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alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)
Continuing my exploration into Japanese crime fiction, thanks to Pushkin Vertigo taking on the project of bringing more titles into the English language.
My first impression was that this book is impressively meta: all the characters are named after famous mystery authors, the plot is an obvious twist on And Then There Were None, and the book opens with a scene where the chharacters are discussing if mystery novels should be more realistic or more entertaining puzzles for the reader. That should have given me a clue as to which type of mystery this story would lean towards, but I did not take the hint and subsequently got kind of annoyed at how contrived some of the characters' behaviors were... reader was warned, reader did not heed the signpost lol.
Overall I found the story entertaining and absolutely did not guess who the murderer was, so it was worth the read.
My first impression was that this book is impressively meta: all the characters are named after famous mystery authors, the plot is an obvious twist on And Then There Were None, and the book opens with a scene where the chharacters are discussing if mystery novels should be more realistic or more entertaining puzzles for the reader. That should have given me a clue as to which type of mystery this story would lean towards, but I did not take the hint and subsequently got kind of annoyed at how contrived some of the characters' behaviors were... reader was warned, reader did not heed the signpost lol.
Overall I found the story entertaining and absolutely did not guess who the murderer was, so it was worth the read.
The Nap Ministry first caught my attention on Twitter: Tricia Hersey's voice always came across as wise, piercing, grounded and original - standout characteristics when given a backdrop of iterative rage-chatter. I definitely wanted to hear more of what this woman was preaching, and I was so excited when she announced her book was being published.
While reading this manifesto, a few things became clearer in my mind:
1. Grind culture is new, human beings are ancient. And we are forget how things were before the lethal combo of slavery and capitalism defined our culture. How we are living now is not how we are supposed to, or have "always" lived.
2. Rest "is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed," (MLK). Demands that govt or companies need to grant people more time off, wellness education, mental health days etc is not the correct route to fight for: taking rest starts now independent of what anyone else gives you.
3. Rest is not to "recharge" so you can go back to working and seving others. This is a grind culture mindset. Rest is your divine right, period. This fundamentally shifted my concept of Jesus praying alone in the mornings...
4. Rest is not just naps and vacation. It can be daydreaming, a moment to yourself staring out the window, getting offline, any sort of leisure, closing your eyes, breath work, not responding immediately to a message, decolonizing your mind.
Really valuable words here... lately I was able to say no to several freelance jobs and I have noticed how much my body protests when I stay too late at work. I also want to get deeper into a rest and listening practice, hopefully one day I can sound wise and grounded too.
While reading this manifesto, a few things became clearer in my mind:
1. Grind culture is new, human beings are ancient. And we are forget how things were before the lethal combo of slavery and capitalism defined our culture. How we are living now is not how we are supposed to, or have "always" lived.
2. Rest "is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed," (MLK). Demands that govt or companies need to grant people more time off, wellness education, mental health days etc is not the correct route to fight for: taking rest starts now independent of what anyone else gives you.
3. Rest is not to "recharge" so you can go back to working and seving others. This is a grind culture mindset. Rest is your divine right, period. This fundamentally shifted my concept of Jesus praying alone in the mornings...
4. Rest is not just naps and vacation. It can be daydreaming, a moment to yourself staring out the window, getting offline, any sort of leisure, closing your eyes, breath work, not responding immediately to a message, decolonizing your mind.
Really valuable words here... lately I was able to say no to several freelance jobs and I have noticed how much my body protests when I stay too late at work. I also want to get deeper into a rest and listening practice, hopefully one day I can sound wise and grounded too.
What an incredible story! Horrific but incredible. Reminded me a lot of Educated.
Beautiful language but there was so much lost potential! At one point a character mentions a conspiracy theory and I was like "YES, A PLOT!" but then literally nothing ever comes of it.... such disappointment. I just wish it was more Sea of Tranquility and less ~ MFA vibes~
A biting satire about life in Nazi Germany.
The characters in After Midnight are bumbling and tipsy, and their confusion about acceptable politics leads to accidental, and hilarious, criticisms of the hypocrisy, idiocy, and pageantry of the Third Reich.
The afterward in the Penguin Modern Classics was an interesting analysis of how different characters represented Keun's criticism of other writers' reactions to Nazi repression - artistic suicide by writing drivel about ze fuhrer, giving up the fight altogether, or emigrating and continuing the fight with whatever means possible. Keun herself chose to stay in Germany for several years after Hitler's rise to power and it seems she believed she could write subversively from within the rigid confines of censorship: she applied (and was denied) membership into the official guild that granted authors the right to be published, and she later sued the Gestapo for financial losses after they banned and burned her books (one might call this a kafkaesque performance art of sorts lol). In the end she did emigrate, but her later departure as compared to many other anti-Nazi authors gave her a unique well of lived experience to draw from for her writing.
"And men like that have to find time to govern the country as well. Personally, I can't think how they do it all. Take the Führer: he devotes almost his entire life to being photographed for his people. Just imagine, what an achievement! Having your picture taken the whole time with children and pet dogs, indoors and out of doors--never any rest. And constantly going about in aeroplanes, or sitting through long Wagner operas, because that's German art, and he sacrifices himself for German art as well. Well, fame always demands some sacrifices."
The characters in After Midnight are bumbling and tipsy, and their confusion about acceptable politics leads to accidental, and hilarious, criticisms of the hypocrisy, idiocy, and pageantry of the Third Reich.
The afterward in the Penguin Modern Classics was an interesting analysis of how different characters represented Keun's criticism of other writers' reactions to Nazi repression - artistic suicide by writing drivel about ze fuhrer, giving up the fight altogether, or emigrating and continuing the fight with whatever means possible. Keun herself chose to stay in Germany for several years after Hitler's rise to power and it seems she believed she could write subversively from within the rigid confines of censorship: she applied (and was denied) membership into the official guild that granted authors the right to be published, and she later sued the Gestapo for financial losses after they banned and burned her books (one might call this a kafkaesque performance art of sorts lol). In the end she did emigrate, but her later departure as compared to many other anti-Nazi authors gave her a unique well of lived experience to draw from for her writing.
"And men like that have to find time to govern the country as well. Personally, I can't think how they do it all. Take the Führer: he devotes almost his entire life to being photographed for his people. Just imagine, what an achievement! Having your picture taken the whole time with children and pet dogs, indoors and out of doors--never any rest. And constantly going about in aeroplanes, or sitting through long Wagner operas, because that's German art, and he sacrifices himself for German art as well. Well, fame always demands some sacrifices."
The pacing of this book was all over the place... and that ending, ugh. I wouldn't recommend it.
Okay so I haven't read a book by a man in a Mississippi minute, and wheew is the pacing different! The killer is mise-en-scène so early on that I was wondering how the author was going to stretch out the story for as long as he did. I am used to thrillers that drag out the anticipation and leave the direct confrontation for the last 30%, vs in this book the confrontation starts in the first 30%. The action scenes were dynamic and well written, there was just a lot of it. The plot twists are kind of ridiculous, but well, my advice is to embrace your inner Michael Scott ("he is his own brother!") and go with it.
My overall impression is that the vignettes of Page's life are well-written in themselves, and I'm glad he shared such personal memories of family and growing up. I didn't like how the book was structured (non-chronologically and the chapters didn't really seem to have any definite theme). I had also hoped for less crush talk and more reflection on the arts, perhaps a meta analysis of acting, the environment, and why he chose to do certain projects...... but that wasn't the direction this book went, so oh well!
Wow I knew Nike was bad news bears but they did Kara so dirty and their continued backing of Salazar is indefensible.
I'm glad that I had read Tyler Hamilton's book The Secret Race because it is mentioned several times and his tesimony was key to Kara's own understanding & recognition of modern doping techniques. Before Hamilton explained how Armstrong and co were doing it - to enhance recovery and increase training load - I think everyone who wasn't doping believed doping was still Mark McGuire style with 'roids lol. Hence why Kara didn't recognize the signs that her Alberto Salazar (who was closely professionally connected to Armstrong btw) coached her teammates on the techniques and successfully got away with it.
So that, combined with the other awful verbal and sexual abuse and bad faith contracts is just so disheartening and gross.
Kara's running career was important but I think what she has done since she left Nike has left more of a mark, and is what defines her career in my mind. Her contract with Oiselle, the way she has led the charge against Nike and for clean sport, and her openness to talking about contracts and money so that more female athletes can better advocate for themselves has really set her apart in the field of so many strong personalities in American professional running.
I'm glad that I had read Tyler Hamilton's book The Secret Race because it is mentioned several times and his tesimony was key to Kara's own understanding & recognition of modern doping techniques. Before Hamilton explained how Armstrong and co were doing it - to enhance recovery and increase training load - I think everyone who wasn't doping believed doping was still Mark McGuire style with 'roids lol. Hence why Kara didn't recognize the signs that her Alberto Salazar (who was closely professionally connected to Armstrong btw) coached her teammates on the techniques and successfully got away with it.
So that, combined with the other awful verbal and sexual abuse and bad faith contracts is just so disheartening and gross.
Kara's running career was important but I think what she has done since she left Nike has left more of a mark, and is what defines her career in my mind. Her contract with Oiselle, the way she has led the charge against Nike and for clean sport, and her openness to talking about contracts and money so that more female athletes can better advocate for themselves has really set her apart in the field of so many strong personalities in American professional running.
Super cute! Fluffy story and funny cheese puns. I loved the character design and took a lot of screenshots to use as profile pics. It reminded me of Princess Princess Ever After.