I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to read a book centered around indigenous characters, and II really wanted to like this book more than I did. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to read a book centered around indigenous characters, and I’m glad that this novel has been met with popularity and acclaim. I hope that its success helps more such stories to be published.
I just found the plotting to be a bit stilted and predictable, especially the obligatory teen romance subplot. And when a book is written in first person, I want the voice of the narrator to feel alive and distinctive, but this voice felt both overly literary and sort of bland to me.
I find its premise to be an intriguing one, and I applaud the author’s ability to be unflinching in her portrayal of the degradation and commodification of indigenous peoples at the hands of colonizers. It’s gratifying that the characters here are wonderfully empowered and connected to their culture and people in very meaningful ways.
I just wanted to be swept away by all of it, and I wasn’t, but I did find it to be an interesting read in many ways.
As with pretty much every anthology, there were a couple of clunkers contained in these pages, but there were also some excellent, innovative, and traAs with pretty much every anthology, there were a couple of clunkers contained in these pages, but there were also some excellent, innovative, and transcendent stories, and overall, I was very happy to encounter the works of so many new and interesting writers from around the world. ...more
I felt very much the same way about this book as I did about Ted Chiang’s first collection: that I’d spent valuable, meaningful time engaging with a pI felt very much the same way about this book as I did about Ted Chiang’s first collection: that I’d spent valuable, meaningful time engaging with a profoundly intelligent, deeply curious, extremely disciplined thinker. I admire the confidence and skill and courage he brings to his craft, and I was thoroughly captivated and fascinated by every story contained here. I just wish he was able to bring his considerable gifts more fully to bear in the creation of characters who feel as alive and complex as they could; while the ideas in his stories are quite richly fleshed out, I wanted my heart to be as engaged as my head was.
Still, I love the fact that Ted Chiang remains committed to short-form storytelling, and I will continue to seek out his wonderfully thought-provoking work. ...more
3.5 stars rounded up for the originality of the plot, and the crisp, authentic voice of its 1st-person narrator.
I just wish the emotional beats lande3.5 stars rounded up for the originality of the plot, and the crisp, authentic voice of its 1st-person narrator.
I just wish the emotional beats landed more fully. But it’s a fascinating novel in many ways, and I especially appreciate anyone who writes about human-animal relations in a thoughtful manner. ...more
It was a refreshing and moving experience to discover the keenly observed, authentically rendered work of a writer who was new to me, and Tayari JonesIt was a refreshing and moving experience to discover the keenly observed, authentically rendered work of a writer who was new to me, and Tayari Jones created many wonderfully complex and emotionally true scenes in this novel. Some of the plot points didn’t always quite land as fully as they could have, especially toward the end, but along the way, I felt very drawn into the rich and conflicted and believably human characters she created, and I’m grateful to have read this painful, touching, and perceptive novel. ...more
Once again, I found myself fully absorbed and fascinated by the astonishingly confident writing of CJ Cherryh. Her ability to create a sense of place Once again, I found myself fully absorbed and fascinated by the astonishingly confident writing of CJ Cherryh. Her ability to create a sense of place and fill it to bursting with an alive depiction of its cultural dynamics — in this case, a rundown space station and the lower decks of a ship — is unparalleled. And her skill at populating these places with wonderfully human, flawed, haunted characters is what has made her one of my favorite authors to read.
As usual, she plunges headlong into her story, daring her reader to keep up, as details and motivations are alluded to but rarely signposted, and which makes reading her work all the more rewarding.
This took so long for me to read only because I have been in the midst of a bananas time — opening a show while also helping to raise a baby. I’m very glad I have more of this brilliant author’s works to read. ...more
As with most short story anthologies, this was a mixed bag, but several of the 20 stories contained here were exceptionally strong, tipping my rating As with most short story anthologies, this was a mixed bag, but several of the 20 stories contained here were exceptionally strong, tipping my rating up to 4 stars. Favorites were works by Poe Ballantine, Akhil Sharma, Emily Carter, Bliss Broyard, Lorrie Moore, Meg Wolitzer, and, especially, Matthew Crain.
I will say that, other than in the case of Akhil Sharma’s story, this batch was disappointingly full of stories centered on (mostly middle-class and suburban) white people. I’m not sure if that’s a function of this edition’s guest editor — the now-disgraced Garrison Keillor — or the series editor Katrina Kenison, or both, but I hope as I continue reading subsequent editions of The Best American Short Stories that there will be much more diversity represented in their pages. ...more
As is the case with these giant best-of-the-year anthologies, there were some less-than-successful clunkers in this batch, but there were also plenty As is the case with these giant best-of-the-year anthologies, there were some less-than-successful clunkers in this batch, but there were also plenty of excellent works included. My favorites, in no particular order, were:
“Rachel in Love,” Pat Murphy’s classic, award-winning tale of the plight of an especially intelligent chimp.
“Perpetuity Blues,” Neal Barrett, Jr.’s delightfully sweet, silly, and touching tale of a hard-scrabble young girl’s encounter with an alien.
“Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight,” one of Ursula K. Le Guin’s masterful tales.
“The Evening and the Morning and the Night,” by the late, great Octavia E. Butler.
“Night of the Cooters,” Howard Waldrop’s wonderfully screwball tale of an Old West showdown between a sheriff, his townspeople, and the invading aliens that threatened to kill them all.
And “Halley’s Passing,” Michael McDowell’s perfectly tuned, horrific portrait of a diabolical killer as he goes about his daily work.
I’ll continue making my way through the 30 or so other volumes that the late Gardner Dozois put together, knowing that there will always be hits and misses, but hoping the hits are as successful as this year’s editions were. ...more
As has been typical of me this year, the raising of our son Rai has encroached on my reading time, which is why it took me several weeks to finish thiAs has been typical of me this year, the raising of our son Rai has encroached on my reading time, which is why it took me several weeks to finish this novel. (I feel that it’s also necessary for me to say here that raising Rai has been joyful and wonderful in every respect.)
With this, the second installment in The Tawny Man Trilogy, Robin Hobb has once again brought to vivid life two of her most complex and fascinating characters — Fitz and the Fool — and there are moments between them that are alternately entertaining, harrowing, beautifully wrought, and often quite moving. Overall, this does feel like a middle book in terms of pacing, but I trust her skill at crafting a tale, and I was always interested in following her threads. There’s an emotional depth, a sense of introspection, and a rich ethical complexity at the core of this tale, all of which I greatly admire.
I look forward to concluding the trilogy, after stepping away for a bit, to come back to it freshly. ...more
Joe Abercrombie writes with a vigorous, pulpy joy, and an energy that’s far more entertaining and involving than the work of some of his contemporarieJoe Abercrombie writes with a vigorous, pulpy joy, and an energy that’s far more entertaining and involving than the work of some of his contemporaries. (I’m looking at you, Brandon Sanderson.) I was in the mood for a fun popcorn read, and I got that, but I also got some surprising richness of character, and an impressive flow of action. I understand why he’s such a popular writer now, and I look forward to reading the rest of this trilogy. ...more
This began with a lot of promise: more wit and humanity than I found in Stephenson’s famous debut Snow Crash, all in support of a fascinating portraitThis began with a lot of promise: more wit and humanity than I found in Stephenson’s famous debut Snow Crash, all in support of a fascinating portrait of a nanotech-driven future. And then it devolved into near-nonsense, as Stephenson seemed to have lost the ability to craft a compelling, logical narrative.
I admire his ambition, and I understand why he’s such an influential and popular SFF writer, but I am left scratching my head at the end of this lengthy read. ...more
A mildly diverting, old-school SF adventure tale complete with world-hopping escapades, wooden characterizations, and sentient, telepathic, mutant aniA mildly diverting, old-school SF adventure tale complete with world-hopping escapades, wooden characterizations, and sentient, telepathic, mutant animals and aliens. Norton does craft sentences well, and she resists signposting and info-dumping, which is refreshing. But I need a little more heart and soul in my SF literature than she provides here. ...more
This is in many ways a return to form for Updike; it’s tighter and more emotionally rich than Redux. However, I still prefer the leanness and propulsiThis is in many ways a return to form for Updike; it’s tighter and more emotionally rich than Redux. However, I still prefer the leanness and propulsive feeling of Rabbit, Run.
With these novels, Updike has painted an obsessively intimate portrait of a very particular kind of American man: white, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, sex-obsessed, money-obsessed, and profoundly unable to own his neuroses and flaws. All of those factors seem like they should be off-putting to read about, and they are, but I also have to admire how honestly Updike sees Rabbit and his cronies, and how he embeds these uncomfortable subjects in poetic, stream-of-consciousness, beautifully constructed sentences.
The best moments in this installment involve Rabbit and his son Nelson, and the manner in which they push and pull at each other is sad and funny and surprising.
I’ll be very curious to see how Updike winds up his Rabbit tale with the final installment, but I’ll give it some time before I read Rabbit at Rest. ...more
I will never lose my awe of the late, great Ursula K. Le Guin’s immense talents. Her precision, her depth of feeling, her abiding subtlety, her faciliI will never lose my awe of the late, great Ursula K. Le Guin’s immense talents. Her precision, her depth of feeling, her abiding subtlety, her facility of grappling with profound questions of what it means to be human, her regard for the inherent mysteries involved in being human, her love of language and of the power of storytelling, are all on beautiful display in this, one of her later works.
I look forward to continuing this trilogy. ...more
Iconic, indelible, revolutionary, haunting, and beautifully rendered from start to finish. This was a reread for me, and it feels even more wonderfullIconic, indelible, revolutionary, haunting, and beautifully rendered from start to finish. This was a reread for me, and it feels even more wonderfully rich than ever....more
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