1- The Third Resignation: is he dead? is he alive? who knows? marquez really knows how to play the reader
2- The Other Sidemini reviews of the stories:
1- The Third Resignation: is he dead? is he alive? who knows? marquez really knows how to play the reader
2- The Other Side of Death: the lyrical writing with the gothic setting really works for me.
3- Eva is inside her Cat: the story is really meandering, reminds me of one hundred years of solitude, and then that final line is like a gut punch
4- Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers: marquez's stories are too short and sometimes they need some fleshing out, but that doesn't mean that they aren't beautiful!
5- Dialogue with the Mirror: poetic and gorgeous
6- Eyes of a Blue Dog: they meet in a dream it's one of the saddest stories i've read
7- The Woman who Came at Six O'clock: the dialogues just keep you on the edge of your seat
8- Nabo: he really likes makes us think whether these people are dead or alive. are they hallucinating or are these ghost ruminations?
9- Someone has been disarranging these Roses: sad and melancholic
10- The Night of the Curlews: fascinating. it seems like a story about three ghosts wondering what has happened to them, but you never know with marquez
11- Monologue of Isabel watching it rain in Macondo: continous rain which starts messing the perception and reality of the characters -------- 12- Tuesday Siesta: i love the dignity of the mother as she sets an example of her daughter
13- One of These Days: a political stance between a dentist and the mayor
14- There are no Thieves in this Town: the torment a thief goes through when he steals something. what i liked most in thiss one is the wife's "ana" character, she's resilient.
15- Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon: a cagemaker fascinates the town with a brilliant cage he made
16- Montiel's Widow: i loved how it seems at first that the woman doesn't understand why no one attends her husband's funeral and then we start seeing how hated he was in the town and how that causes her to close up on herself
17- One Day after Saturday: 18- Artifical Roses: 19- Big Mama's Funeral: ------- 20- A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: 21- The Sea of Lost Time: 22- The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: 23- Death Constant Beyond Love: 24- The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship: 25- Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles: 26- The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and her heartless Grandmother:...more
رواية هادية ولطيفة ورقيقة ولا تخلو من ملامح الحزن، خصوصا لما تكون رواية بطلاها رجلان تقدم بهما السن وهما لسة بيحاولوا يقاوحوا مع الزمان. بس برضة لقيت رواية هادية ولطيفة ورقيقة ولا تخلو من ملامح الحزن، خصوصا لما تكون رواية بطلاها رجلان تقدم بهما السن وهما لسة بيحاولوا يقاوحوا مع الزمان. بس برضة لقيت نفسي بنتقد الكتير من أفعالهم وأفكارهم، بس مش هنكر أنها رواية صادقة جدا النسخة الإلكترونية على أبجد فيها مشاكل كتيرة وده كنت مستغرباه...more
I can't escape the comparsion between this and Nabokov's Lolita, but I found myself more immersed in this sad tale of love. We follow an old man who'sI can't escape the comparsion between this and Nabokov's Lolita, but I found myself more immersed in this sad tale of love. We follow an old man who's infatutaed by a virgin girl at one of the whorehouses, and he idolizes her to the point that he doesn't allow herself a lot of things with her.
the way he writes about the mc's lonely daily life makes me ache for him despite his pervert pedophilic nature, which is an amazing feat for a writer. ...more
#1- Office Hours by Ling Ma: I'm not sure what this story is supposed to mean. It started as a normal contemporary swasn't really the best collection.
#1- Office Hours by Ling Ma: I'm not sure what this story is supposed to mean. It started as a normal contemporary story about film student and her professor and their tight relationship, but then it takes a magical realism/dark twist and I feel like I didn't truly understand the point of that end. like it was a nod to the films she discussed in the story maybe?
#2- Man Mountain by Catherine Lacey: uhh, what? man mountain is an actual mountain of adult men and we follow a woman who is trying to climb it? I know there has to be seome deeper meaningful message, but I didn't get.
3- Me, Rory and Aurora by Jonas Eika: uhhh, weird/kinky family/lovers dynamic isn't my thing. but that wasn't even the weirdest thing about this story, which felt like a dream caused by drugs, a bad dream.
#4- The Complete by Gabriel Smith: expermental snippets of someone's life or maybe the novel he's writing? Im not sure. but it wasn't funny or deep as it hoped to be
*+#5- The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai: Finally, a story I like. We're witnessing the lives of an afghan family in the US through the eyes of the spy spying on them and witnessing their lives like he's watching a tv show. very interesting
#6- Wisconsin by Lisa Taddeo: messed up and realistic characters.
7- Ira & the Whale by Rachel B Glaser: felt so surrealist. a bunch of men stuck inside a whale and what they actually think about when they're facing death
8- The Commander's Teeth by Naomi Shuyama Gomez: The writing style wasn't to my taste. about dentists working in rural areas and they encounter a military commander who comes for a checkup
9- The Mad People of Paris by Rodrigo Blanco Calderon: about mad people in paris at the metro and all of their conspiracy theories. is the protagonist just an observer or one of those mad people? the line is blurred. it was interesting, but all the political talk lost me a bit
*10- Snake & Submarine by Shelby Kinney Lang: a devastating story about a man going through the suffering of women from cancer, some he knows and another he's writing about.
11- The Mother by Jacob M'hango: felt like a folktale, but it was as if it was missing something
*+#12- The Hollow by 'Pemi Aguda: a masterpiece. about the meaning of a house and a home. about the struggle of women to find a safe place for them to be.
*+#13- Dream Man by Cristina Rivera Garza: I liked how I was puzzled by this story. is it all a man's or a woman's dream? did a man meet a siren that caused his insanity? are these just hallucinations? you don't know, you just enjoy the ride
*+#14- The Locksmith by Grey Wolfe Lajoie: I liked the eerines imposed by other on the locksmith, while he's just a human being trying to navigate life despite his difficulties. i would've loved it if the story was a bit longer
15- After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool by Kristin Valdez Quade: a story about kids and teenagers and navigating life and having different feelings for the first time and all the wrong choices and decisions teenagers make.
16- Happy is a Doing Word by Arinze Ifeakandu: a sad story set in nigeria, wehre we follow a boy growing into a young man and the struggles he goes through
17- Elision by David Ryan: interesting concept of a woman going through an event in her life that changes the way she views her choice and her husband and deciding how to move forward
*+#18- Xifu by K-Ming Chang: I was both horrified and mesmerized by this story's mc while she talked about the relationship between mothers and daughters, folk myths, and mothers in law who are annoying. I defintely want to read more from her!
19- Temporary Housing by Kathleen Alcott: interesting look at an individual, looking back at her life and how it affected her present. just nothing new to me
20- The Blackhills by Eamon McGuinness: the writing style really wasn't to my taste...more
مش فاهمة المطلوب من الرواية، يعني أول فصل كانت بدايته كويسة، وبعدين حسيت أن الرواية قلبت على سرد سريع لملامح من حياة الصحفية جاكلين خوري
يعني بدأت أقرأمش فاهمة المطلوب من الرواية، يعني أول فصل كانت بدايته كويسة، وبعدين حسيت أن الرواية قلبت على سرد سريع لملامح من حياة الصحفية جاكلين خوري
يعني بدأت أقرأها كمحاولة لقراءة أعمال مكتوبة عن فلطسين، لكن ده مكانش مفيد جدا في ده، لأنه 90% من الرواية بيتكلم عن الوسط السياسي والثقافي المصري من منظور جاكلين أو اسمها نسيرن في الرواية، لكن أسلوب الكتابة عادي ومفيهوش جماليات وحاسة أنها مش هتهم حد غير اللي حابب يقرأ نبذة مختصرة عن جاكلين خوري، أكتر من كده مقدمتش صورة لحياة امرأة فلسطينية أو حتى صورة معبرة لمشاعر امرأة خاضت كل العناء اللي خاضته نسرين في الرواية دي
1- “Screen Time,” by Alejandro Zambra: Interesting look at parenting amid covid, and how a child copes when he's not exposed to TV at all, which I thi1- “Screen Time,” by Alejandro Zambra: Interesting look at parenting amid covid, and how a child copes when he's not exposed to TV at all, which I think is a hard decision to implement, but I still applaud.
2- “The Wolves of Circassia,” by Daniel Mason: I'm not sure I totally got the symbolism of that ending, but it's another pandemic story, this time through a caretaker taking care of an old man with dementia and his family.
3- “Mercedes’s Special Talent,” by Tere Dávila: well, that was depressing. a woman suffering from hypochondria and the suffering of her family as well.
4- “Rainbows,” by Joseph O’Neill: I see where the author was going with this story of immigrants in the US and assimilation and idolizing people, but it felt fragmented, and the ending didn't feel like an end at all
5- “A Way with Bea,” by Shanteka Sigers: weird and unnerving and yet wholesome in a way? An unnamed teacher and her inner thoughts about her life and a certain student of hers called Bea, and her occasional concern for her and her wanting not to get involvd.
6- “Seams,” by Olga Tokarczuk: A heartbreaking story of an old man dealing with life after his wife's death and he seems to notice weird things, like the seams on his socks or the color of ink in his pens, and these thoughts overwhlem him completely. It's very sad.
7- “The Little Widow from the Capital,” by Yohanca Delgado: read earlier this year in "The Best American Short Stories 2022". my review: What a melancholic story. A widow moves into an apartment building in New York coming from the Dominican Republic and her story turns into a folk tale by her neighbours. loved ths sadness in every word. 5 stars (I discoevered that the story is inspired by a latin american nursery rhyme, and I liked that idea)
8- “Lemonade,” by Eshkol Nevo: not going to read this story.
9- “Breastmilk,” by ‘Pemi Aguda: I don't do well with stories about giving birth. also affairs that go unpunished? and the noosiness of family members after the event of birth, like a woman can't have one minute to herself? but still Liked the story and loved the writing style, it feels sharp and intense. I would love to read more from her.
10- “The Old Man of Kusumpur,” by Amar Mitra: felt like a folktale from Bengal, about an old man embarking on a journey to meet the Big Man he heard about who would solve all of his problems. felt a bit out of place amid these stories.
11- “Where They Always Meet,” by Christos Ikonomou: interresting concept, a journalist encounters a woman, who might be telling the truth or she might be lying, and tells her the story of her life hoping she's publish it: that she's stalin's daughter and that she's followed.
12- “Fish Stories,” by Janika Oza: very short yet packs a punch. a family lost a son and a brother, and how the mother and sister deal with this grief.
13- “Horse Soup,” by Vladimir Sorokin: each collection must have an absurd weird "what the fuck did I just read" story, and this is that one. first of all, it's very long and it's immersive, it had a promising beginning: a men bumps into three youth on the train and becomes obsessed with watching one of them eat, but that relationship becomes more deformed as time goes by, and I think it must have some underlying message about Russia and politics and food and consumerism, but it got too wacky in the end.
14- “Clean Teen,” by Francisco González: Reading this made me sick. trigger warning for a teacher sexually abusing a teenager. it's heartbreaking seeing the progress of the events and what it does to the mind of the teenage boy
15- “Dengue Boy,” by Michel Nieva: a bit of a dystopian story, about a boy who's half bug and he's tormented by everyone around him. had a very gory ending, but also posed a lot of discussions about humanity, pollution and transformation
16- “Zikora,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: This story felt really ffleshed out, I felt like I really know these characters by the end of it. It revolves around motherhood, family, relationships, a daughter that doesn't understand her mother until she's a mother herself, the decision to have a baby, the experience of Ghanian people in the US. I really need to read a full length novel from this author because it feels really overdue.
17- “Apples,” by Gunnhild Øyehaug: huh. a very meta story, I don't think I've read story more meta than this one. I liked the part aboyt Signe and Sonja the best. but it took some interesting turns for such a short story.
18- “Warp and Weft,” by David Ryan: This was immensely tragic and it made me think of the deaths of all my loved ones. I need to forget this because it really tugged all of my heart strings
19- “Face Time,” by Lorrie Moore: a covid story. brings back all the vivid memories of that horrible times of our life. well written.
20- “An Unlucky Man,” by Samanta Schweblin: read it in the author's collection "Seven Empty Houses". my review: this was really uncomfortable. a pedophile-lolita-type story....more
I think the comparison to Junji Ito is a bit misleading, as this isn't as gory or detailed or demented as most of Ito's works, but it capture some of I think the comparison to Junji Ito is a bit misleading, as this isn't as gory or detailed or demented as most of Ito's works, but it capture some of the nonsensical feeling of Kafka's works.
I have only read the Metamorpheses before and didn't complete The Trial, so almost all of the stories here (9 stories) were new to me. The black-and-white eerie and minimalist at times style of drawing serves it well. I think if you like Kafka, manga, and art, you will apperciate this fresh look at some of Kafka's works....more
I love when stories have a lot of characters sharing a space (in this case, it's a housing building) and they seem to have nothing in common, and slowI love when stories have a lot of characters sharing a space (in this case, it's a housing building) and they seem to have nothing in common, and slowly their ties are revealed. The story begins with Blandine, who we could argue is the main character, and she's one of the occupants of this building and something happens to her, and then we go back in time, to follow the characters through one week (and a lot of flashbacks) to know more about them and understand that opening scene.
It's weird and intense and bold and gory at parts (I felt like I wanted to give it 5 stars most of the time, but there's animal cruelty in this that made me really uncomfortable). It's hard to like any of the characters, but you can relate to all of them somehow. It discusses politics and religion, as they're a big part of the residents of this town. The dialogue can be pretenious and unrealistic at times, but I liked that about. The changes in format and storytelling techniques always kept me on my feet.
It's one of those books I don't know who to recommend to, but I'll defintely read anything by this author!...more
this month's short story anthology to discover new authors. the downside to this collection is that these are their debut stories from 2021, so there'this month's short story anthology to discover new authors. the downside to this collection is that these are their debut stories from 2021, so there's a big chance I won't find many - or any- complete published works by them, by I'll remember to take a note of any new fav authors!
Authors I want to check out from this collection: Erin Connal - Yasmin Adele Majeed - Patch Kirrschenbaum - Catherine Bai - Preeti Vangani - Seth Wang - Emma Shannon
1- Sacrilege - Edward Salem: the writing style didn't really grip me, despite some good passages about the parallels between art and identity. It humps between Palestine, Egypt, and France, and we follow an artist who's interested in art pieces using rocks/whatever surrounds him in htese areas, and each are intriduces a different question. Palestine and the intifada, Egypt and its history, France and its colonialism. A lot of big ideas but the story was too short, so the ending felt scattered.
* 2- The Black Kite and the Wind - Erin Connal: I REALLY find it hard to sympathize with rich white kids and especially if it's a story where they killed someone. but this story doesn't glorify that or even shows that these characters managed to move on from what they did. It's set in Australia, and in the background, the bushfires are tormenting the country, and we follow some high-school girls in their delusional attemp to "shake the system" by setting minor fires in their neighborhood. I liked the writing style, and I'm actually waiting for the author's first novel
* 3- A Wedding in Multan, 1978 - Yasmin Adele Majeed: In a way, this gives me "Atonement" vibes? I'm amazed by all the author managed to put in one story: a coming of age story, a mystery story, a political story, and a wedding story, set in Pakistan. really heartbreaking.
* 4- For Future Refernce: Notes on the 7-10 Split - Patch Kirrschenbaum: I like a story told by an older adult person to their teenage self, as they usualy have some sort of dark humor. but this one had too many bowling terminology for my taste. I liked his writing style and the emotional punch, but was disappointed when I read that his debut novel will be about professional poker players. I don't know if his writing style will make me interested in reading about poker while I was skimming the parts about bowling in this short story, still an author to keep an eye on.
5- All we Have left is Ourselves - Oyedotun Damilola Muees: normally I like dystopian stories, but this was too fragmented for my taste, and I was never sure of the timing of certain events, were they before or are they happening now in that character's life? the photographer protagonist angle was interesting, it's a shame that it wasn't explored enough.
* 6- Writing with Blood - Catherine Bai: such a lyrical story about the barrier of langiage. a chinese girl born in america and her struggle to connect with her chinese family, about immigration and relating it to the nature. it's written in the style of vignettes, so it seemed like different snapshots, but I loved a lot of the imagery!
7- Them Bones - CK Kane: some stories make you wonder if there's something wrong with the author, and this was one of them. depending solely on the shock value of its depraved characters, I expected more than just a story filled with taboos.
8- Man, Man, et cetera - Cal Shook: I'm interested to read more by this author, this story had some things I didn't like (cheating), but it had a lot of things I liked, like the writing style and the way this woman's life was told through all the men she knew, untill she is changed (or maybe not) by motherhood.
* 9- Work Wives - Preeti Vangani: I loved this story. a fesh graduate navigating life, relationships, friendships after the loss of her mother and how that coats everything in her life. just loved it.
10- The Chicken - Rz Baschir: a metamorphosis type of story wih some body horror and way too much blood for my liking. I liked the magical realism aspect of the story and would read more by this author, bu I'm not sure if I can read a lot in one sitting if they're all this bloody
* 11- The Cacophobe - Seth Wang: this gives off the feeling of "picture of dorian gray" (which I haven't read but I totally know the vibe, and this is it), and I liked the narrator from the first paragraph. another ne of those stories that makes wonder is there's something wrong with the author, but this one was totally to my taste. a story about a boy allergic to ugliness and his time at a retreat and the ugly secret he holds from those days.
* 12- Beat by Beat - Emma Shannon: JUST LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ONE. I love the protagnist and his connection to the worm that created our world, the small connections and the bigger meaning behind everything that happens. I can classify this as sof sci-fi and I can't wait for a novel or a collection from thsi author...more
This really reads like a debut novel, as in the characters were rough and their motivations and inner thought not clear enough, and also the pacing waThis really reads like a debut novel, as in the characters were rough and their motivations and inner thought not clear enough, and also the pacing was a bit off.
I really thought (and wanted) for this story to completely center on the bookshop and the street of all secondhand shops, but that's only half of the story and the second half is a bit of a family drama that I wasn't totally invested in and didn't invoke that much emtion in me.
We follow a young woman who loses her job and boyfriend and finds a second chance in the used bookstore run by her uncle, wher eshe gets to reveal more about him and herself and their family. Of course the shop has the quirky regulars and the neighbours help her on this journey. I wish the male author chose to write a male main character, because his female portrayl of the protagonist was off. I was also annoyed by the fact that he decides that she's equally responsible in the cheating of her boyfriend, like how can that be logical? Also I don't like the tone they're using with her whenever there were people doing any kind of exercise/hiking, it's very condescending, and hurt me personally. because people can't seem to realize the chronic pain someone might be going through.
It wasn't a bad book, but I felt her journey of self discovery could've been the entire book without needing to add that drama in the 2nd part, and maybe we would've gotten to see more of her developing relationship with reading and books instead of it being this instantaneous. I could see it working as a movie, and I would be interested to see how the author improves in his second novel...more
at the 50% mark, I feel like there's no where to go but downhill. I get the idea, thank you. I just can't keep on reading it right now. at the 50% mark, I feel like there's no where to go but downhill. I get the idea, thank you. I just can't keep on reading it right now. ...more
I loved a lot of things about this: the focus on language, some gorgeous writing, the fact that we have a story tolThis was too abstract, even for me.
I loved a lot of things about this: the focus on language, some gorgeous writing, the fact that we have a story told from two unique points of view: a woman who can't speak and a man who can't see.
but then we come to the story, there is NONE. It ends abruptly with no resolution and I don't really know what to get from this besides some lyrical quotes about language. The start was strong but then it lost focus and lost me, sadly....more
This was such an original idea, and a book I haven't read anything like and I'm still not sure what is it I read exactly, but I'm sure that I enjoyed This was such an original idea, and a book I haven't read anything like and I'm still not sure what is it I read exactly, but I'm sure that I enjoyed the experience.
This is a sci-fi book, in the sense it deals with an imaginary disease, but otherwise the world is quite normal. The disease in question is called Indigo: and its idea is that some children are born with it, and while it doesn't hurt teh children in any way, it affects all those who come in contact with them. so that anyone who spends a certain amount of time in their proximity will suffer headache, nausea and might even pass out, and the symptoms are gone when they get away from the child. supposedly, when these children grow up the effects might fade, but by the same they would have lived a pretty miserable life of isolation, because no one could get closer to them.
We follow two main characters: Clemens Set, a fictionalized version of the author, who was a math teacher in an institute to teach but really to "study" these children, who goes around with the intent of writing a book about Indigo and these children, so meets a lot of people involved with it. The other character is Robert, who is a former student at that institute and his effects have faded out but he has troubles adjusting to the world.
The book incorprates a lot of "documents" about similar cases from history, that might be true or fictional, that supports the whole "Indigo" phenomena. and I think that was my favorite part of the book. The writing style is a mix of stream of consciousness with tangents after tangents. It's sad and brilliant and shocking. It was also horrifying seeing how the claim of this disease prompted people to get rid of their children: that was overly realistic in this fictious world.
I'm still note sure what happened at the end, but ending the book feeling this sense of awe....more
Audrey Niffenegger is now a favorite author, because I know I don't know what to expect from her novels, they leave me confused but in a good way.
ThisAudrey Niffenegger is now a favorite author, because I know I don't know what to expect from her novels, they leave me confused but in a good way.
This isn't the sprawling love story that was in the Time Traveller's Wife, but instead it's a haunting story of symmetry, life, immorrtality, and ghosts. We follow two sets of twins and their lives. How these four women affected each other. Elspeth and Edie, the older estranged twins and their lives and actions that affect the younger twins, Edie's daughters, Julia and Valentina.
The events takes us to London, near Highgate cemetry, in a building where lives a genuis man riddled with OCD and his journey to save his marriage, Elspeth's apartment she leaves for the twins she never met, who come to live in London from America, and Robert, Elspeth's boyfriend who works at the cemetry. All of their lives become entangled one way or another.
It deals with heavy topics like: suicide, OCD, death, death of a pet, trauma. But it's also light in its depiction of afterlife and ghosts and how they come to be. I finished he novel not sure about how I feel for most of the characters, and also I guessed the big plot twist ahead, and the nding was jarring and it makes me sad,but I really enjoyed every minute I spent reading this book....more
تبدو الرواية كأنها تحقيق في جريمة قتل مر عليها أكثر من 20 سنة، لكن تداخل الزمنين بيخلينا نعيش الأحداث مرتين تقريبا.
بنتابع الأحداث في زمنين، الزمن الأوتبدو الرواية كأنها تحقيق في جريمة قتل مر عليها أكثر من 20 سنة، لكن تداخل الزمنين بيخلينا نعيش الأحداث مرتين تقريبا.
بنتابع الأحداث في زمنين، الزمن الأول وهو حاضر الرواية وفيه بنتابع طبيب نفسي حياته بتمشي بشكل رتيب وممل بعد تعرضه لمشكلات كثيرة في حياته، والأمور بتاخد منحى مثير شوية في يومه لما بيلاقي في قبو البيت اللي اشتراه تدوينات كتبها شخص اتقتل قبل 20 سنة في البيت ده.
وده الزمن التاني اللي بنقرأ فيها تدوينات الشخص المقتول ده، وهو كان مريض نفسيا وكان بيواجه مشكلات وأزمات كتيرة. وبنلاقي أن فيه أوجه شبه كبيرة وتلاقي كبير بين ألم وأزمات الطبيب النفسي وأزمات وآلام المريض المقتول من 20 سنة. وبينطبق اسم الرواية على روحيهما فعلا، فكأنهما صدى لنفسي الروح.
شغف الطبيب بالأوراق بيتحول من اهتمام برحلة للبحث عن الحقيقة والكشف عن القاتل الحقيقي، وفي وسط رحلة بحثه بيكتشف الكتير عن المقتول وعن نفسه. شخصية المقتول كانت متأثرة كتير بالفلسفة والموسيقى الكلاسيكية، وبيظهر أثرهم واضح عليه وعلى الطبيب اللي بنشوفه وكأنه بيبدأ يتقمص الشخصية المقتولة.
مشكلتي مع الرواية كانت التكرارية، وبالذات في مقاطع بعينها وأوصاف وجمل معينة وكنت بقول لنفسي إنه كفاية كده، لكن الأحداث شيقة والأسلوب سهل ويجذب القاري لأنه يخلص الأحداث، رغم النهاية اللي كنت مستغرباها بعض الشيء....more
This has me conflicted. At one hand, it has some of the most beautiful writing I've read, but on the other hand, I wanted to strangle every single charThis has me conflicted. At one hand, it has some of the most beautiful writing I've read, but on the other hand, I wanted to strangle every single character. so...
I think it's a common knowledge in the pop culture what happens in this novel, even if you haven't read it, and I've been avoiding it for a long time, but decided to finally try it. It's Wilde's only novel (which is a shame, I'm not a play girlie, but I might check his other writings), and it was clearly written to convey all of his musings and opinions (which are deeply problamatic). He believes in beauty, art for art's sake, and doesn't believe in emotions, knowledge or anything else other than lazing around looking at pretty things and not really thnking of anything or anyone else lest it spoils the person's beauty.
We follow Dorian, an impressionable young man, who sits for the painter Basil to draw a picture of him, which upon seeing it, wishes that he would be always youthful and beautiful as he is in that picture. Also, we follow Lord Henry, who plays a huge role in shaping Dorian. Because Dorian really has no opinions besides what Lord Henry tells him. It all goes downhill when Dorian commits the first wrongful act against someone, and how that in relation to his painting changes him.
It discusses a lot of things like having a soul, how a person should act, what makes a person good or bad, and what exactly is a good deed. I would love to read/watch some of its adaptations....more
عليك حقًا أن تكون من محبي الروايات البطيئة للاستمتاع بهذه الرواية ، لأن الأمر يستغرق وقتًا لمتابعة وتيرة القصة بأكملها. أنا من محEnglish Review below.
عليك حقًا أن تكون من محبي الروايات البطيئة للاستمتاع بهذه الرواية ، لأن الأمر يستغرق وقتًا لمتابعة وتيرة القصة بأكملها. أنا من محبي الروايات البطيئة ، وما زلت عانيت صعوبة في الدخول فيها في البداية.
هذه رواية مشحونة ، بها الكثير من السياسة والصدمات العاطفية. نتابع بطلتنا الماليزية الرئيسية في ثلاث مراحل من حياتها: شبابها المبكر عندما كانت سجينة في معسكر حرب ياباني ، ثم الوقت الذي ذهبت فيه إلى مرتفعات ماليزيا وعملها مع بستاني ياباني ، وعودتها في سن الشيخوخة إلى تلك الحديقة وتذكر حياتها ومواجهة شياطين ماضيها.
إنه يُظهر الرعب الذي فعله اليابانيون مع البلدان المجاورة لهم ومعسكرات الأسرى ، ويظهر وجهات نظر مختلفة حيال الحرب من مختلف الشعب الياباني. يوضح كيف يمكنك المضي قدمًا في شفاء ندوبك العاطفية ، وكيف لا يمكن أبدًا شفاء بعض الأشياء حتى مع مرور الوقت. وتتعمق في فن البستنة اليابانية ، والذي بالكاد أعرف أي شيء عنه. تتعمق أيضا في سياسات آسيا ، التي لم أكن أعرف الكثير عنها أيضًا. إنها قصة عاطفية للغاية عن الخسارة والحزن والتأقلم مع ما حدث لك وكيف تختار التعايش معه.
You really have to be a lover of slow-paced novels to enjoy this one, because it takes its time to pick up the pace and lay out the whole story. I'm a lover of slow-paced novels, and I still had trouble getting into it at the beginning.
This is a charged novel, with a lot of politics and emotional trauma. We follow our main Malaysian heroine in three stages of her life: her early youth when she was a prissoner in a Japanese war camp, the time when she went to Malaysia's highlands and her work with a japanese gardener, and her at old age going back to that garden and remembering her life and facing her demons.
It shows the horrors that the Japanese did to their neighbouring countries and their prisoner camps, and shows differing vie points on the war from different Japanese people. It shows how you can go about to heal your emotional scars, and how some things can never be healed even with time. It also goes deep in the art of Japanese gardening, which I barely knew anything about. It delves deep in the politics of Asia, which I also didnt know much about.
It's a very emotional story about loss and grief and coming to terms with what happeened to you and how you choose to live with it....more
more like 2.5 stars. I had higher hopes for this one. I love reading about young women struggling to find a place for themselves in society, but this more like 2.5 stars. I had higher hopes for this one. I love reading about young women struggling to find a place for themselves in society, but this was too bleak and yet i didn't feel a lot for her.
trigger warning: abuse, rape, suicide/death
we follow San, a young woman coming to Seoul looking for a job and finds herself working in a flower shop. we start knowing more about her past: life in a village, an incident with her friend at a field that she can't let go of, her parents' abandonment, and all of these factors played a part in shaping her: a nervous, timid, doesn't really know herself or what she wants from life.
life goes a bit well for her at the flower shop as she falls into routine and gets introduced to some people who give her a semplace of a family life, until a catalyst happens, and it's really traumatizing, but I wasn't satisfied enough with how it ended.
reading the author''s note about the choice for violets as the title, about what she wanted to convey via her character, and her mentality writing this novel a long time ago, helped in clearing some things up, but sadly it wasn't enough....more
هذه مجموعة قصص قصيرة تدور حول الرجال السيئين، كما يمكنك أن تتخيل من العنوان. ولكن بعد بعض البحث على الإنترنت، اكتشفت أن ديفيد فوسEnglish Review Below.
هذه مجموعة قصص قصيرة تدور حول الرجال السيئين، كما يمكنك أن تتخيل من العنوان. ولكن بعد بعض البحث على الإنترنت، اكتشفت أن ديفيد فوستر والاس هو نفسه رجل فظيع، لذلك هذا يجعلني أفكر، هل يعكس أي من الرجال السيئين في هذه المجموعة شخصيته وأفعاله؟
هذه قصص عن رجال مختلفين في مراحل مختلفة من الحياة ومن خلفيات مختلفة، ليس لديهم سمة جيدة واحدة. أسلوب الكتابة واع جدا بعيوبهم وتوضح الكتابة السمات الفظيعة الواضحة لهؤلاء الرجال ، لكن هل هذا كافٍ؟ ليس من المفترض أن نتعاطف مع أي من هؤلاء الرجال ، الذين غالبًا ما يكونون مريعين ويستغلون النساء وأوغاد بشكل عام. بصرف النظر عن فضح فظاعة الرجال، فهو يتعامل مع الأمراض العقلية من الاكتئاب إلى حالات السلوك الذهاني المقلقة.
لست مضطرة بالضرورة إلى أن أحب الشخصيات ليعجبني الكتاب، ففي بعض الحالات الشخصيات غير المحبوبة تصبح سبب حبي للكتاب ، لكن أسلوب الكتابة هو الذي قتل فرصة إعجابي بهذا الكتاب وفرصة أن أقرأ مجددا لديفيد فوستر والاس. الجمل الطويلة التي لا تنتهي والحشو الزائد من دون أي هدف. أعتقد أن أسلوبه في الكتابة لا يناسبني، على الرغم من أنني أرى ميزة تقديم هذه الشخصيات لأنها موجودة بالفعل ومن المنطقي وجودها في الأدب، ولكن للأسف أسلوبه ليس مناسبًا لي.
This is a thinker. You can tell from the writing style that he can "write", but his style got on my nerves a lot. This a short story collection all about, as you can guess from the title, horrible men. But after some search online, I found out that David Foster Wallace is himself an actual horrible man, so this makes me think, do any of the horrible men in this collection reflect him?
These are stories about different men, in different stages of life and from different backgrounds, with not one single good trait. It's very self-aware, the writing calls out the evident horrible traits of these men, but is that enough? You're not supposed to empathise with any of these men, who are mostly disturbed, taking advantage of women, and general assholes. Aside from remarking the horribleness of the men, it deals with mental illnesses, from depression to alarming cases of psychotic behaviour.
I don't necessarily have to like the characters to like the book, in some cases unlikable characters make the book, but it was the writing style that killed it for me. The run-on sentences, the meandering, and the never-ending tangents all killed it for me. I think his writing style isn't just for me, even though I see the merit in introducing these characters, because they do exist, and it makes sense to have them in literature, but alas, his style isn't for me....more
Do I even write a review? because at the halfway point I realized what the story was about and that realization made my jaw drop (literally). so I'll Do I even write a review? because at the halfway point I realized what the story was about and that realization made my jaw drop (literally). so I'll be as vague as possible.
This begins with the rules for the gated community called Arcadia and they're really strict on anyone living there. and then we move to Sophia, one of the residents there. She's madly in love with her husband, despite him being away all the time, all the other residents love her, and she has everything she needs, so she has to feel happy, the problems start when a crack appears in this facade. It really gives off the vibes of the Stepford Wives, but then it veers to something else entirely, and truly shit hits the fan!
If you like weird retellings, you'll love this one....more
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