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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Minor: Gun violence
Just didn’t have the consistency of reading it. Didn’t have enough interest. Perhaps I’ll read it another time.
"When I was a kid, the only playthings we had in the whole universe were hydrogen atoms..." - I really liked this, short stories were all the characters are named after equations, and which use allegories to tell you about science. Stories where the central character is a mollusc, or lives outside of space and time. It ended up being some of the most mind-bending fiction I've read. Something that really needs to be concentrated on and savoured.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Inventive stories from a universal perspective, taking different scientific and philosophical concepts and exploring them in a far fetched, folktale-ish anthropomorphising narrative, with a wry, absurd sense of humour. It relates the cosmic to painfully human insecurities, as well as providing satire on human societies through that cosmic framing (e.g. the 'Consumer Thanksgiving Day... to display their gratitude towards the god Production'). Beautifully poetical inspired look at cosmic phenomena and that of life and existence. I particularly liked III. Death, the framing of the discontinuous against the eternal
However i did find them to be a bit misogynist at times, characters were 'male' by default, and the 'female' characters were almost entirely just objects of desire rather than characters in themselves. The need to frame a lot of things in the framework of men pursuing women was a bit annoying to me (also there was a weird emphasis on cars as well). I can understand the literary device of these being Qwfwq's stories from his perspecti e and him being characterised as a sort of arrogant/patronising/typical/foolish red-blooded male - to make the cosmic nature of the story comedically absurdly relatable to the human (italian) 1960s readers and this being in keeping with that, so perhaps its a deliberate choice but at the same time, that choice of a patriarchal male gaze always as a 'universal' perspective - of beings as old as the universe, or of a unicellular being, is a lazy choice. Yes it does bring a lot of humour but it didnt have to be the only framing, especially for something which is otherwise so much about finding new perspectives.
However i did find them to be a bit misogynist at times, characters were 'male' by default, and the 'female' characters were almost entirely just objects of desire rather than characters in themselves. The need to frame a lot of things in the framework of men pursuing women was a bit annoying to me (also there was a weird emphasis on cars as well). I can understand the literary device of these being Qwfwq's stories from his perspecti e and him being characterised as a sort of arrogant/patronising/typical/foolish red-blooded male - to make the cosmic nature of the story comedically absurdly relatable to the human (italian) 1960s readers and this being in keeping with that, so perhaps its a deliberate choice but at the same time, that choice of a patriarchal male gaze always as a 'universal' perspective - of beings as old as the universe, or of a unicellular being, is a lazy choice. Yes it does bring a lot of humour but it didnt have to be the only framing, especially for something which is otherwise so much about finding new perspectives.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Violence
Minor: Gun violence, Blood, Car accident
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
funny
informative
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No