This is part fantasy and part fairy tale. Mara is a princess, but an inept one. She fails at learning the subtelties of court politics and diplomacy, This is part fantasy and part fairy tale. Mara is a princess, but an inept one. She fails at learning the subtelties of court politics and diplomacy, and ends up in a convent. The story alternates between past and present, and starts when Mara is on some fairy tale quest, the goal of which we will discover little by little, at the same time as we discover what happened to her and most of all what happened to her sisters.
Mara is a very interesting and endearing character, who fights to be an actor in her life story rather than being passive as everybody is urging her, actively or not, to be. This will lead her to engage on this heroic quest and meeting a very interesting cast of characters. The books start somewhat dark but quickly lightens up. Though Mara and her friends face dangers and have to witness the darkness of human soul, the novel is uplifting on the whole.
The cast of characters and Mara's determination and ironic humour make a very pleasant novel. I have other books by T. Kingfisher in my wishlist and will certainly get to them at some point....more
This is an alternate history book set in the 19th century Oxford university. In this alternate world, words have power and translators can make somethThis is an alternate history book set in the 19th century Oxford university. In this alternate world, words have power and translators can make something similar to magic by exploiting the differences between a word and its translation. The British empire uses the translators at Oxford to maintain and extend its power. We follow a group of four young translator students, who are discriminated because they are not white and/or not males. They were brought to Oxford because their skills in languages from faraway places are needed for the translation institute, but they are made to feel like they don't really belong. Little by little, they will start to question the whole system of dominations on which the British Empire was built.
I thought the magic system was really interesting and it was IMO the high point of this book. The daily discrimination and the fact that well-meaning people could be oblivious to it was also really interesting to me. However, the book was a bit spoilt for me by its last part, in which I thought the students were behaving in a completely unbelievable way....more
I was apprehensive about because I had not liked the only other novel-length book in the series as much as the other. Fortunately this turned out to bI was apprehensive about because I had not liked the only other novel-length book in the series as much as the other. Fortunately this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed watching the Murderbot character continue evolving in new ways.
I think there are at least two more books in the series to come and I'll look forward to them!...more
À Ciudad Juárez, au Mexique, juste à côté de la frontière et en face de la ville d'El Paso, il y a une décharge. Trois femmes évoluent plus ou moins pÀ Ciudad Juárez, au Mexique, juste à côté de la frontière et en face de la ville d'El Paso, il y a une décharge. Trois femmes évoluent plus ou moins près de cette décharge, avec des vies plus ou moins faciles et des façons de voir le monde très différentes.
Le livre se lit vite mais je l'ai trouvé un peu poussif jusqu'au dernier tiers ou les histoires des trois femmes commencent à se toucher, et là je l'ai dévoré pour savoir comment ça se termine....more
Ce roman court prend la forme d'une longue lettre que Ramatoulaye, une femme sénégalaise, écrit à son amie Aïsstou pendant qu'elle est confinée suite Ce roman court prend la forme d'une longue lettre que Ramatoulaye, une femme sénégalaise, écrit à son amie Aïsstou pendant qu'elle est confinée suite à son récent veuvage. Les deux femmes ont été étudiantes pendant la période entre la deuxième guerre mondiale et l'indépendance, à une époque où la société changeait et où les gens étaient pleins d'espoirs pour l'avenir. Les deux femmes ont fait des études et sont devenues institrices, ce qui si je comprends bien était un gros changement par rapport aux générations précédentes. Cependant, leurs deux époux ont choisi de prendre une deuxième épouse, conformément à l'ancienne loi musulmane.
Ce livre, extrêmement bien écrit, est une réflexion sur la condition des femmes et l'amour, pour son partenaire ou pour ses enfants. ...more
A YA book about a young American-Samoan girl raised in the USA who comes to Samoa after her father's death to learn more about her family and discoverA YA book about a young American-Samoan girl raised in the USA who comes to Samoa after her father's death to learn more about her family and discovers she has supernatural powers. The heroine is a teenager, so it's not shocking that she misinterprets and overreacts to what people around her are doing, but I found there were a few too many contradictions and arbitrary decisions.
I also found certain scenes had a high yikes factor for me in terms of consent, most notably a scene where a 25-year-old man touches and kisses her (she's 18) after she's told him she just wants to be friends.
This didn't quite work out for me. This is a fantasy book taking place during the war in Vietnam. Kitty is a young American nurse and the first part, wThis didn't quite work out for me. This is a fantasy book taking place during the war in Vietnam. Kitty is a young American nurse and the first part, which could almost be a non fantasy novel, describes her work in the hospital, the patients, both American soldiers and friendly vietnamese (i.e., not vietcongs) patients, and her relationships with other people. I thought that first part well written and quite engaging. The second part however seemed to me to be going every which way. The fantasy elements, which had been toned down almost to inexistence in the first part, suddenly took a huge part in a way that was hard to belive (if I can say that about fantasy elements), and the plot advanced with a succession of twists that felt artificial to me. I realised I didn't care much what happened to Kitty (though the last 10 pages were again engaging and well written)....more
As far as I understand K. Limakatso Kendall was an American who got a scholarship to go and work at the National Lesotho University. During this time As far as I understand K. Limakatso Kendall was an American who got a scholarship to go and work at the National Lesotho University. During this time she organised a workshop to encourage participants to write in English, with a reflection on how "Lesothan English" should have its specificities. Some of the stories include several Sesotho (the language) words, with a glossary provided at the end. This short books collect the very short stories written in this context.
The authors are mostly women and many stories are autobiographical or are true stories which were told to them (the stories by the few male authors belong in this last category). The book was published in 1995 and the authors were mostly telling stories about their youth, and the overall impression I had was that many of these stories took place during the 1960s or not very long after (Lesotho became an independant country in 1966). This was an interesting read and it really was a window into Lesotho's life for me. Unfortunately some of the things described were so unknown to me that I was a bit lost sometimes (for instance I have no idea what a circumcision school for girls is; in the story it seemed to be a school for learning how to do domestic chores and no mutilation was mentioned)....more
J'ai beaucoup apprécié la première partie de ce livre. On suit l'enfant, enfermé entre le père et la mère dans un appartement en béton dans un immeublJ'ai beaucoup apprécié la première partie de ce livre. On suit l'enfant, enfermé entre le père et la mère dans un appartement en béton dans un immeuble de plus de 5000 étages, en béton, tous constitués d'appartements identiques. Le style est très particulier et intéressant. Par contre la deuxième partie qui part plus vers uen fable ne m'a pas plu. Je n'ai pas compris où l'autrice voulait en venir. ...more
The great strength of this book is its worldbuilding, which is very original and immersive. Hurley presents a planet locked in a perpetual war, with cThe great strength of this book is its worldbuilding, which is very original and immersive. Hurley presents a planet locked in a perpetual war, with civilisations taking origins in islma, where all men are sent to the front and the civil population consists almost exclusively of women who fill all roles in society, including boxing fighters and bounty hunters. This world's technology is based on some kind of magic coming from insects, so we have lamps where the glow comes from insects, cars powered by some kind of insect breeding boiler, ...
The weaknesses of the book come first from the fact that we are dropped too abruptly in this world at the beginning and it's hard to understand what's going on. This may be linked to the fact that the story felt a bit awkward to me. For instance the book starts with the memorable sentence "Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert", but it never became very clear to me why she sold her womb, though this plays a part in the plot.
Since this is Hurley's first novel I'm ready to overlook the weaknesses and congratulate the author for managing to write such an immersive book....more
Tsomo naît au Bhoutan. La période n'est pas précisée mais j'imagine que ça doit être pendant la première partie du 20e siècle car le pays est très peuTsomo naît au Bhoutan. La période n'est pas précisée mais j'imagine que ça doit être pendant la première partie du 20e siècle car le pays est très peu développé quand elle est jeune. On suit sa vie de bout en bout, depuis sa naissance dans un village jusqu'à sa mort à peu près au même endroit. Entre les deux, les circonstances vont l'amener à voyager énormément, alors que normalement les femmes n'en ont pas l'occasion. Au travers de ses voyages, dans des conditions difficiles car elle n'a d'autres revenus que ce qu'elle gagne au jour le jour, l'autrice nous montre la condition des femmes au Bhoutan où la femme est globalement considérée comme impure.
Le livre n'est pas extrêmement bien écrit, j'ai trouvé pas mal de lourdeurs ou de passages bizarrement structurés ou écrits, mais il se lit vite et c'est intéressant de découvrir le pays et les coutumes et les traditions religieuses....more
This is a collection of interrelated short stories about a character which is 68% autobiographical and 32% made up, according to the author. Gretchen This is a collection of interrelated short stories about a character which is 68% autobiographical and 32% made up, according to the author. Gretchen is a deeply troubled person. Her sister has very serious mental health issues, her dad dies when she is still relatively young and she doesn't know how to mourn, she suffers abuse and develops self harming behaviour. The stories are told out of order, so we learn about her life little by little, touch by touch, while many things are left barely hinted at. The stories do tend to go more forward than backward in time as the book progresses, though, so that we get an idea of how the character evolves through the years. Though the topic is very difficult, the main character does not seek to attract pity and on the countrary the book is told with some sort of detachment that can veer to dark humour.
I thought this was really well written and I felt deeply moved by Gretchen's character and rooted for her to be able to be well in the end....more
Violet Bulawayo tells us about Zimbabwe and its despotic regime. It is at the same time inspired from Animal Farm (all characters and country inhabitanViolet Bulawayo tells us about Zimbabwe and its despotic regime. It is at the same time inspired from Animal Farm (all characters and country inhabitants and "people" in the whole world are animals) and very original, with a style that alternates between some fairy-tale like redundancies, chapters formed of tweets or snippets of conversations, and a narrative that switches between the life of the regime leaders, the global history of the country, and what happens to a particular citizen and her family.
I knew nothing about Zimbabwe's history and was chilled when learning about the genocide set up by President Mugabe's party, and the amount of terror that his regime instilled. The book's particular style is probably a love-it or hate-it thing, but for me it was a blast, after a little habituation period....more
The second book in the Chalion series started with The cuse of Chalion. We follow Ista, who was a secondary character in the first book. It was a real The second book in the Chalion series started with The cuse of Chalion. We follow Ista, who was a secondary character in the first book. It was a real pleasure to meet again with this world, in which the fantasy element comes from the subtle way in which the gods interact with the world of the living. As for the first book, McMaster Bujold is very good at writing interesting and non-standard characters, making this a very enjoyable read....more
It was an enjoyable read though I have to admit I was a bit disappointed after A psalm for the wild-built. We come back to the same very nice and respIt was an enjoyable read though I have to admit I was a bit disappointed after A psalm for the wild-built. We come back to the same very nice and respectful society as in the first book, and it's really good to get back into it, but I felt it didn't add very much to it. There was something interesting that was barely touched, when Mosscap asks people what they need and some of them answer existential things like "companionship". I would have liked for the book to explore about those unfulfilled needs.
Then ending is very open, which I was both OK and frustrated with. IMO this calls for a third book. I don't know if Chambers has plans to write it....more
This is the first book in a series of three. Cazaril, the main character and former soldier, has been sold as a slave in a galley after a lost battle. This is the first book in a series of three. Cazaril, the main character and former soldier, has been sold as a slave in a galley after a lost battle. He has been severely mistreated. The book begins after he has been freed but is badly scarred, physically and mentally, from this ordeal. He seeks employment in a household he worked in when he was young and becomes attached to the young princess living there. After this his life will follow the events in the kingdom, arising both because of human politics and the will of the gods. I liked that, even though this is fantasy and magic (more precisely, the gods intervening in human business) plays a strong role in the story, this was really a character focused book, with very interesting characters and relationships between them. Cazaril, as a handicapped man both physically and morally, was particularly interesting. An enjoyable and stimulating read (minor gripe though for the choice of the authors for the titles of nobility which do not bring anything IMO and are a pain to understand when they first appear)....more
Des idées très intéresssantes sur le fait qu'infliger des punitions violentes aux enfants est un cyle dans lequel les parents reproduisent les violencDes idées très intéresssantes sur le fait qu'infliger des punitions violentes aux enfants est un cyle dans lequel les parents reproduisent les violences qu'ils ont subies enfants à la fois pour les rendre moins horribles (s'il est sain de battre ses enfants ça leur évite de se confronter au fait qu'ils ont eux-mêmes été victimes de violences) et de manière inconsciente pour les exorciser en les reproduisant. L'autrice affirme aussi que ce cycle de violences prédispose les individus à respecter aveuglément l'autorité et cela participe d'après elle au fait que tant de gens ont "exécuté les ordres" sous le régime nazi.
J'ai trouvé les idées de base et l'intuition de l'autrice très intéressants. Par contre la façon dont elle a l'air de penser démontrer de manière indiscutable son propos au travers de trois analyses de cas m'a vraiment rebuté. En étudiant l'enfance de Hitler notamment, même si elle fait remonter des choses intéressantes sur le déni de ces violences (un biographe par exemple prétend que Hitler mentait quand il affirmait que son père le battait, et que si jamais ça s'était produit il l'avait bien mérité), elle tire elle-même parfois des conclusions qu'elle présente comme des vérités alors que ce ne sont que des intuitions.
Il y a également beaucoup de considérations qui sont tellement vagues qu'elles sont vides de sens telles quelles : "IL ne lui restait donc plus qu'à nier la douleur, autrement dit à se nier lui-même et à s'identifier avec l'agresseur.", "Le père protège la pure âme enfantine des menaces qu'il porte en lui-même, en faisant déporter et exterminer les juirs, afin que la parfaite unité entre le père et le fils puisse enfin être rétablie."...
Enfin pour le cas de Hitler, même si l'argument qu'il aurait subi des violences enfant est certainement intéressant pour expliquer comment il en est arrivé là, il manque une étude de pourquoi les autres enfants battus n'ont pas cherché à exterminer un peuple....more
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