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root's reviews
43 reviews
Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew
1.0
Picked up this book thinking it was going to be about neuroethics and bioethics in technology developed for disabled people, for example the recent incident where a brain implant company declared bankruptcy and forced their patients to undergo a second brain surgery in order to take the implants out to "recoup their losses."
Instead it's a long-form Twitter thread explaining the bare baby basics of the social model of disability, complete with sarcastic condescending introduction, alongside a little "did you know? Pokemon and Dungeons & Dragons are autistic technologies, because so many autistic people like it. My favorite TikTok account said so!"
I wrote some critiques of this book twice but kept losing the text due to my connection so you'll just have to pretend I talked at length about things like the prioritization of LSN autistic conceptualizations, the way that arguments where you insist [insert marginalization] are actually the majority and really hammer in how we are Super Normal™ is reflective of a primarily white flavor of activism whose core goal is to allow the person to access the privileges they had before they became marginalized as opposed to asking why we have to treat anyone different or simply existing as a small populace as less than, etc.
Instead it's a long-form Twitter thread explaining the bare baby basics of the social model of disability, complete with sarcastic condescending introduction, alongside a little "did you know? Pokemon and Dungeons & Dragons are autistic technologies, because so many autistic people like it. My favorite TikTok account said so!"
I wrote some critiques of this book twice but kept losing the text due to my connection so you'll just have to pretend I talked at length about things like the prioritization of LSN autistic conceptualizations, the way that arguments where you insist [insert marginalization] are actually the majority and really hammer in how we are Super Normal™ is reflective of a primarily white flavor of activism whose core goal is to allow the person to access the privileges they had before they became marginalized as opposed to asking why we have to treat anyone different or simply existing as a small populace as less than, etc.
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
2.0
Simultaneously not enough of a memoir and not enough of a nonfiction book about fauna and flora. Incoherently organized and bounces nonlinearly throughout the author's life without any cohesion or explanation. This is in part explained by the fact that at the end you find out these are a series of unrelated articles written by the author, but at the least they could have been organized in some way such as by time period or even by publication date. The formula is essentially discussing some small window of the author's life and staying "this is just like [insert animal]" with a list of incredibly basic facts about the plant or animal akin to skimming an encyclopedia entry. I did not feel as if I received enough information about the author as a memoir, as well, with sometimes only a couple sentences before it moves on to nature for another couple sentences. It results in the book feeling disjointed in both the memoir end and the nature nonfiction end. This needed to lean more toward one or the other, as the author could not juggle both. It is a small mercy that this was such a quick read.
As an aside it is getting really boring for me to see diaspora write about situations like being told their food is weird by a classmate and how that was just SO deeply awful for them that they ran home and screamed at their immigrant parents to never make it again because they hate it so so bad and then they decided to never think about culture until they hit adulthood. Catering to a white liberal audience is the only way I can really think this works because what do you think that conveys to readers from your culture(s)? That you rejected them for so long? And for what? Over what?
As an aside it is getting really boring for me to see diaspora write about situations like being told their food is weird by a classmate and how that was just SO deeply awful for them that they ran home and screamed at their immigrant parents to never make it again because they hate it so so bad and then they decided to never think about culture until they hit adulthood. Catering to a white liberal audience is the only way I can really think this works because what do you think that conveys to readers from your culture(s)? That you rejected them for so long? And for what? Over what?
Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky
dark
sad
5.0
This novel is a beautiful and stark picture of grief, guilt, and love in a way that pulls you hazily into its narrative of the simultaneous isolation and collective experience of grief. It's definitely very dark, particularly in its exploration of mother-daughter relationships, loss, and self harm. I wouldn't lightly recommend it to anyone, though it is fantastically written.
I think towards the later quarter of the book it sort of fizzled out, unfortunately. I did not find the ending satisfactory and it felt a bit sudden and choppy whereas the rest of the book felt like lazily meandering through a cohesive set of events that strung together in an almost ineluctible way. I think the understanding of choice could have been better portrayed without changing the tune of the story quite so much. I was also looking forward to a more conclusive ending--not necessarily a closed ending, but not quite as sudden and open as it was. I wanted an ending that had a stronger bite to it, no matter what that bite was like.
I think towards the later quarter of the book it sort of fizzled out, unfortunately. I did not find the ending satisfactory and it felt a bit sudden and choppy whereas the rest of the book felt like lazily meandering through a cohesive set of events that strung together in an almost ineluctible way. I think the understanding of choice could have been better portrayed without changing the tune of the story quite so much. I was also looking forward to a more conclusive ending--not necessarily a closed ending, but not quite as sudden and open as it was. I wanted an ending that had a stronger bite to it, no matter what that bite was like.
How Nonviolence Protects the State by Peter Gelderloos
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
Author has some points but the way it's being delivered in such a deeply condescending and tokenizing way, and the way he writes about actions/movements done by nonwhite nations/individuals of color, drove me up a fucking wall.
Suppose we can't expect too much from someone who puts a Defiance Ohio lyric in the front.
Suppose we can't expect too much from someone who puts a Defiance Ohio lyric in the front.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Very fun read. It's definitely incredibly slow paced, which can understandably turn off an audience that is typically attracted to aspects of the story present in the synopsis and cover. But I personally enjoy taking a little stroll through someone's mind, and I think if the pace were faster it would no longer fit the main character's personality or the themes of the book.
A wonderfully layered story.
A wonderfully layered story.
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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
When I added this to my TBR, I thought it would be more inline with a botanical textbook regarding traditional medicinal plants, native species, perhaps some information on deforestation and historical and current food forests.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a mixture of memoir, folklore, botany, indigenous history and rights, and the relationship between humans and the world at large. It's a beautifully woven book that not just connects but openly states that indigenous knowledge is not separate or distinct from scientific knowledge, whole critiquing the colonial aspects of the scientific community. I learned quite a lot about trees, which I was not expecting to, given similar botanical textbooks often focus on herbs and such.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a mixture of memoir, folklore, botany, indigenous history and rights, and the relationship between humans and the world at large. It's a beautifully woven book that not just connects but openly states that indigenous knowledge is not separate or distinct from scientific knowledge, whole critiquing the colonial aspects of the scientific community. I learned quite a lot about trees, which I was not expecting to, given similar botanical textbooks often focus on herbs and such.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
It's about the literary equivalent of a romantic Hallmark movie at Christmas: trite, predictable, and with deeply stereotypical characters with all the depth of a cardboard cutout, but all in good fun.
Honestly without all the fae lore I do not think I could have made it through a book where the two main characters are so incredibly boring. The fae stuff was fun though.
Honestly without all the fae lore I do not think I could have made it through a book where the two main characters are so incredibly boring. The fae stuff was fun though.