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alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)
WHAT.
I can’t say anything cuz everything would be a spoiler.
This book is good in a thought-provoking, #metoo, literary kind of way. It’s about a group of theatre students at a performing arts school whose larger-than-life, Dead Poet’s Society-style teacher provokes and influences them for the rest of their lives.
I understand the ending but would love to hear if other people understood it the same way I did.
PS the first part of the book is a big turn off and kind of pushes readers away. Keep reading until you reach the second part. The first part is intentionally unrealistic and is not, as I first thought, poor writing on the author’s part. It’s intentional.
PS the audiobook has lots of mispronounced words.
I can’t say anything cuz everything would be a spoiler.
This book is good in a thought-provoking, #metoo, literary kind of way. It’s about a group of theatre students at a performing arts school whose larger-than-life, Dead Poet’s Society-style teacher provokes and influences them for the rest of their lives.
I understand the ending but would love to hear if other people understood it the same way I did.
PS the first part of the book is a big turn off and kind of pushes readers away. Keep reading until you reach the second part. The first part is intentionally unrealistic and is not, as I first thought, poor writing on the author’s part. It’s intentional.
PS the audiobook has lots of mispronounced words.
The best way I know how to describe this collection of short stories is: Miranda July’s quirky charm meets Murakami’s sense of the ordinary.
The problem with Miranda July stories is that the characters are so... icky. Like, they are charming and then you discover they are deeply disturbed people and then they are just icky. You want to help them become healthy again, but you can’t because they are fake. And the problem with Murakami’s characters is that the majority of them are simply boring. Beautifully composed, but boring people.
So this book is like the best of both: quirky people living ordinary lives, but their quirkiness is actually pretty normal as far as internal monologues go (I found them relatable, I hope that doesn’t make you think I am a weirdo), and all the stories end on a nice note.
The problem with Miranda July stories is that the characters are so... icky. Like, they are charming and then you discover they are deeply disturbed people and then they are just icky. You want to help them become healthy again, but you can’t because they are fake. And the problem with Murakami’s characters is that the majority of them are simply boring. Beautifully composed, but boring people.
So this book is like the best of both: quirky people living ordinary lives, but their quirkiness is actually pretty normal as far as internal monologues go (I found them relatable, I hope that doesn’t make you think I am a weirdo), and all the stories end on a nice note.
Karl Ove Knausgard wrote one essay every day for a year. The result was divided into four books, one book for each season. The essays in the books are not all about themes of that season, but seasonal chores and daily life are often woven in. The essays are contemplative and bring transendance to the seemingly mundane world of the every day. Toilet bowls, drum kits, a bird, lights on a country road.
In summary: Wow, I never thought about that before.
In summary: Wow, I never thought about that before.
Ya’ll know how I love cults, right? I am head-over-heels for this book. The psychology and relational dynamics among the “Ashers” is perfectly developed and is exactly what I look for in cult books.
Before reading this book, I drafted a short story that is almost exactly like it. The endings are different, but so many things are similar. Obviously this book has plot holes resolved where my draft does not. But now I hope I will be able to resolve my holes differently.... ughh this book gets it so well.
Books about young women in cults (ranked):
1. The Ash Family
2. The Girls by Emma Cline
3. The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon.
Before reading this book, I drafted a short story that is almost exactly like it. The endings are different, but so many things are similar. Obviously this book has plot holes resolved where my draft does not. But now I hope I will be able to resolve my holes differently.... ughh this book gets it so well.
Books about young women in cults (ranked):
1. The Ash Family
2. The Girls by Emma Cline
3. The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon.
#AlisaReadstheWorld: Poland
Imagine Amelie was an old Polish witch (the hag sort). That’s really all you need to know.
The audiobook narration was great!
Imagine Amelie was an old Polish witch (the hag sort). That’s really all you need to know.
The audiobook narration was great!
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#AlisaReadsTheWorld: Denmark
This is like Ecclesiastes + Lord of the Flies.
It is really, really good.
But yikes.
This is like Ecclesiastes + Lord of the Flies.
It is really, really good.
But yikes.
This story is a lot like Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng—family secrets, arson, a Korean immigrant family struggling to relate to their Americanized daughter...
Miracle Creek is told from the perspective of whoever is on the witness stand at the murder trial of a woman who allegedly set fire to an oxygenized medical pressure chamber and killed her son along with several other patients. Every time a new witness takes the stand, you learn something new about that day and see the evidence in a new light. It’s a family drama at its heart, not a thriller, but it is masterfully written. I really am in awe of this author.
Miracle Creek is told from the perspective of whoever is on the witness stand at the murder trial of a woman who allegedly set fire to an oxygenized medical pressure chamber and killed her son along with several other patients. Every time a new witness takes the stand, you learn something new about that day and see the evidence in a new light. It’s a family drama at its heart, not a thriller, but it is masterfully written. I really am in awe of this author.
Three generations of Palestinian women living in a conservative Arab Muslim bubble in Brooklyn.
This story tracks generational grief and abuse, how they are cyclical and feed each other. How patriarchal cultures harm women (and men too, actually).
I liked this story. It's not perfect, but it was good.
This story tracks generational grief and abuse, how they are cyclical and feed each other. How patriarchal cultures harm women (and men too, actually).
I liked this story. It's not perfect, but it was good.
I kinda pretty early on in the book, but it was still nice to read. Teenage girl dynamics are always gonna be my thing.