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jentang's reviews
80 reviews
In the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami
3.75
Reading books drunk is so awesome. I can't really remember how this book ended but it was a wild ride for sure. Sloppy summer reading this summer I suppose
Piercing by Ryū Murakami
3.75
Definitely upwards trajectory in the Murakami works I've been reading - this has been his least painful and aggravating work to get through yet. A really unfortunately accurate look into the manifestations of childhood trauma and the effects of hardcore OCD. No real qualms with the writing, everything was quite intriguing and easy to follow and the characters were well fleshed out, but I do wish that Murakami himself would once in a while just take the plunge and stab the ice pick in when he writes, too. Psychological horrors don't always have to be open-ended and truly crime averse.
Audition by Ryū Murakami
3.0
The pacing of this novel is sure to win a medium distance sprint in a track meet, but definitely not the hearts of readers. Insanely unfulfilling ending that wasted a well built general Murakami air of mystery and otherworldliness. However, the entirety of the book was still quite gripping, and the plotline is really quite something. A read I would definitely recommend for passing time in Union Square with a large iced chai.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
3.75
Finally got around to this one thanks to Asian American Lit. It was definitely good - moving and poetic and all that. But I don't know, perhaps I've become desensitized to poetic literature thanks to the never ceasing influx of the same style of writing being published on TikTok and Twitter. I don't really interpret pretty, traumatic writing that well. I suppose I'll leave it to whoever is working on the A24 adaptation of this novel. It just kind of felt like it was meant to be read with Alison by Slowdive playing in the background the entire time. I don't think that was the actual intention of the author, of course. A lot of important stuff in here rooted in raw realities. Generational Asian trauma is no joke, no matter how oversimplified of a form it's taken on in Western society. A little bit excited to hopefully get more specific with this and write my final research paper examining the effects of parenting with PTSD.
Tastes Like War by Grace M. Cho
2.0
This book has done a terrific job of pissing me off! I originally thought it was one of the most significant memoirs I'd ever read - it made me feel sick to my stomach, distraught, and just inexplicably endlessly sorry. It spoke to a lot of relevant grief that had been building up inside of me lately. The topics explored were, I thought, cleverly fused and fleshed out, even though culture, mental health, and food aren't necessarily crazy matters to connect. This was all before I read about the realities of what had taken place within Cho's household and the more reasonable family dynamics explained on GoodReads by Cho's brother and sister-in-law. Upon reflecting on the book with this newly added context in mind, a great deal of its content becomes perturbing and disrespectful, a taunt to the deceased in her story as well as to her living family members, and anyone else unrelated to Cho who has actually personally faced struggles similar to those she tried depicting as her own. When will the trauma porn literature stop!!!!
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
4.25
Reading this book today was quite crazy considering just yesterday morning I had been searching for The Monkey King on Google as I'd remembered its existence (and subsequently realized I had forgotten how to say it in Chinese). I also want to get a name seal tattoo in the style of the stamp on the pages, so hopefully this will be a flash forward moment to in a few years when I'll have actually gotten it done. Anyways, what a touching little book! The suffering of minorities is awful but at least the unoriginality of it can lead to comfort across any given minority community, I suppose. I think the beauty of it is growing up and never wanting to be a Danny anymore. I miss being in Beijing and East Asia in general so much..
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
5.0
Holy shit!!! This book has collected dust on my to-read list for about 2 years now, but I finally got around to it today - funnily enough, the only reason I revisited it was thanks to my hope of using Kundera's connection with Tolstoy as the central focus of my final term paper for my War and Peace class. Perhaps it's all the life experience I've gained since I first added this book to my reading list, or the precursor of having had to stick with War and Peace for an entire semester, but I was instantly sucked into this novel today. It's really been blowing my mind lately just how good writers can be at capturing the genuine tragedies that come with womanhood, despite being old men. I suppose that I've been in a way conditioned to expect horrific things from an author trying to write a respectable, relatable female character, especially in a context filled with damaging sexual encounters and attitudes, having ingested a lot of absolutely perverted, shit writing from acclaimed authors of today. However, I felt wholly seen by Kundera. The idea that such damaged, unhealthy, ridiculous love has been around for so long is both comforting and a cause for total despair. I've always felt in life that I would either end up as either Tereza or Sabina - either settled but always trembling from combatting a grief larger than myself caused by said settlement, or always fleeing; I'd just never had human names to assign to these two outcomes before this novel. The alien body feeling, the repression of emotion, the internal turmoil that comes with betrayal you initiate yourself ... I could go on and on. Outside of Kundera's female characters, there was also so much cool shit in this book. The political philosophies in this were a dream compared to Tolstoy's writing, being both easy to follow and actually captivating. Kundera is able to easily pick apart an insanely tense political climate, revealing its buildup from simple human decisions borne of blind faith, mere desire to prove a point, or just plain pride. He is similarly easily able to remind readers how these simple origins end up having catastrophic effects. The beauty of Kundera's writing extends past his human characters, also!!! The final Karenin scene .... oh man
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4.0
Wow wow wow. I feel incredibly wrong rating this, but I've waited so long to log this book on here (the course of my entire Fall 2023 semester) that it also would be a waste not to. Whether you liked the novel or not, you have to give Tolstoy credit for being some form of actual genius. This is an incredible book to have written - massive, philosophical, political, romantic, historical, depressive, contemplative … truly insane. I don’t really make myself read classics of intense volumes, so maybe I’m just a little over impressed, but sometimes you need to stop and just appreciate the existence of a persistently significant piece of work. I did skim through a lot of this and wish for it to end nonstop, but there were also a good many chunks I tore through and even teared up at. (Justice for Sonya .. she was just a precious little cat girl with no family … ugh her storyline hurts me to no end) I need to go write 20 pages and make a 15-minute long presentation on this book now. UGHHHH.
Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin
4.0
One of those classic short stories that makes you want to use all of the typical New Yorker magazine book review buzzwords: poignant, timeless, essential piece of literature; etc., etc. A blend of art, addiction, humanity, and hatred in under 30 pages. Baldwin's depiction of desperation and need is raw and familiar, without needing any vehicles in the form of flashy literary devices. I would be surprised if this were not fact to most other readers. Pain and making peace with it are the pillars of mankind, and Baldwin's work is an ode as to such. I wonder how many more hours today I'll end up using just thinking about Sonny, and his all too familiar circumstances.