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anneklein's reviews
616 reviews
Down With The Royals (Provocations Series) by Joan Smith
3.0
I wanted to read this because I've always been anti-monarchy, and when I moved to the UK it shocked me to see how staunchly everyday people, even working-class, non-white and migrant people, defended the UK's royal family. This book was good at succinctly listing and debunking the main arguments people bring up to justify the monarchy, most infamously "they bring tourism to the country". However, for such a short book, I would have liked to see less exposition of the ways republicans are treated in the UK and more analysis of the royal family's constant bypassing of all the rules that apply to the rest of us. At some points it felt like the author wanted to write a memoir of her experiences as a visible republican which, while valid, was not what I picked up the book for. But I am glad I read it and will be looking into related books to expand on its ideas.
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
3.75
Wonderful book, as Becky Chambers always is, but if I'm honest, not as life-changing as the first book in the duology. I'm being quite harsh on it admittedly, and perhaps when I go back in and annotate it I will bump it up to a 4-star rating. I feel like if I'm being harsh it's because Chambers has, to me, established this precedent for exquisite lyrical prose that doesn't overdo it, philosophical and existential dilemmas explored from really diverse points of view, and lush and imaginative yet cohesive visions of the future. And in this book there is all of this, but it feels a bit more escapist-cosy-fantasy than I think I would have wished for a second book.
I did find it really interesting when Dex and Mosscap discussed Mosscap's broken part and how to replace it; it triggered a really interesting series of questions around whether the body defines the self or the self the body, which I read using themes of transness and disability, and it made me think lots in a great way.
It was also very enjoyable to see Dex's relationships with their family, who all lived in a farm made of a cluster of houses around a garden, and who were all polyamorous as well, hurrah for the rep! The other two things I enjoyed were the moment both Dex and Mosscap realise that they find it easy to be coherent with the things they believe except when it comes to them. For example, they can understand that people should give themselves breaks and be kind to themselves, but when it comes to them, it's so hard to apply your principles to themselves. And there was also a part where we see a village that has gone completely tech-less in response to the misuse and exploitation of tech in the past (aka our current present IRL), and that was an interesting exploration.
But aside from that a lot of the scenes seemed to me like they were mostly just endearing, or endearing without enough substance underneath. I think maybe I'd just like a full-on novel about the two characters, so that Becky Chambers can go all in with the philosophy and give us a bit more than she can in the length of a novella. And what I am gathering about all of this is that I probably just want to read her Wayfarers series! But I do love the world from Monk & Robot, so I wouldn't be opposed to getting some spin-off in novel-length...
So yeah, not a bad book by any means, but it will take a lot to dethrone the first instalment of the duology.
I did find it really interesting when Dex and Mosscap discussed Mosscap's broken part and how to replace it; it triggered a really interesting series of questions around whether the body defines the self or the self the body, which I read using themes of transness and disability, and it made me think lots in a great way.
It was also very enjoyable to see Dex's relationships with their family, who all lived in a farm made of a cluster of houses around a garden, and who were all polyamorous as well, hurrah for the rep! The other two things I enjoyed were the moment both Dex and Mosscap realise that they find it easy to be coherent with the things they believe except when it comes to them. For example, they can understand that people should give themselves breaks and be kind to themselves, but when it comes to them, it's so hard to apply your principles to themselves. And there was also a part where we see a village that has gone completely tech-less in response to the misuse and exploitation of tech in the past (aka our current present IRL), and that was an interesting exploration.
But aside from that a lot of the scenes seemed to me like they were mostly just endearing, or endearing without enough substance underneath. I think maybe I'd just like a full-on novel about the two characters, so that Becky Chambers can go all in with the philosophy and give us a bit more than she can in the length of a novella. And what I am gathering about all of this is that I probably just want to read her Wayfarers series! But I do love the world from Monk & Robot, so I wouldn't be opposed to getting some spin-off in novel-length...
So yeah, not a bad book by any means, but it will take a lot to dethrone the first instalment of the duology.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
There's just so many cool things to dissect, and of course, it helps that the writing is propulsive and the actual pace and unfolding of the plot are very readable and addictive. The romance arc is also so classic, with Peeta being into Katniss for real but she doesn't realise and keeps thinking he is making it up as a strategy to win audiences over. The whole time there is this dramatic irony in you as a reader seeing through it all so clearly, and Katniss as our protagonist not being able to notice what seems fairly obvious to us. It's a part of the story that added some much-needed levity to balance out the heavy themes.
I also enjoyed the writing style, surprisingly; it was direct and to the point but it didn't shy away from using complex sentence structures or poetic language every so often, whenever the story needed it. It was not mind-blowing stylistically, don't get me wrong, but it did not treat the reader like they were stupid which is more than can be said for a lot of children's and young adult books.
The characters were well-developed as people, they did not feel flat at all (with a couple of exceptions), and if anything, I'd say one of the strengths of the book is that it shows us how everybody is complex beyond our first impression of them: Madge, Cinna, Haymitch, Thresh, even Effie, are all characters that Katniss judges at first glance but who are later revealed to have more layers to their persona. And it's really skilled of Suzanne Collins to do this even when some of these characters appear really briefly, such as Madge or Peeta's father.
I really appreciated this book and while I think it might have impacted me more had I read it as a young adult, I also feel like I love the view that reading it as an adult has given me, the perspective and critical analysis skills I can bring to my reading experience, which made it a very satisfying read. It probably won't shoot up to the top of my list of life-changing books or my all-time favourites, but it was a very rewarding experience and I can't wait to continue the series.
4.5
Yep, finally! This was my first time reading this book, as I didn't feel particularly interested in its concept as a kid (and the nuances of political dissent and all that would have escaped me back then, unfortunately). When I was younger I wasn't drawn to books or stories that are violent for the sake of it, and I'm still not, to be honest; but I wanted to read The Hunger Games at some point because I knew that there was a point to "kids killing each other" beyond the voyeurism and action of it all. And I think it was good to wait because there were so many nuances and themes that I picked up on as a 25-year-old that I maybe wouldn't have noticed as a kid.
For example:
For example:
- The beauty culture and standards in the Capitol vs. in Katniss's District 12: in the Capitol, body modification, plastic surgery and thinness are promoted, and the goal is to have a pristine untouched body with no evidence of life on it, whereas in District 12 plumpness is seen as a status symbol since very few people there get enough to eat
- Relatedly: the fascist dichotomy of cleanliness vs. dirtiness and the way the Capitol weaponises that, in and outside the Games (olfactory ethics, anyone?)
- The Capitol's need to eliminate any visible disability: when they heal Katniss after the Games, they reconstruct her left ear, which she had gone deaf in during the Games. They also eliminate all her scars, not just the ones from her time in the Games but the scars and marks she has had all her life.
- People's different ways of expressing dissent with their oppressors: District 12 uses their silence as a way to express dissent, not cheering at the TV recaps of the Games, because they are made to feel like they don't have any other power to resist the Capitol. Cinna quietly expresses his disagreement with the Games through the outfits he creates for Katniss, more so towards the end of the book than at the beginning; the outfit he makes for her winner ceremony tries to amplify the fact that she's but a kid, trying to provoke guilt in the Capitol for organising such a brutal yearly occasion. District 11 sends Katniss bread during the Games even though she is not their tribute and this is a very unlikely thing for a district to do, all because she helped Rue, District 11's girl tribute.
There's just so many cool things to dissect, and of course, it helps that the writing is propulsive and the actual pace and unfolding of the plot are very readable and addictive. The romance arc is also so classic, with Peeta being into Katniss for real but she doesn't realise and keeps thinking he is making it up as a strategy to win audiences over. The whole time there is this dramatic irony in you as a reader seeing through it all so clearly, and Katniss as our protagonist not being able to notice what seems fairly obvious to us. It's a part of the story that added some much-needed levity to balance out the heavy themes.
I also enjoyed the writing style, surprisingly; it was direct and to the point but it didn't shy away from using complex sentence structures or poetic language every so often, whenever the story needed it. It was not mind-blowing stylistically, don't get me wrong, but it did not treat the reader like they were stupid which is more than can be said for a lot of children's and young adult books.
The characters were well-developed as people, they did not feel flat at all (with a couple of exceptions), and if anything, I'd say one of the strengths of the book is that it shows us how everybody is complex beyond our first impression of them: Madge, Cinna, Haymitch, Thresh, even Effie, are all characters that Katniss judges at first glance but who are later revealed to have more layers to their persona. And it's really skilled of Suzanne Collins to do this even when some of these characters appear really briefly, such as Madge or Peeta's father.
I really appreciated this book and while I think it might have impacted me more had I read it as a young adult, I also feel like I love the view that reading it as an adult has given me, the perspective and critical analysis skills I can bring to my reading experience, which made it a very satisfying read. It probably won't shoot up to the top of my list of life-changing books or my all-time favourites, but it was a very rewarding experience and I can't wait to continue the series.
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
4.75
Woah. Naomi Klein never misses.
This book made me realise just how much I appreciate and admire her clear-headed way of understanding the world, her passionate yet approachable writing, her way of making things that are complex, accessible, or the way she takes things that might be actually quite simple but have been deliberately obscured from the wider public and uncovers them and lays them out in such engaging ways. I think I enjoyed Doppelganger slightly less than This Changes Everything, maybe because some parts of Doppelganger, the ones about conspiracy theories and anti-vax and anti-masking people did feel a tad repetitive, and the memoir element was not as engaging in my opinion. I think Klein's forte is definitely her journalistic style, but at the same time, I do respect that she doesn't want to spend her whole career doing the same thing, and the memoir elements did not drag the book down or anything.
Klein presents an analysis of our need to create a persona to present as when we're online, a representation of ourselves that can simultaneously offer authenticity yet still "sell the idea of us". She points out that "selling ourselves" is something that necessarily implies a simplification of what is actually a very complex set of characteristics and personality traits. The internet (read: platforms in our current neoliberal internet) demands authenticity, but only ostensibly, like Emily Bootle says in This Is Not Who I Am, her book of essays in authenticity. What is truly required is a one-dimensional and easy-to-understand persona that comes across as authentic, even though "authentic" in this case is again a very narrowly-defined concept.
I thought one of the strongest chapters was the one about autistic kids' parents, and how they are a great case study to show that parents oftentimes treat their children not like the individual human beings that they are but as doppelgangers for the parent's own wants. This chapter just became another brick for my wall of reasons that children need to have their rights respected a lot more than our society currently does. They are the most vulnerable people on the planet, but not because they can't think rationally and must be babied; it's because they DO think rationally, but by virtue of their smallness they are the easiest to dismiss, marginalise, and weaponise for adults' aims. Even though they are usually smarter than adults.
I also enjoyed Klein's explanations for two concepts I was not previously familiar with: diagonalism and pipikism. Diagonalism is this umbrella term for all the different groups of people who, pretending they are "rejecting ideas of left-wing vs right-wing", actually recycle far-right ideas and propagate them under generic pretexts such as "freedom" or "free speech". Diagonalism includes but is not limited to incels, the whole pick-up artist community, tradwives, wellness gurus à la Goop, anti-vax and anti-masking conspiracy theorist, believers in QAnon, TERFs... and so on. Klein argues that what all these extreme ideologies have in common (the reason they cross-pollinate so easily) is that their foundations are based on a set of eugenicist ideas, ideas about the purity of the body, and neoliberal principles taken to their maximum exponents. I read all her analysis of all these groups as inextricable from the ideas of neoliberalism, because to me it feels like the level of chaos we are experiencing is the evidence of what neoliberalist capitalism becomes if we follow it to its cusp and cling onto its dangerous logics even to the point that it starts dragging all of us down for the sake of a very few.
Which actually links well to the idea of "pipikism", a term Klein borrows from Philip Roth's doppelganger novel Operation Shylock. If I remember correctly, the word "pipik" is Hebrew for belly button, and in the context of Roth's book I think it's used to describe a process of ridiculisation, warping and re-signifying of terms into absurdist versions of themselves. Klein then points out that this is the process diagonalist groups follow to turn words and phrasings that originally arise as ways of making sense of the world and politics around us, into useless ridiculous terms. An example I really liked was how "fake news" was originally useful to understand the sheer amount of misinformation we come across nowadays (especially online), but now it's just a "silly bit" that we associate with Donald Trump because he has misused it time and time again. It's wild how right Naomi Klein is about this analysis, and her point that this pipiking of language is making meaningful conversation more and more difficult really hit home.
Anyway, these are some of the thoughts I had while I read the book. I am sure more will come to mind because I still need to finish annotating the actual book, but for now these were my highlights. I thought it was a really, really good book and particularly good at articulating what it's like to live in 2025. While it's not all hopeful, just the idea of feeling like I understand the reality around me a big more is giving me quite a good feeling of stability, and it's a great reason to encourage everyone to read the book. And it does end with an ultimately hopeful view, which is that community will save us, particularly as opposed to the intense individualism that neoliberalism imposes and which is killing us all from the inside out. Phenomenal book, and definitely a highlight of the year.
This book made me realise just how much I appreciate and admire her clear-headed way of understanding the world, her passionate yet approachable writing, her way of making things that are complex, accessible, or the way she takes things that might be actually quite simple but have been deliberately obscured from the wider public and uncovers them and lays them out in such engaging ways. I think I enjoyed Doppelganger slightly less than This Changes Everything, maybe because some parts of Doppelganger, the ones about conspiracy theories and anti-vax and anti-masking people did feel a tad repetitive, and the memoir element was not as engaging in my opinion. I think Klein's forte is definitely her journalistic style, but at the same time, I do respect that she doesn't want to spend her whole career doing the same thing, and the memoir elements did not drag the book down or anything.
Klein presents an analysis of our need to create a persona to present as when we're online, a representation of ourselves that can simultaneously offer authenticity yet still "sell the idea of us". She points out that "selling ourselves" is something that necessarily implies a simplification of what is actually a very complex set of characteristics and personality traits. The internet (read: platforms in our current neoliberal internet) demands authenticity, but only ostensibly, like Emily Bootle says in This Is Not Who I Am, her book of essays in authenticity. What is truly required is a one-dimensional and easy-to-understand persona that comes across as authentic, even though "authentic" in this case is again a very narrowly-defined concept.
I thought one of the strongest chapters was the one about autistic kids' parents, and how they are a great case study to show that parents oftentimes treat their children not like the individual human beings that they are but as doppelgangers for the parent's own wants. This chapter just became another brick for my wall of reasons that children need to have their rights respected a lot more than our society currently does. They are the most vulnerable people on the planet, but not because they can't think rationally and must be babied; it's because they DO think rationally, but by virtue of their smallness they are the easiest to dismiss, marginalise, and weaponise for adults' aims. Even though they are usually smarter than adults.
I also enjoyed Klein's explanations for two concepts I was not previously familiar with: diagonalism and pipikism. Diagonalism is this umbrella term for all the different groups of people who, pretending they are "rejecting ideas of left-wing vs right-wing", actually recycle far-right ideas and propagate them under generic pretexts such as "freedom" or "free speech". Diagonalism includes but is not limited to incels, the whole pick-up artist community, tradwives, wellness gurus à la Goop, anti-vax and anti-masking conspiracy theorist, believers in QAnon, TERFs... and so on. Klein argues that what all these extreme ideologies have in common (the reason they cross-pollinate so easily) is that their foundations are based on a set of eugenicist ideas, ideas about the purity of the body, and neoliberal principles taken to their maximum exponents. I read all her analysis of all these groups as inextricable from the ideas of neoliberalism, because to me it feels like the level of chaos we are experiencing is the evidence of what neoliberalist capitalism becomes if we follow it to its cusp and cling onto its dangerous logics even to the point that it starts dragging all of us down for the sake of a very few.
Which actually links well to the idea of "pipikism", a term Klein borrows from Philip Roth's doppelganger novel Operation Shylock. If I remember correctly, the word "pipik" is Hebrew for belly button, and in the context of Roth's book I think it's used to describe a process of ridiculisation, warping and re-signifying of terms into absurdist versions of themselves. Klein then points out that this is the process diagonalist groups follow to turn words and phrasings that originally arise as ways of making sense of the world and politics around us, into useless ridiculous terms. An example I really liked was how "fake news" was originally useful to understand the sheer amount of misinformation we come across nowadays (especially online), but now it's just a "silly bit" that we associate with Donald Trump because he has misused it time and time again. It's wild how right Naomi Klein is about this analysis, and her point that this pipiking of language is making meaningful conversation more and more difficult really hit home.
Anyway, these are some of the thoughts I had while I read the book. I am sure more will come to mind because I still need to finish annotating the actual book, but for now these were my highlights. I thought it was a really, really good book and particularly good at articulating what it's like to live in 2025. While it's not all hopeful, just the idea of feeling like I understand the reality around me a big more is giving me quite a good feeling of stability, and it's a great reason to encourage everyone to read the book. And it does end with an ultimately hopeful view, which is that community will save us, particularly as opposed to the intense individualism that neoliberalism imposes and which is killing us all from the inside out. Phenomenal book, and definitely a highlight of the year.
Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
funny
lighthearted
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this book! I'm not sure it will stay with me for long and it definitely hasn't changed my life the way I feel it could change someone's life if they were trying to define their own gender, or figure out exactly how they'd like to express their gender, but I see the appeal and I love that it's got the hype it deserves.
Sometimes the book got extreeeemely American, in that so many of the references were so specific to the US. And I actually don't mind specificity in novels, what I didn't like was that the specificity was done only by namedropping, and most of the namedropping was US-specific things.
But the main character and supporting cast were lovely and tridimensional people, all endearing in their own silly ways; Paul's character arc was realistic and despite him being a 21-year-old who most definitely acted like it (read: lost and immature often, and trying to compensate it by being pretentious), he was at his core full of heart, and the novel was endearing to the point it made you want to side with him no matter how many stupid decisions he made.
I also appreciated a detail that the author included where, with two characters whose gender is never specified, no pronouns are ever used to refer to them. Frog (we only know Frog's a lesbian because Jane, the main character's sidekick best friend is one and she hooks up with Frog at one point in the book) and Robin (only ever referred to as "the youth" or by name) are never referred to using any pronouns or other gender markers, and I loved that detail. It made me appreciate the prose more.
Sometimes the book got extreeeemely American, in that so many of the references were so specific to the US. And I actually don't mind specificity in novels, what I didn't like was that the specificity was done only by namedropping, and most of the namedropping was US-specific things.
But the main character and supporting cast were lovely and tridimensional people, all endearing in their own silly ways; Paul's character arc was realistic and despite him being a 21-year-old who most definitely acted like it (read: lost and immature often, and trying to compensate it by being pretentious), he was at his core full of heart, and the novel was endearing to the point it made you want to side with him no matter how many stupid decisions he made.
I also appreciated a detail that the author included where, with two characters whose gender is never specified, no pronouns are ever used to refer to them. Frog (we only know Frog's a lesbian because Jane, the main character's sidekick best friend is one and she hooks up with Frog at one point in the book) and Robin (only ever referred to as "the youth" or by name) are never referred to using any pronouns or other gender markers, and I loved that detail. It made me appreciate the prose more.
I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World by Kai Cheng Thom
4.0
This was a lovely read, I read it on my way back from Leeds, on the train, and it was such a gorgeous breath of fresh air. I'd been meaning to read something by Kai Cheng Thom ever since I saw one of her books at Housmans, and this felt like a good pick and it truly was. I didn't give it a fifth star because the poems didn't really click for me and I thought they were much weaker than the essays, but if it had just been a book of essays this would fully be one of my new favourite books so far this year. The author's skill at condensing a lot of deep observations about topics such as the internal dynamics in progressive and leftist politics, societal perceptions of suicide, or trans joy and migrant heritage was so impressive, and the thing that truly makes this book so exceptional is that it's so full of heart throughout.
It's wild how much Kai Cheng Thom's love and hope and faith in the future come across in her words. This is a book that does discuss heavy topics and does not shy away from difficult conversations, but from beginning to end you sense that Thom truly speaks with the hope that we can turn to love, that it is never too late to want to make things better. And I find this sincerity so radical, in anyone but especially from a trans woman, part of one of the most marginalised groups in our current neoliberal capitalist society. So I did really appreciate this book, and I feel like I will revisit its essays often (I annotated it lots!) because it has become part of what I call my personal compass, the ideas and the texts that show me the kind of person I want to be and the kind of world I want to create.
It's wild how much Kai Cheng Thom's love and hope and faith in the future come across in her words. This is a book that does discuss heavy topics and does not shy away from difficult conversations, but from beginning to end you sense that Thom truly speaks with the hope that we can turn to love, that it is never too late to want to make things better. And I find this sincerity so radical, in anyone but especially from a trans woman, part of one of the most marginalised groups in our current neoliberal capitalist society. So I did really appreciate this book, and I feel like I will revisit its essays often (I annotated it lots!) because it has become part of what I call my personal compass, the ideas and the texts that show me the kind of person I want to be and the kind of world I want to create.
Dead Weight: On Hunger, Harm and Disordered Eating by Emmeline Clein
dark
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
5.0
This book was incredible. I often enjoy nonfiction books, especially when they deal with difficult or philosophical or sociopolitical topics, but these reading experiences rarely leave me feeling emotional. This book, however, made me understand the meaning of the word "visceral" in a completely newfound way.
Despite never having experienced an eating disorder (or at least not one that could be diagnosed separately from my depression; I did stop eating during that time, but it was directly related to my apathy for life and to my suicidal thoughts. Being thin was never the main goal but merely another potential avenue to death), I felt a sense of physical unease and a tremor in my limbs during a good few parts of this book. And even having said that, I think I would want to push the book into the hands of everyone who currently lives in this fatphobic capitalist society that profits from encouraging eating disorders and from making us think that being fat is a problem that we must get rid of, a problem to ideally pay them our way out of.
The sheer statistics in this book are enough to change anyone's worldview, not to speak of Clein's sharp analysis of said statistics, the way she connects ideas and draws conclusions, her readings of the cultural products of this society (which include many anorexia memoirs) and the historical precedents that led to our current paradigm, and her kind-hearted criticism of pro-ED online communities. There are so many passages that I would love to plaster on every billboard in London and yell from the rooftops for everybody to hear.
And I loved, loved, loved that the whole time Clein wrote from a place of love, of knowing that she'd been through the same shit as all the women before her, and avoiding a sanctimonious, pathologising, or victim-blaming tone, because as she points out, you can't create a fatphobic society and then blame girls for following its decrees faithfully. A groundbreaking work.
Despite never having experienced an eating disorder (or at least not one that could be diagnosed separately from my depression; I did stop eating during that time, but it was directly related to my apathy for life and to my suicidal thoughts. Being thin was never the main goal but merely another potential avenue to death), I felt a sense of physical unease and a tremor in my limbs during a good few parts of this book. And even having said that, I think I would want to push the book into the hands of everyone who currently lives in this fatphobic capitalist society that profits from encouraging eating disorders and from making us think that being fat is a problem that we must get rid of, a problem to ideally pay them our way out of.
The sheer statistics in this book are enough to change anyone's worldview, not to speak of Clein's sharp analysis of said statistics, the way she connects ideas and draws conclusions, her readings of the cultural products of this society (which include many anorexia memoirs) and the historical precedents that led to our current paradigm, and her kind-hearted criticism of pro-ED online communities. There are so many passages that I would love to plaster on every billboard in London and yell from the rooftops for everybody to hear.
And I loved, loved, loved that the whole time Clein wrote from a place of love, of knowing that she'd been through the same shit as all the women before her, and avoiding a sanctimonious, pathologising, or victim-blaming tone, because as she points out, you can't create a fatphobic society and then blame girls for following its decrees faithfully. A groundbreaking work.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This immediately became one of the best books I have read so far this year; it kinda gave me a lot of hope for the future, despite being extremely clear and honest about all the ways the world is messed up and imperialism and white supremacy are an absolute threat to humanity.
The first essay in the collection really surprised me because I did not expect a recollection of moments in communist Russia to be the opener! I figured it would all be like the "Poetry is not a luxury" essay, or like "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house", but this first essay was really different. It was more like journal excerpts, and was actually really compelling once I got into it because it offered glimpses of what a socialist/communist society could look like. Lorde is so honest about the things that don't quite work so well, then compares them to the way they work under capitalist western societies and makes the reader realise that there isn't anything that capitalism can actually do better than such alternatives. It was so interesting!
The last essay on Grenada was also very insightful, because I knew about US interference with politics in Latin America, but the things they did in the Caribbean were so similar and I wasn't aware of those. It's truly criminal and the day the US empire core implodes and falls will be a day of great peace for the nations of this world.
Aside from these essays on historical and current politics, the ones that go into theory and philosophy are what I would say Lorde is most known for, and it's absolutely deserved because she has a way of reading the way we all relate to one another, and of figuring out where our impulses and feelings come from, that is just so lucid. I liked the ways she talked about masculinity in relation to motherhood, heterosexism and feminism, and her way of imagining how we can go about bringing revolution into existence.
So many of her passages hit me so hard that they feel like a compass to guide me and help me be a better human and generally the person I want to be. Specifically, when she said "pain either changes or ends" I felt so so so emotional, and I think of this in regards to my past suicidal impulses a lot. It's so true, and the kind of thing I will keep close to my heart to use as a reminder when I am going through a tough time.
Oh, and the other thing that resonated with me a lot was her background and her non-conventional journey into writing and academia and poetry. As someone who had a shitty time during part of my attempt at being and working in the academy, it's good and inspiring to see that art can flourish outside of the institutions that try to gatekeep it.
Very chaotic review because my thoughts about it are a little scattered, but I enjoyed and found all of it very, very good. This is the kind of book that you want to push into every person's hands because if we all read these words the world would get a little better. Thank you, Audre Lorde <3
The first essay in the collection really surprised me because I did not expect a recollection of moments in communist Russia to be the opener! I figured it would all be like the "Poetry is not a luxury" essay, or like "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house", but this first essay was really different. It was more like journal excerpts, and was actually really compelling once I got into it because it offered glimpses of what a socialist/communist society could look like. Lorde is so honest about the things that don't quite work so well, then compares them to the way they work under capitalist western societies and makes the reader realise that there isn't anything that capitalism can actually do better than such alternatives. It was so interesting!
The last essay on Grenada was also very insightful, because I knew about US interference with politics in Latin America, but the things they did in the Caribbean were so similar and I wasn't aware of those. It's truly criminal and the day the US empire core implodes and falls will be a day of great peace for the nations of this world.
Aside from these essays on historical and current politics, the ones that go into theory and philosophy are what I would say Lorde is most known for, and it's absolutely deserved because she has a way of reading the way we all relate to one another, and of figuring out where our impulses and feelings come from, that is just so lucid. I liked the ways she talked about masculinity in relation to motherhood, heterosexism and feminism, and her way of imagining how we can go about bringing revolution into existence.
So many of her passages hit me so hard that they feel like a compass to guide me and help me be a better human and generally the person I want to be. Specifically, when she said "pain either changes or ends" I felt so so so emotional, and I think of this in regards to my past suicidal impulses a lot. It's so true, and the kind of thing I will keep close to my heart to use as a reminder when I am going through a tough time.
Oh, and the other thing that resonated with me a lot was her background and her non-conventional journey into writing and academia and poetry. As someone who had a shitty time during part of my attempt at being and working in the academy, it's good and inspiring to see that art can flourish outside of the institutions that try to gatekeep it.
Very chaotic review because my thoughts about it are a little scattered, but I enjoyed and found all of it very, very good. This is the kind of book that you want to push into every person's hands because if we all read these words the world would get a little better. Thank you, Audre Lorde <3
Females by Andrea Long Chu
2.0
Interesting thought experiments, but in the end it did not really create a lasting impression of any kind because it often veered towards the sensationalist and the provocative with no reason other than "we're exploring this". Not all books need to have a message, but if you are writing a book of theory, even if it's a thought experiment, I expect it to at least attempt to go somewhere with it. Instead the concepts felt scattered and did not really build on one another aside from the fact they were all related to the main premise of the book ("everybody is female, and everybody hates it"). Some were interesting and I would have read more on them, such as the thoughts on pick-up artists and incels and how they perceived and related to masculinity and femininity (their own and others', particularly other men's). But other things such as the Valerie Solanas of it all weren't of my own particular interest and so I wasn't particularly invested in them.
I'm glad I read this book, and I will keep it for reference because it is definitely a unique piece of queer theory that had some really good one-liners, but it was just ok, not quite for me, and not something that will impact my life in any capacity.
I'm glad I read this book, and I will keep it for reference because it is definitely a unique piece of queer theory that had some really good one-liners, but it was just ok, not quite for me, and not something that will impact my life in any capacity.
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book was enjoyable, but I think not enough for me to say I enjoyed reading it, if that makes sense. I thought the main character, Miyoung, was sweet and endearing, but most of the book involved things happening to her instead of her going and doing things. As such, the supporting cast were more interesting to read about than she was, especially the love interest, Jihoon. I thought he had realistic, complex problems and responded the way a teenager would. So did Somin, his best friend. The familial relationships in the novel were portrayed in a very compassionate way yet the weren't simplified just for the sake of making the story palatable to teens.
Unfortunately, I think the book did not really handle the fantasy elements of the story very well, the conflict to be solved in that regard seemed to be changing every so often, and it'd feel like we were wandering aimlessly alongside the main character as she tried to know what the hell was going on. The characters never hit a point where the premise of their goals was clear, so it seemed like the goal itself was "figure out what is happening in the first place". And by the time we did figure that out, there was not much time for a satisfying resolution.
The way the Korean folklore was incorporated into the worldbuilding was very well done, but the way that worldbuilding was incorporated into the plot was not. Still, I feel like the second book in the duology might still be worth reading, as it focuses on two characters I found really fun, Somin and Junu. But this first book is not making me want to prioritise it just yet.
Unfortunately, I think the book did not really handle the fantasy elements of the story very well, the conflict to be solved in that regard seemed to be changing every so often, and it'd feel like we were wandering aimlessly alongside the main character as she tried to know what the hell was going on. The characters never hit a point where the premise of their goals was clear, so it seemed like the goal itself was "figure out what is happening in the first place". And by the time we did figure that out, there was not much time for a satisfying resolution.
The way the Korean folklore was incorporated into the worldbuilding was very well done, but the way that worldbuilding was incorporated into the plot was not. Still, I feel like the second book in the duology might still be worth reading, as it focuses on two characters I found really fun, Somin and Junu. But this first book is not making me want to prioritise it just yet.