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brennanaphone's reviews
651 reviews
Babel by R.F. Kuang
3.0
Gorgeously written, and there's a lot to like, but I don't think it really held together.
Firstly, I love the idea of the semantic variations that are lost in translation between two languages being the source of magic. One, because colonialist Europeans would definitely pillage the shit out of other cultures in order to "mine" their words and two, because treating said magic as a product for profit would eventually deplete the resource and ravage the country of origin. It's a super cool concept! Having the characters largely be from disenfranchised origins who are facing steep discrimination is a refreshing perspective in historical/fantasy fiction. In a lot of ways it feels like an angry rebuttal to JK Rowling, wherein Hermione Granger is pulled in unchanged and made into a deeply clueless white girl who is queen of microaggressions and white feminist tears. Great stuff.
The reason this really didn't hold together for me is because it is an attempt at an alternate British history with no alterations. For all of its footnotes and FUNDAMENTAL magic, it does not achieve what Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell so deftly managed: It does not create a magical society with a foundation of magic that looks any different from history without that magic. And the book's premise is that England's whole system relies on the magic in order to function at all, so that's a pretty glaring hole.
On top of that, there's a lot of modern rhetoric and language in a story set in the 1800s. Rather than approaching racism from the perspectives and biases of the time, it's often like reading a Tumblr post from 2013, and occasionally it just hits you over the head with "Racism is bad!" (sometimes saying exactly that verbatim in the footnotes). It's a bit insulting, honestly, and it feels like the author doesn't trust you to get there on your own. And finally, what made me the saddest was that the ENTIRE introduction was the author explaining that--in this FANTASY book--she had made some slight alterations to Oxford's campus, but don't worry, because she totally went there and she definitely belongs there, and please don't think that she made a mistake, it was totally on purpose, here are the dates she attended the school and all of her favorite things to do there. In a book about characters of color who are made to feel they don't belong at Oxford, I found this incredibly heartbreaking but also oddly lacking in self-awareness.
Firstly, I love the idea of the semantic variations that are lost in translation between two languages being the source of magic. One, because colonialist Europeans would definitely pillage the shit out of other cultures in order to "mine" their words and two, because treating said magic as a product for profit would eventually deplete the resource and ravage the country of origin. It's a super cool concept! Having the characters largely be from disenfranchised origins who are facing steep discrimination is a refreshing perspective in historical/fantasy fiction. In a lot of ways it feels like an angry rebuttal to JK Rowling, wherein Hermione Granger is pulled in unchanged and made into a deeply clueless white girl who is queen of microaggressions and white feminist tears. Great stuff.
The reason this really didn't hold together for me is because it is an attempt at an alternate British history with no alterations. For all of its footnotes and FUNDAMENTAL magic, it does not achieve what Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell so deftly managed: It does not create a magical society with a foundation of magic that looks any different from history without that magic. And the book's premise is that England's whole system relies on the magic in order to function at all, so that's a pretty glaring hole.
On top of that, there's a lot of modern rhetoric and language in a story set in the 1800s. Rather than approaching racism from the perspectives and biases of the time, it's often like reading a Tumblr post from 2013, and occasionally it just hits you over the head with "Racism is bad!" (sometimes saying exactly that verbatim in the footnotes). It's a bit insulting, honestly, and it feels like the author doesn't trust you to get there on your own. And finally, what made me the saddest was that the ENTIRE introduction was the author explaining that--in this FANTASY book--she had made some slight alterations to Oxford's campus, but don't worry, because she totally went there and she definitely belongs there, and please don't think that she made a mistake, it was totally on purpose, here are the dates she attended the school and all of her favorite things to do there. In a book about characters of color who are made to feel they don't belong at Oxford, I found this incredibly heartbreaking but also oddly lacking in self-awareness.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
3.0
The translator who wrote the English version of this deserves an award for finding the right way of presenting a lot of the jokes and wordplay of this oddly fun book about a hostage situation with a heavy dose of suicidal backstory.
Backman's style reminds me a lot of Nick Hornby: strong, dry, and witty voice with a penchant toward the light and humorous while still having a lot of tragedy in the story itself. It made for a fun, twisty read
Backman's style reminds me a lot of Nick Hornby: strong, dry, and witty voice with a penchant toward the light and humorous while still having a lot of tragedy in the story itself. It made for a fun, twisty read
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
4.0
I really loved this book. I wasn't expecting a sequel to follow tertiary characters, but I'm so glad it did. I think the story of Pepper/Jane 23 was beautifully wrought and expertly told. She writes of loneliness, personhood, and the timelessness of being a teenager and hating your mom--even when she's a well-meaning ship's computer--with pathos and humor. Just a gorgeous, heartwarming story without ever being sentimental or cheesy.
I will admit I cared less about Sidra's story, but it didn't bother me. I just mostly wanted to spend the whole book in the Jane storyline.
I will admit I cared less about Sidra's story, but it didn't bother me. I just mostly wanted to spend the whole book in the Jane storyline.
Room by Emma Donoghue
5.0
Donoghue pulls off a real high-wire act with this book. I probably wouldn't be able to make it through this story if it was from the mother's perspective, wherein she has been kidnapped and held in a 12'x12' room for seven years, five of which include her son, Jack. But the book is from Jack's perspective, and the sweetness and innocence of his narrative (and the nuanced reality of his thought patterns, speech patterns, and observations!) are compelling as hell.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
3.0
I love and will read any and all Murderbot diary entries, but this one felt a little same-y, and the extended length didn't feel strictly necessary. Not my favorite of the lot but still a solid and fun read.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
5.0
How dare she write two robots for me to love so completely.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
4.0
A lot of books written about racism in America seem to agree with Trevor Noah's assertion that in the U.S. "Black is a one-way street." This is a beautiful exploration of the prevalence of colorism in the States and the way that it often goes unexamined in conversations about race. Twin Black sisters who are passing: one has a daughter with a dark-skinned Black man, the other has a daughter with a white man, and that's all it takes to lead to radically different lives with huge disparities in assumptions and privileges.
The most beautiful parts of this book are about the strain and fractures of not belonging, and that mostly centered around the two sisters, one who is too white for her abusive husband but who brings home a daughter too dark for her community, and one who leaves for good to pass as white. I wanted more about Desiree, whose story sort of peters out partway through the book once she comes home, but I loved every moment of Stella's perspective as she lives her life as a white woman, feeling hunted and paranoid, willing to throw other Black people under the bus to keep her secret. The parts beyond the sisters that continued with their daughters (and their wildly unlikely meeting) was interesting in a thought experiment kind of way, but it didn't grip me the way the story of the twins did.
The most beautiful parts of this book are about the strain and fractures of not belonging, and that mostly centered around the two sisters, one who is too white for her abusive husband but who brings home a daughter too dark for her community, and one who leaves for good to pass as white. I wanted more about Desiree, whose story sort of peters out partway through the book once she comes home, but I loved every moment of Stella's perspective as she lives her life as a white woman, feeling hunted and paranoid, willing to throw other Black people under the bus to keep her secret. The parts beyond the sisters that continued with their daughters (and their wildly unlikely meeting) was interesting in a thought experiment kind of way, but it didn't grip me the way the story of the twins did.