uh, guys...i'm definitely with you and everything...absolutely one of the cool kids, having the popular opinion, agreeing with the mainstream, etc...buh, guys...i'm definitely with you and everything...absolutely one of the cool kids, having the popular opinion, agreeing with the mainstream, etc...but um. just remind me.
why do we not like this book?
the average rating is 3.5. and i totally get it. but for argument's sake, or just for laughs or whatever...explain it to me like i enjoyed it.
as if, for example, this was so funny and weird and magical and emotional.
i will admit that for the first, like, 200 pages, it was an absolute chore to pick up. i dreaded it. i could only make myself do it by sandwiching chapters between chapters of other books i wasn't really enjoying (otherwise there was no way i was returning to it).
matters were made worse by the fact that i was reading an ebook with a tiny font, meaning i had to read 4 normal-sized pages for what counted as 1 page, and by the end my laptop was so overwhelmed it required 10 seconds to turn those pages, and 10 seconds is actually a long time if you think about it in that context, the context being that this book is 637 pages long. so, to me, 2,548 pages.
i now understand sisyphus completely.
but at some point, my feelings did a 180. even when i was reading books i liked, or listening to enjoyable audiobooks, or picking up my most anticipated read of the year, or even - gasp - watching tiktoks...i kind of always low level wanted to be reading this.
it's that good.
it's very one of a kind: three kids die and come back, and there's a death-like figurehead and a magical music teacher and a cursed splinter and a moon woman and a haunting carousel and a child named carousel. there's an unforgettable unrealistic town. there's a series of weird annoying romances. there are twists and laughs and tragedies, and all of them made me actually feel something, which - to those of you who know my whole thing - is not nothing. (see: my cold dark chunk of christmas coal of a heart.)
when i got past the rock-pushing task of the page count and the brain-murdering task of the first third, i had a really good time.
that's not nothing, either.
bottom line: i'm having the fun kind of unpopular opinion again.
4.5
------------------------- tbr review
me at a horror movie: :) me at a haunted house: :) me at a long book: AHHHHHHHHHH
it has one of the best beginnings i've ever read, and it has one of the best endings i've ever read, and all of i need this book injected in my veins.
it has one of the best beginnings i've ever read, and it has one of the best endings i've ever read, and all of the middle parts are pretty damn good too.
its explorations of family, of naming, of the permanently unhealed wound of slavery, of gender and power, and of love are unforgettable.
i hate reviewing books i love at the best of times, and for this one in particular there is just no way i can do it justice.
bottom line: please, for the love of yourself, read it....more
just kidding. that is not a problem i'm looking to solve.
morrison never holds your hand and walks you throughhelp, i can't stop reading toni morrison!
just kidding. that is not a problem i'm looking to solve.
morrison never holds your hand and walks you through it, even though sometimes you (read: i) wish she would.
this finale in the beloved trilogy has so much to say about violence and oppression, but still i somehow wish it said more.
we follow the residents of a town and of a convent as we crawl toward the act of violence that ends the life they know, but i was jarred by the act and how quickly and confusingly it was over. the writing didn't seem like the same standard i've come to know, and the ending was a strange abrupt where are they now while the credits rolled.
the vibes were off.
bottom line: my least favorite toni morrison, and i still liked it.
reading murakami is like a game of russian roulette, except instead of a blank it's a wonderful one of a kind work of brain-expanding magical realism reading murakami is like a game of russian roulette, except instead of a blank it's a wonderful one of a kind work of brain-expanding magical realism and instead of a bullet it's misogyny...more
magical dark academia horror about scary girls...it felt fated that i would like this book.
and i did. for a while.
in fact, i LOVED!!!! the first pagesmagical dark academia horror about scary girls...it felt fated that i would like this book.
and i did. for a while.
in fact, i LOVED!!!! the first pages of this — so atmospheric and intriguing, and unlike anything i'd read since ninth house, a book high i've been chasing for years.
unfortunately i do believe that 3 characters is too many to follow this closely and with unique points of view, that we embarked on our plot too quickly, and that there was so much gore and grossness and vomit as to reduce the impact of the ultimate climax.
similarly the ending was sweet, but these characters leaned too heavy into their stereotypes to be really memorable. that's what happens when we have too many to follow: we end up with The Rebel, The Witch, and The Nerd.
but contrary to all the complaining i just did...i'm going to follow this author.
bottom line: a lot of good! not enough. but a lot.
the feeling of satisfaction when you finish an incredibly long book: wired
the feeling of satisfaction when you finreading incredibly long books: tired
the feeling of satisfaction when you finish an incredibly long book: wired
the feeling of satisfaction when you finish an incredibly long book without enjoying it for even a moment: whatever is better than wired
reading murakami is always a balancing act between how brilliant he is and how misogynistic he is, and let me tell you this one was pretty heavily leaning one way!
it is actually just arduous and difficult to read 1,318 pages of women being described by their breasts. i have a pretty high tolerance for sexism in media, perhaps to a worrying extent, but sexual assault, pedophilia, and harassment were at the core of this plot. it's a lot harder to ignore the very strange way murakami writes women when that's the case.
but even beyond that, reading from the perspective of a female character who cannot go a chapter without thinking about her boobs...it gets old! i don't know when murakami encountered a beautiful woman who apologized to the ugly older men she slept with for the size of her chest, but i'm praying for her healing.
bottom line: i'm going to keep reading murakami. i'm just going to delete this book from my brain....more
turns out none of my rules (e.g., short books are better, misogyny is a hard no, i can only read like 1 lengthy fantasy novel per year) apply to murakturns out none of my rules (e.g., short books are better, misogyny is a hard no, i can only read like 1 lengthy fantasy novel per year) apply to murakami.
this was fine, but had none of the surreal magic that murakami usually does for me.
well. i thought i was back in my magical realism era.
i have been having a lot of success lately with Experimental Literary Fiction About Mothers And Dwell. i thought i was back in my magical realism era.
i have been having a lot of success lately with Experimental Literary Fiction About Mothers And Daughters, and since the synopsis implies that this book is literally exactly that, i thought we had a success on our hands.
also, look at that cover.
but spoiler alert, we did not! this book had 900 half-baked side plots, from stray dogs to greek retellings to lexicography to weird made up language words to Alzheimer's to OH MY GOD NO WAY PLEASE TELL ME THAT ISN'T WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT, and then also just about no time spent on that.
this started off frustrating and ultimately became annoying! and over the course of my life, i have been an eldest sibling, a teacher's pet, an introvert, and a hater.
i don't do well with being annoyed.
bottom line: weird! and not in the way i'm a fan of....more
i honestly don't know how anyone considers themselves well-read. there is just so much to read.
this one was on my mental tbr for years, and i still doi honestly don't know how anyone considers themselves well-read. there is just so much to read.
this one was on my mental tbr for years, and i still don't feel any closer to well-read for having picked it up. but i do feel glad i did.
the depiction of family, love, bloodlines, sorrow, magic, mortality, hatred, bigotry, politics, uprising, poverty, wealth, power here...wow!
there were moments where this lost me, but it almost immediately won me back every time. this was poetic and somehow measured even in its dramatics.
what will stay with me especially is the way that this conveyed how you can love those you don't understand, and in that way understand them...how gorgeous. if more people were able to see past the worst parts of each other it'd be a better world.
bottom line: a book you better yourself by reading....more
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