Fermor in the 1930s flits from place to place, gathering facts, foreign words and friends. Fine, that's true to such youthful travel. But even older Fermor in the 1970s spends more time being pleased with himself, or updating us on people and places than anything else. There could have been so much more here.
Towards the end (literally the last 20 pages or so), Fermor starts to give us long sections of his youthful journal and then reflects on them. There did start to be a little more in this method to sink my teeth into. I'm hopeful that style continues in the second volume (should I ever decide to give it a go)....more
Not my usual fare (it's for kids!) but this was very fun and full of smart-kid-friendly insights and connections. Haroun's mission as our hero is bothNot my usual fare (it's for kids!) but this was very fun and full of smart-kid-friendly insights and connections. Haroun's mission as our hero is both personal and universal, and there are clever ties in his journey to the importance of reading/storytelling and environmentalism. There's also word-play, magic, a bit of mystery (what's real? what's a dream?), and quite a lot of humor....more
I was most interested in the very overt focus on dual identities in this novel - this theme is the steady drumbeat. Our main characters are Deming/DanI was most interested in the very overt focus on dual identities in this novel - this theme is the steady drumbeat. Our main characters are Deming/Daniel and Polly/Peilan, a son and mother who spend the novel trying to find each other, but also, really, trying to find themselves. Each sees themself as two people, or as an unclear self with two facade-versions out there in the world. I was intrigued by how Ko weaves the formation of these dual identities. Sometimes a new name or language or activity is by force, sometimes by choice. And it gets messy.
The motives of Deming's adoptive parents (Peter and Kay) are similarly messy. They are not well-rounded characters, but I didn't miss them since Deming and Polly are so well done and the clear focus. Peter and Kay are mostly foils to show versions of racism, both subtle and overt. Particularly the hazards of the melting pot theory (stripped of the violence involved in melting someone into a family or culture) and the racism of some ways we strive for diversity (saving kids from "bad" parents /lifestyles, tokenizing, colorblindness, intentions over outcomes).
It's not a super well-written book - even with a great story, two great characters, and interesting, timely themes. Dialogue is mostly stilted and there is zero subtlety here. Also, while I'm all for political commentary in fiction, Ko sometimes uses it like a crutch, letting the politics guide the story and its telling more than the characters and their motives....more
It's a book about the journey (not the destination), but really we're journeying as much through the narrator's head as anywhere else. This is not a wIt's a book about the journey (not the destination), but really we're journeying as much through the narrator's head as anywhere else. This is not a walking tour with digressions, it's digressions with a bit of a walking tour. Our narrator rambles and wanders in his mind even more than he does in space.
The book is about memory and loss of memory - and was an exercise in fading memory to read as I frequently lost the thread of the "now" of the novel, as I was supposed to.
An even more important theme was decay. The rings of Saturn themselves are beautiful planetary rubble, of course. And throughout the book we see decay and destruction - bodies, cultures, nature, objects, political and social movements. These things are stand-ins for the soul/culture decay of Germany during the Holocaust that Sebald is wrestling with and trying to come to terms with or get past. Never is the parallel more clear than the description of killing silk moths in their cocoons: "... when a batch is done, it is the next one's turn, and so on until the entire killing business is completed."
I was struck by the pride of place Thomas Browne has in the book. He's basically bookends - featured heavily at the start (Sebald recalls seeking out his skull) and mentioned frequently in the last few chapters. Browne was a depressed guy but he's also known for his wit, curiosity about nature, and belief that there is something unbreakable (un-decay-able) inside of people. Meanwhile Sebald sees the inevitability of decay (including evil - soul decay) all around him. I read this book as his effort to reach for and take hold of what Browne believed....more
This was a pretty haunting reading experience. Much is withheld and slowly revealed throughout the book through flashbacks. Not my favorite structure,This was a pretty haunting reading experience. Much is withheld and slowly revealed throughout the book through flashbacks. Not my favorite structure, but there are good character-driven reasons for the hidden information so it didn't bother me too much. Plus the reveals are fairly predictable and the plot clips along. There's some disbelief to suspend - but the decision to place the novel in a very near possible future where climate change is running its course helps.
I love how McConaghy plays symbolically with birds and their life stages (migration, especially) in her portrayal of Franny's life and motivations. The symbols are quite overt, but also chewed on, played with, and altered in ways that leave room for interpretation.
Franny is a wonderful, full character and I was endlessly intrigued by her. I was both sympathetic and baffled by Niall's obsession with her, and loved getting a better sense of him through the rare moments when he and Franny are in perfect harmony together.
The secondary characters - mainly the fishing boat crew - could have been better as individuals, but were great as a group to convey the camaraderie and deep trust that forms among people who face life and death together regularly.
I'm also not sure the epilogue should be there - a small thing....more
I had high hopes for this, but the whole time I read, I just kept thinking about My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. And how this pales in comparisI had high hopes for this, but the whole time I read, I just kept thinking about My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. And how this pales in comparison.
Both are stories of friendship - one in Italy, one in France. Both feature a narrator who is a follower of sorts, star-struck by the unique and belligerent brilliance of their friend. Both narrators are bent and folded to their friend's will, and neither ever gets over the experience.
But The Book of Goose lacks believability. The plot points don't ring true, but I could get over that. Really, the characters don't ring true. Fabienne hoodwinks the world (but not her town) and her motivations are almost completely hidden from us. Agnes is a clueless follower who wants to please her friend above all. But she can suddenly write for herself when push comes to shove with the book publisher.
The whole story felt forced -- it's like a morality play, intended to fit the author's admittedly-interesting ideas about life (see below). I prefer the opposite, where a story creates illuminating ideas.
Some quotes I liked:
"Between facts and memories I always trust the latter. Why? Because facts do not make myths."
"It does not take much to skip from life into death. From life to life, that is a long way."
Part dystopian adventure, part satire, part philosophical treatise. Our hero travels the an uninhabited countryside, winding up in Erewhon (Nowhere). Part dystopian adventure, part satire, part philosophical treatise. Our hero travels the an uninhabited countryside, winding up in Erewhon (Nowhere). The key feature of Erewhon is that health issues, aging and ugliness are treated as criminal whereas moral failings/crimes are treated as illnesses to be pitied. If you have a headache, you hide it. If you have heart problems, you'll end up in prison. Meanwhile, if you embezzle money or have a dalliance with your neighbor's spouse, you see a "straightener" who might prescribe a boring diet and an occasional flogging.
The first half of the book focuses on our hero discovering and coming to understand this strange way of living. The second half gives over to philosophy in the eyes of Erewhonian thinkers (on eating animals, eating vegetables, reason and unreason, justice, the nature of time, the consciousness of machines) and bogged me down a bit.
Definitely thought-provoking!
A few quotes:
But who can say that the vapour engine has not a kind of consciousness? Where does consciousness begin, and where end? Who can draw the line? Who can draw any line? Is not everything interwoven with everything? Is not machinery linked with animal life in an infinite variety of ways?
Even a potato in a dark cellar has a certain low cunning about him which serves him in excellent stead. He knows perfectly well what he wants and how to get it. He sees the light coming from the cellar window and sends his shoots crawling straight thereto.
The writer went on to say that he anticipated a time when it would be possible, by examining a single hair with a powerful microscope, to know whether its owner could be insulted with impunity.
we cannot calculate on any corresponding advance in man’s intellectual or physical powers which shall be a set-off against the far greater development which seems in store for the machines. Some people may say that man’s moral influence will suffice to rule them; but I cannot think it will ever be safe to repose much trust in the moral sense of any machine.
Men will only do their utmost when they feel certain that the future will discover itself against them if their utmost has not been done....more
Not my usual reading fare, but it was short and led to a good book-club discussion. I enjoyed reading about Patrick and Justin's friendship, which reaNot my usual reading fare, but it was short and led to a good book-club discussion. I enjoyed reading about Patrick and Justin's friendship, which really is a beautiful one. I also enjoyed their journey and the ways it impacted them. The body aches and pains, and the subtle shifts in thinking and values over the course of the journey reminded me quite a bit of my Appalachian Trail thru-hike experience.
The Christian focus didn't really interest me, and got heavier as the book went on. I also was irritated by the framing of their adolescent interest in the female body as terrible, destructive porn addiction. Not that I don't think one can be addicted to porn, but what they were describing wasn't addiction.
Finally, Patrick and Justin just aren't really writers and everything felt a little clunky and melodramatic. I bet their speaking gigs are more succinct and effective....more
This was fun, funny and surprisingly honest and tender in how it's told.
So much so that I dared to expect a hopeful yet realistic ending. Alas, we geThis was fun, funny and surprisingly honest and tender in how it's told.
So much so that I dared to expect a hopeful yet realistic ending. Alas, we get an unrealistic, feel-good one. The last dozen or so pages took this from "author probably wants this to be a movie" to "author tacked this on to make sure this will be a movie."...more
Really excellent fantasy novel and I'm excited to read the others in the trilogy. It has those elements that fantasy usually does (inventive, with-holReally excellent fantasy novel and I'm excited to read the others in the trilogy. It has those elements that fantasy usually does (inventive, with-holding, meticulously controlled) and a lot of world-building work went into this. But it was pretty easy to understand and get the hang of the culture and vocabulary. I didn't feel the need to read the glossary until the end, and when I did read it I was happily surprised to find I'd really soaked up the meanings of every term as I read the story.
I also found the integration of gender and race here so refreshing compared to many highly-regarded fantasy series'. So often the gender roles and politics in these books feel like the middle ages and the women are at least partially there just for romance reasons. Race is often completely ignored. Neither is true here. Our protagonist is a woman with great skills on a mission, her focus is never on romance, and women and men have relatively equal roles (leadership, warriors, etc.) in society. Relations between the races and the perceived beauty (or lack thereof) of certain racially-coded features are a frequent topic. There's a lot under the surface here, but Jemisin includes different skin tones and hair textures and doesn't pretend those things don't have political and social meanings....more
This was just okay. It covers similar territory (VERY similar in the second half) to The Grapes of Wrath, but from the perspective of women.
The firstThis was just okay. It covers similar territory (VERY similar in the second half) to The Grapes of Wrath, but from the perspective of women.
The first half is better - very visual, clear relationships between characters, and a focus on characterization and where motives come from.
The second half lacks that careful writing and characterization. Plus the ending is overwrought, almost to the point of melodrama. Her characters get both too lucky and too unlucky. It felt like she wanted them to experience all aspects of this fascinating history that she was learning about, but that's not really how life works. It felt off that her characters were active players in every important moment and nuance....more
This is a very character-driven narrative, told entirely in the unpolished voice of Lorelei Lee (colloquialisms, misspellings, malaprops, bad grammar,This is a very character-driven narrative, told entirely in the unpolished voice of Lorelei Lee (colloquialisms, misspellings, malaprops, bad grammar, etc). Loos does a great job of walking the line between taking Lorelei too seriously and making her a complete joke. As a reader, I could laugh and shake my head, but also empathize with Lorelei.
I also really appreciated Dorothy and her willingness to say what she thinks, social conventions be damned. Lorelei's reactions to things Dorothy says are some of the best parts. Like this bit:
“So when I got through telling Dorothy what I thought up, Dorothy looked at me and looked at me and she really said she thought my brains were a miracle. I mean she said my brains reminded her of a radio because you listen to it for days and days and you get discouradged and just when you are getting ready to smash it, something comes out that is a masterpiece.”
Still, I didn't really love this reading experience. Partially times have changed, but the joke of it also got a bit old after a while, and the final chapter felt rushed and like desperation to bring things to a close.
Side note: In her intro, Jenny McPhee writes: "And though I appreciated Holden Caulfield’s rants against phoniness, he didn’t have a clue what a girl was up against." I couldn't agree more. I'm also glad that there's more than a few novels these days with realistic, fully-fleshed out female characters contending with the world....more
Overall, I liked this. Some parts are fascinating while other parts drag. Most characters are interesting but others are filler. None of this is surprOverall, I liked this. Some parts are fascinating while other parts drag. Most characters are interesting but others are filler. None of this is surprising for a book that is meant to read like a detailed biography. There is pretty thorough play-by-play of Martin Arrowsmith's formative years.
In the end, the book is a little wishy-washy in its message against pursuit of corporate and social success. But this was written in 1925, so that makes sense. There's something about achieving said success and then rejecting it being depicted as noble that doesn't resonate anymore. It's not an indictment of the American Dream. Instead, the novel verifies the American Dream but questions the morals of some of those who aim for it (or didn't have to). ...more
I liked this slightly better than Around the World in Eighty Days. Both books are a bit heavy on minutiae and light on characterization, but the fantaI liked this slightly better than Around the World in Eighty Days. Both books are a bit heavy on minutiae and light on characterization, but the fantastical nature of this one made Verne's style more enjoyable. ...more
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