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alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)
This was really sweet. The conversations between Dante and Ari felt authentic, like the kind I had with my friends when I was a teen. Lin-Manuel Miranda doing the audio was nice, too.
I'm anxious to see the film Carol now, it looks gorgeous! And also I want to see how Therese's are portrayed. The whole time I was like,
Spoiler
mommy issuesSpoiler
Girl, this is not what a healthy relationship looks like! But in the end she redeems herself.
#AlisaReadstheWorld: Malaysia
This little collection of stories features female protagonists who have experiences with the liminal. There is usually an element of a ghost-like being in every story. In looking at the collection as a whole, you can see that the ghosts refer to women's experiences of being overlooked, unheard, unseen, unimportant.
I really enjoy reading about and eating food from "crossroads cultures," the term I use for countries that have an overlap of languages and peoples. Malaysia has a melting pot of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino cultures, among others, and the author gives nod to that with descriptions of accents, languages, and street scenes. Some of the conflicts in the stories are based on the differences that arise when you have people with very different backgrounds living together in the same spaces.
I read a few reviews on Goodreads where people complained about the translation, but I don't think that is at all the problem with this book. As someone who is paid to translate, I always pay close attention to the flow of a translation when I'm reading it. This one is quite good, and there were several times I thought, "That must have been a tricky sentence," or "That was a clever solution." It's hard to erase the awkwardness and clunkiness of the original language when you are translating, and it usually takes several passes to get all the kinks worked out. Of course, Asian languages tend to have a clipped quality to the sentences and romance languages often retain a (tiresome) long-windedness, because that's a reflection of how the author thinks and expresses themselves—it's a shadow of the original language that doesn't need to bed erased. My hunch is that these complainers were placing the blame in the wrong place: many of the individual stories do not have strong explanations of the metaphors or satisfying endings. I, too, wasn't overly fond of the stories where the ending just dropped off, but it is what it is.
This little collection of stories features female protagonists who have experiences with the liminal. There is usually an element of a ghost-like being in every story. In looking at the collection as a whole, you can see that the ghosts refer to women's experiences of being overlooked, unheard, unseen, unimportant.
I really enjoy reading about and eating food from "crossroads cultures," the term I use for countries that have an overlap of languages and peoples. Malaysia has a melting pot of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino cultures, among others, and the author gives nod to that with descriptions of accents, languages, and street scenes. Some of the conflicts in the stories are based on the differences that arise when you have people with very different backgrounds living together in the same spaces.
I read a few reviews on Goodreads where people complained about the translation, but I don't think that is at all the problem with this book. As someone who is paid to translate, I always pay close attention to the flow of a translation when I'm reading it. This one is quite good, and there were several times I thought, "That must have been a tricky sentence," or "That was a clever solution." It's hard to erase the awkwardness and clunkiness of the original language when you are translating, and it usually takes several passes to get all the kinks worked out. Of course, Asian languages tend to have a clipped quality to the sentences and romance languages often retain a (tiresome) long-windedness, because that's a reflection of how the author thinks and expresses themselves—it's a shadow of the original language that doesn't need to bed erased. My hunch is that these complainers were placing the blame in the wrong place: many of the individual stories do not have strong explanations of the metaphors or satisfying endings. I, too, wasn't overly fond of the stories where the ending just dropped off, but it is what it is.
#AlisaReadstheWorld: Singapore
This is an incredibly important story about the Japanese occupation of Singapore during WWII. It's a personal story that borrows from the author's family history.... a lot of pain and generational trauma, but also hope and healing.
I walked into this story pretty naive, not knowing that one of the main characters is taken as a comfort woman, so there is a lot of rape in the book. It made me ponder how much raping there was during WWII. Axis and Allied troops alike. What an awful history the world shares.
This is an incredibly important story about the Japanese occupation of Singapore during WWII. It's a personal story that borrows from the author's family history.... a lot of pain and generational trauma, but also hope and healing.
I walked into this story pretty naive, not knowing that one of the main characters is taken as a comfort woman, so there is a lot of rape in the book. It made me ponder how much raping there was during WWII. Axis and Allied troops alike. What an awful history the world shares.
#AlisaReadstheWorld: India
This story is about a 9-year-old boy who lives in a slum beside a luxury high rise in an Indian metropolis. He and his two friends investigate as children go missing from their neighborhood, since police do nothing even after being bribed. There is a sweet naiveté and resilience that is brought to the story by basing it on the voices of children.
The author is an Indian journalist who didn't have the chance to publish the stories of missing children as she wanted, so she wrote these characters as stand-ins for the estimated 180 children who go missing (read: are kidnapped) every day across India. Few of their names—let alone their stories— ever make the news. Class divides and abuse of minorities pile on top of the awful crimes and injustices already committed. All of that is present in the novel.
The writing is full of beautiful, physical language. The audiobook drew out the tangible quality of the words, sounds, and accents.
This story is about a 9-year-old boy who lives in a slum beside a luxury high rise in an Indian metropolis. He and his two friends investigate as children go missing from their neighborhood, since police do nothing even after being bribed. There is a sweet naiveté and resilience that is brought to the story by basing it on the voices of children.
The author is an Indian journalist who didn't have the chance to publish the stories of missing children as she wanted, so she wrote these characters as stand-ins for the estimated 180 children who go missing (read: are kidnapped) every day across India. Few of their names—let alone their stories— ever make the news. Class divides and abuse of minorities pile on top of the awful crimes and injustices already committed. All of that is present in the novel.
The writing is full of beautiful, physical language. The audiobook drew out the tangible quality of the words, sounds, and accents.
#AlisaReadstheWorld: South Korea
This collection of poetry is closely tied to the seasons, noticing the tiny changes in nature that signal changes in time or space. I like poetry about nature because it is a kind of escape out of my city-dwelling life. It makes me want to run to the mountains.
The translation doesn't feel clunky, and there are a few helpful notes about Korean mythology when referenced in a poem.
This collection of poetry is closely tied to the seasons, noticing the tiny changes in nature that signal changes in time or space. I like poetry about nature because it is a kind of escape out of my city-dwelling life. It makes me want to run to the mountains.
The translation doesn't feel clunky, and there are a few helpful notes about Korean mythology when referenced in a poem.
Tawara writes about the problems of modern love (from an introvert’s perspective, for sure), daily life, family relationships, and self-doubts. Even though she’s Japanese, and didn’t have to deal with eHarmony or Tindr when she was writing it, it’s super easy to nod along, smile ruefully because it’s true, and see yourself in her words.
This is a perfect read if you want to enjoy the structure of poetry, would like something that our references our contemporary condition, and is light yet thoughtful.
Full review on Papercuttts.
This is a perfect read if you want to enjoy the structure of poetry, would like something that our references our contemporary condition, and is light yet thoughtful.
Full review on Papercuttts.
SO interesting. Avid Muakami fans will find much in common with several of his fiction themes: isolation of the individual, isolation/pastiching of the self from the self, touching faintly on the supernatural, cults... no cats or jazz records though ;)
The first half of the book is edited transcripts of interviews that Murakami did with survivors of the 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. Murakami wrote a brief analysis after that half (I listened to this analysis part twice and want to find a text copy to study).
The second half is edited transcripts of interviews with people who were members of Aum Shinrikyo leading up to the time of the attacks (but not the people who actually did the gassing). Again afterward, Murakami presents an essay analysis in the form of an article that he wrote reviewing a biography of one of the members.
This book is so valuable because it's a distilled amount of first-hand accounts of PTSD, survivor's guilt, etc, and a bit of self-culture analysis on the part of the victims, and what exactly a cult does to suck people in deeper from the perspective of Aum members. Of course, all of it was fascinating, but the interviews with Aum followers was the most interesting part.
Some takeaways that struck me because I have seen these even in mainstream Christian churches:
- Guru-ism: One person has all the answers and you aspire to be like them
- Lack of sharing knowledge sources (example: does your pastor talk about what he read to prepare for the sermon? Few people just make things up, but beware the person who doesn't openly cite and by not doing so creates a dependence on him/her for getting knowledge)
- Openly shaming/punishing/sense of disapproval for breaking rules, questioning, or not fitting in enough with the group
- Leader surrounded by only yes-men (Often this is hard to know unless you are part of the leadership team or know leadership members well, but if you get a chance to see that, you should be very wary.)
- Rules about personal relationships, diet, clothes
- Give more money and get access to more/special information or a better position within the group
- Circular reasoning for things that don't make sense (instead of saying: Honestly, I don't know but here is what I personally believe)
- Unwanted/inappropriate sexual advances from leadership (if you feel like something is "weird" it probably is)
Though that is the most interesting, the most profound part is Murakami's reflection between parts one and two. He says that instead of accepting the standard narrative of good vs evil, us vs them, we need to realize that it is "us" who created the conditions for "them" to exist. Therefore, we need to take responsibility for that, communicate, and work to change that for the future. If all of these alienated, outside-of-mainstream people who were so attracted to Aum had found a different community to become a part of and accepted by, they wouldn't have needed to join Aum. Many of the members said things like, "I had a lot of friends, but no one was interested in talking about what I was truly interested in. At Aum I encountered many people who thought the same way I did." No wonder they willing gave thousands of yen to join. It's not that these beliefs or interests were so obscure or crazy—they just wanted basic spiritual purpose, a sense of belonging, a community center to do stuff at, and something more meaningful than consumerism. But looping back, I couldn't help but think about the current political discussion in the US—how did Trump get elected? How do all these racist people exist? etc etc. Maybe a better question is "What did I do to participate in creating the conditions for X situation to happen?"
The audiobook version is very nice with actors for masculine, feminine, and Murakami's voices.
The first half of the book is edited transcripts of interviews that Murakami did with survivors of the 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. Murakami wrote a brief analysis after that half (I listened to this analysis part twice and want to find a text copy to study).
The second half is edited transcripts of interviews with people who were members of Aum Shinrikyo leading up to the time of the attacks (but not the people who actually did the gassing). Again afterward, Murakami presents an essay analysis in the form of an article that he wrote reviewing a biography of one of the members.
This book is so valuable because it's a distilled amount of first-hand accounts of PTSD, survivor's guilt, etc, and a bit of self-culture analysis on the part of the victims, and what exactly a cult does to suck people in deeper from the perspective of Aum members. Of course, all of it was fascinating, but the interviews with Aum followers was the most interesting part.
Some takeaways that struck me because I have seen these even in mainstream Christian churches:
- Guru-ism: One person has all the answers and you aspire to be like them
- Lack of sharing knowledge sources (example: does your pastor talk about what he read to prepare for the sermon? Few people just make things up, but beware the person who doesn't openly cite and by not doing so creates a dependence on him/her for getting knowledge)
- Openly shaming/punishing/sense of disapproval for breaking rules, questioning, or not fitting in enough with the group
- Leader surrounded by only yes-men (Often this is hard to know unless you are part of the leadership team or know leadership members well, but if you get a chance to see that, you should be very wary.)
- Rules about personal relationships, diet, clothes
- Give more money and get access to more/special information or a better position within the group
- Circular reasoning for things that don't make sense (instead of saying: Honestly, I don't know but here is what I personally believe)
- Unwanted/inappropriate sexual advances from leadership (if you feel like something is "weird" it probably is)
Though that is the most interesting, the most profound part is Murakami's reflection between parts one and two. He says that instead of accepting the standard narrative of good vs evil, us vs them, we need to realize that it is "us" who created the conditions for "them" to exist. Therefore, we need to take responsibility for that, communicate, and work to change that for the future. If all of these alienated, outside-of-mainstream people who were so attracted to Aum had found a different community to become a part of and accepted by, they wouldn't have needed to join Aum. Many of the members said things like, "I had a lot of friends, but no one was interested in talking about what I was truly interested in. At Aum I encountered many people who thought the same way I did." No wonder they willing gave thousands of yen to join. It's not that these beliefs or interests were so obscure or crazy—they just wanted basic spiritual purpose, a sense of belonging, a community center to do stuff at, and something more meaningful than consumerism. But looping back, I couldn't help but think about the current political discussion in the US—how did Trump get elected? How do all these racist people exist? etc etc. Maybe a better question is "What did I do to participate in creating the conditions for X situation to happen?"
The audiobook version is very nice with actors for masculine, feminine, and Murakami's voices.
Uhhh this book is so weird. I liked it more than the first two books in the Rat series, but another reviewer said it best: reading Murakami is like having a dream, and writing a review about it is like trying to tell someone about a dream.
This is a sweet story about mutual respect, acts of kindness, and dignity. I enjoyed the characters' innocence and purity of heart. But I didn't realize before I started that the author is literally a mathematician and knows a lot about baseball--the story goes into these subjects at length. At least with the math, you can learn to appreciate the numerical puns alongside the Housekeeper, but you're quite on your own when it comes to baseball plays and jargon.
#10DayReadathon
#10DayReadathon