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wetherspoonsgf's reviews
60 reviews
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wish he didn't quote his own Guardian long read in this, but otherwise it's so good.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
This is some of the most beautiful prose ever written, which feels especially important given how much time Djebar spends thinking about the act of writing and of writing in French throughout the book.
Part 1 and 2 have something of the feel of documentary filmmaking as Djebar narrates her (our) encounter with the archive as much as the events of France's colonisation of Algeria itself, interwoven with her autofiction, before Part 3 starts on this iterative, looping, contemplative three part structure of recovery and feminist re-narration of anti-colonial work and different decolonisations. I adore this book, I think the epigraph to the Finale alone is one of the cleverest pages in all of literature.
If this book was only as intelligent and reflective on language as it is I'd love it, but the fact that it's so deeply interested in language while being so transcendently well written is once-in-a-lifetime sort of stuff. Get this back into print!
Part 1 and 2 have something of the feel of documentary filmmaking as Djebar narrates her (our) encounter with the archive as much as the events of France's colonisation of Algeria itself, interwoven with her autofiction, before Part 3 starts on this iterative, looping, contemplative three part structure of recovery and feminist re-narration of anti-colonial work and different decolonisations. I adore this book, I think the epigraph to the Finale alone is one of the cleverest pages in all of literature.
If this book was only as intelligent and reflective on language as it is I'd love it, but the fact that it's so deeply interested in language while being so transcendently well written is once-in-a-lifetime sort of stuff. Get this back into print!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautifully, beautifully bitter reflection on the failures of decolonisation and the broken promises of socialist revolution in Ghana. Some slightly wonky gender politics, but wonky in a way that means I think I'm going to write an essay about them.
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Much preferred this to My Place, though I was expecting it to commit to a trans/lesbian angle by the end and it did neither. Love the way Winch dives into aborginal language and uses it to drive characterisation and plot. I didn't expect it to end as hopeful as it did, and I'm not sure how I feel about it doing so. Really dislike the Yuval Noah Harari citation in the author's note at the very very end but what can you do.
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
good but not really theory. fun to read but they aren't a poet and are a millenial.
[in case I come back to this: Shabot's crticisms of cyborgs; libidinal vertigo, Lacan, and not topping; palliative activism against mind-body dualism]
[in case I come back to this: Shabot's crticisms of cyborgs; libidinal vertigo, Lacan, and not topping; palliative activism against mind-body dualism]
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
not a huge fan of how this executed its main premise, though I like that it tries to frustrate you as a reader, which i like.
feels a little too willing to let 1987-present australia wipe its hands of a lot of racism, and readings where it doesn't do that rely on an amount of faith in the narrative & construction that i can't quite find.
that said, i don't want to place unfair expectations on the book as an object of postcolonial literature, it's not as cut and dry as 'i didn't like it', but also, i didn't hugely like it. justice for nan.
feels a little too willing to let 1987-present australia wipe its hands of a lot of racism, and readings where it doesn't do that rely on an amount of faith in the narrative & construction that i can't quite find.
that said, i don't want to place unfair expectations on the book as an object of postcolonial literature, it's not as cut and dry as 'i didn't like it', but also, i didn't hugely like it. justice for nan.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
these space lesbians write like trans girls on twitter.