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merrrry's reviews
368 reviews
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
Most of this was decent to good. I liked Isaac Asimov’s voice more in his little blurbs before each story than in the stories themselves. Maybe some of the stories have aged a bit, but even the ones that explore cool and innovative ideas (in today’s standards) weren’t done super well. For example, the underwater story ‘s world and set-up was actually super cool, but the pacing and direction of the story was convoluted and underwhelming as a whole. I felt like Asimov was trying to pull shocking twists off every story, but none of the twists were very well executed or shocking. A lot of the commentary was also a little too blatant and surface-level (i.e., the feminist rhetoric felt performative for some reason). Asimov is iconic and respected for a reason though, which this collection definitely shows through its many unique ideas. It just wasn’t the greatest in terms of actual enjoyment on my end.
In a Day's Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America's Most Vulnerable Workers by Bernice Yeung
challenging
informative
3.5
Informative, but somewhat underwhelming. Mostly just kinda rehashed the one big point of “undocumented workers need rights too”, which is a very important message, but I feel like there wasn’t enough deep exploration of it. I think I did still learn from reading this though, especially through the first-person experiences, judicial cases, and unionization processes. All in all, I don’t think there was too much that I found especially new or engaging, but still definitely worth a read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
4.25
Listened to as audiobook. Nonfiction audiobooks are really growing on me, I may start replacing passive sitcom time with audiobook time instead. Anyways, this was good. It has been quite hyped so I went in with high expectations, and while it didn’t disappoint, I don’t feel particularly inspired or otherwise moved by it either. Paul Kalanithi is highly admirable and brave — someone who was clearly a mark above the rest from the start intellectually. I think that aspect of him made this book a little hard to really relate to. His fixation and philosophy on death was interesting; not entirely groundbreaking, but compelling. His unique viewpoint as a top of the world neurosurgeon/neuroscientist with his life pulled out from under him was devastating, however, I didn’t feel this devastation until the epilogue written by his wife. I also found it amusing how often scientific analogies and lingo made it into his writing. Clearly this man threw his whole being into his work. His love for literature and background with english lit was also really cool. He really came across as someone who pursued things he was passionate about and genuinely wanted to learn about, which is quite rare in my own observations. All in all, this was a good book, I’m just really burnt out from academia and medicine, so this made me more sad than inspired.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
reflective
4.25
Listened to entirely as an audiobook. Popular and studied in schools for a reason! Maybe it's recency bias, but I think I liked this better than Education. I feel like this book effectively communicated a lot of the same messages (with less emphasis on education) but with more nuanced family dynamics and character writing.
I was so genuinely frustrated with Jeanette’s parents as we got closer to the end — especially her mom. Clearly her parents have gone through their share of trauma and neglect, but Rosemary Wall's lack of self awareness and selfishness made me equal parts angry and sad. Rex Walls on the other hand I could almost somewhat ‘understand’, probably because I felt more sad than mad seeing him. (Obviously Jeannette was more biased towards her dad, which she was completely aware of and open about, so she probably wrote a more forgiving depiction of Rex over Rosemary. But still.) Rex Walls was at least somewhat aware that he was disappointing his children and at least (tried to) make attempts to better himself for his children. His stubbornness over having a role in his kids life was a whole source of issues too, but at least the thought was there, especially at the end. The alcoholic tendencies and constant disappearances are maybe objectively less forgivable, but Rosemary's presence did not feel any more useful to me. We got a glimpse into a possible reason why Rex acted the way he did (i.e. sexual abuse from a young age), meanwhile Rosemary’s entire ‘backstory’ was having an overly strict mom. Maybe a whole barrage of other issues lead to Rosemary being the way she is today, but based on only the info we were given, she came across as immature and petty. Both Rex and Rosemary were entirely self-absorbed narcissists as a whole; their kids were just extensions of themselves to them, a part of the perfect dream life they tried so hard to manifest. Once the kids started being more individual (i.e. acting like humans), their parents always flipped or dissociated to cope. Cannot believe how a couple this dysfunctional happened to find someone so perfect matched to their very flawed selves. Their FOUR children literally got no reprieve. Even their relatives were horrible.
Its super interesting to think about the entire story with the context of it having been written from a highly biased and involved party, thus removing most objectivity from the whole thing. I also really liked the progression of the story. Beginning in medias res, then jumping back to the beginning when the romance of nomadic life was still in full force, albeit with some heavy notes of foreshadowing the entire time. It’s also really interesting to see how Jeannette’s career as a journalist affects her writing style. There was very little mention of her own feelings throughout the book, although we were able to gather a lot from her physical reactions. The lack of personal angst and philosophizing was actually quite refreshing, and her almost blunt way of plowing through life was evident in her writing style: very little spent on her own feelings, with energy focused on moving through the story until the problem has been solved.
As always, this review has been a bit incoherent, but I just want to say that this (and other books like Education) give a very intriguing and morbidly fascinating view of America. When people say that the US is just 52 countries clumped together, they aren’t kidding. So many things shocked me when I read this: the fact that segregation is still commonplace practice in Welch, the amount of bullying and dog-eat-dog mentality in small towns, the horrible teachers and lack of common sense about education and child care, the unapologetic gun violence (and violence in general)... America really has the best of the best and the worse of the worse.
I was so genuinely frustrated with Jeanette’s parents as we got closer to the end — especially her mom. Clearly her parents have gone through their share of trauma and neglect, but Rosemary Wall's lack of self awareness and selfishness made me equal parts angry and sad. Rex Walls on the other hand I could almost somewhat ‘understand’, probably because I felt more sad than mad seeing him. (Obviously Jeannette was more biased towards her dad, which she was completely aware of and open about, so she probably wrote a more forgiving depiction of Rex over Rosemary. But still.) Rex Walls was at least somewhat aware that he was disappointing his children and at least (tried to) make attempts to better himself for his children. His stubbornness over having a role in his kids life was a whole source of issues too, but at least the thought was there, especially at the end. The alcoholic tendencies and constant disappearances are maybe objectively less forgivable, but Rosemary's presence did not feel any more useful to me. We got a glimpse into a possible reason why Rex acted the way he did (i.e. sexual abuse from a young age), meanwhile Rosemary’s entire ‘backstory’ was having an overly strict mom. Maybe a whole barrage of other issues lead to Rosemary being the way she is today, but based on only the info we were given, she came across as immature and petty. Both Rex and Rosemary were entirely self-absorbed narcissists as a whole; their kids were just extensions of themselves to them, a part of the perfect dream life they tried so hard to manifest. Once the kids started being more individual (i.e. acting like humans), their parents always flipped or dissociated to cope. Cannot believe how a couple this dysfunctional happened to find someone so perfect matched to their very flawed selves. Their FOUR children literally got no reprieve. Even their relatives were horrible.
Its super interesting to think about the entire story with the context of it having been written from a highly biased and involved party, thus removing most objectivity from the whole thing. I also really liked the progression of the story. Beginning in medias res, then jumping back to the beginning when the romance of nomadic life was still in full force, albeit with some heavy notes of foreshadowing the entire time. It’s also really interesting to see how Jeannette’s career as a journalist affects her writing style. There was very little mention of her own feelings throughout the book, although we were able to gather a lot from her physical reactions. The lack of personal angst and philosophizing was actually quite refreshing, and her almost blunt way of plowing through life was evident in her writing style: very little spent on her own feelings, with energy focused on moving through the story until the problem has been solved.
As always, this review has been a bit incoherent, but I just want to say that this (and other books like Education) give a very intriguing and morbidly fascinating view of America. When people say that the US is just 52 countries clumped together, they aren’t kidding. So many things shocked me when I read this: the fact that segregation is still commonplace practice in Welch, the amount of bullying and dog-eat-dog mentality in small towns, the horrible teachers and lack of common sense about education and child care, the unapologetic gun violence (and violence in general)... America really has the best of the best and the worse of the worse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
I was even more asleep during this one than the first one, so I remember even less about the book oof. We got Martin Freeman this time on the audio, who I was a fan of, but I was just finding the book really boring.
Was gonna push through the entire compendium but I got 3 chapters into book three (non-audiobook to make sure it's not just the audiobook's problem) and just could not bring myself to go through more. Although reviews seem to say that book 3 is where it starts to go downhill in general, so this was by no means a well-designed experiment, and maybe it was the audiobooks issue after all .
I was so out of it reading this I can't even rate it.
Was gonna push through the entire compendium but I got 3 chapters into book three (non-audiobook to make sure it's not just the audiobook's problem) and just could not bring myself to go through more. Although reviews seem to say that book 3 is where it starts to go downhill in general, so this was by no means a well-designed experiment, and maybe it was the audiobooks issue after all .
I was so out of it reading this I can't even rate it.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2.75
Listened (mostly) on audiobook. Thought I would love this because absurd British satire is usually exactly what I like. Alas, I didn't really like this. It took me a couple tries to get into it, and I finally managed to get it rolling using the audiobook, but I'm very bad at listening to fiction, especially when the book is this reliant on clever one liners and built up running jokes and details. I feel like I would love this as a show or anime or something. I also did not find this particularly funny — not even nose exhale funny. As a whole I was just bored throughout and didn't really care for the plot or characters. I honestly can't even remember what most of this was about because I fell asleep everytime I listened to this. I know it's not Stephen Fry's fault tho :(
This enters the pile of books I respect more than I enjoy. 2 for enjoyment + bonus 0.75 for respect ⇒ 2.75/5
This enters the pile of books I respect more than I enjoy. 2 for enjoyment + bonus 0.75 for respect ⇒ 2.75/5
Suicide by Édouard Levé
dark
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
“In art, to reduce is to perfect. Your disappearance bestowed a negative beauty on you.”
Very poetic. I’m surprised how nice the prose was considering this is a translated work. The second person narrative was a little jarring, but it was alright once I got used to it. This was one of those books that is so densely packed with profound (or trying to be profound) lines that it became a little hard to read at times. It was more philosophizing than narrative most of the time so I could only read in small chunks. The romanticization of death and its relation to suicide was interesting, but not particularly moving imo. Still enjoyed the experiences of reading this overall tho.
Very poetic. I’m surprised how nice the prose was considering this is a translated work. The second person narrative was a little jarring, but it was alright once I got used to it. This was one of those books that is so densely packed with profound (or trying to be profound) lines that it became a little hard to read at times. It was more philosophizing than narrative most of the time so I could only read in small chunks. The romanticization of death and its relation to suicide was interesting, but not particularly moving imo. Still enjoyed the experiences of reading this overall tho.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
lighthearted
4.0
Super solid poetry collection. It may be marketed to children, but the poems definitely stand the test of time and growth.
Saga: Compendium One by Brian K. Vaughan
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I started reading Saga pre-hiatus back in high school. Every issue ripped me to shreds and the end of issue 54 w r e c k e d me. Commence the hiatus that would last through almost the entirety of my undergraduate degree. We are currently a month and a bit off of the release of volume 55, and I’ve just finished my first reread of everything just now. I did not expect everything to still hit me so hard. I thought I remembered the crucial plot points and deaths— I didn’t— but even when I did, every single punch still hurt.
Obviously, having my two favourite characters killed off so close to each other has me going through all stages of grief right now, but the small heartwarming moments throughout killed me again too. This series is leaving me with the biggest post book depression but at the same time, I’m not ready for the next issue. I can’t handle seeing people dealing with the deaths of Prince IV and Marko. Also, The Will was one of my favourite characters since the beginning, but his killing Marko and Prince IV and desire to get back into the bounty hunting world (that he was on track to leaving) has really knocked him down A LOT. His simple dismissal of Sophie, Gwendolyn and Lying Cat was very frustrating.
I have too many feelings about this series in general to say anything more about it coherently, but I just have to say that in this reread I realized that Prince IV is (fanfic) Draco Malfoy but with a tv head. Apparently there’s nothing I like more than a tragic antihero who is self-destructive, selfish, is generally a dick, is intensely fixated on only one or two people, but is also capable and dedicated. Unfortunately, like (canon) Draco, we will never see a full redemption arc. Poor Squire :(
Obviously, having my two favourite characters killed off so close to each other has me going through all stages of grief right now, but the small heartwarming moments throughout killed me again too. This series is leaving me with the biggest post book depression but at the same time, I’m not ready for the next issue. I can’t handle seeing people dealing with the deaths of Prince IV and Marko. Also, The Will was one of my favourite characters since the beginning, but his killing Marko and Prince IV and desire to get back into the bounty hunting world (that he was on track to leaving) has really knocked him down A LOT. His simple dismissal of Sophie, Gwendolyn and Lying Cat was very frustrating.
I have too many feelings about this series in general to say anything more about it coherently, but I just have to say that in this reread I realized that Prince IV is (fanfic) Draco Malfoy but with a tv head. Apparently there’s nothing I like more than a tragic antihero who is self-destructive, selfish, is generally a dick, is intensely fixated on only one or two people, but is also capable and dedicated. Unfortunately, like (canon) Draco, we will never see a full redemption arc. Poor Squire :(
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook -- What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us about Loss, Love, an by Bruce D. Perry, Maia Szalavitz
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
5.0
Is Dr. Bruce Perry giving me the irrational want to be a psychiatrist? Maybe. The stories included here were sad but riveting. Dr. Perry’s empathetic and humanistic approach to his work is highly inspiring, and the cases he chose to highlight were moving. He was able to highlight the importance of not only his own work, but the work of his medical team, research team, social workers, therapists, parents, teachers, police, and countless more people. Emphasis that was placed on less obviously related issues such as intergenerational trauma and the lack of support and care for case workers was also insightful and new (to me). Regardless of the topic or even when he was critiquing something, Dr. Perry was able to relay his stance in an honest, assertive, but empathetic way. It was also very nice to be hit in the end with that fact that Alberta has implemented NMT as the main framework for supportive work. I could not stop listening to this.