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carolinewithane's Reviews (647)
i am preemptively giving this book 5 stars.
“why,” you ask, “did you mark it as ‘read’, then?”
i have read it. i have finished it. but this—this gem, this marvel, this onion—is the kind of book you need to read two, three, four times, before you get it all.
on the surface, the plot is simple. there are two women, who are referred to as colours. they are time-travellers. as the postscript succinctly say, “Red belongs to the Agency, a post-singularity technotopia. Blue belongs to Garden, a single vast consciousness embedded in all organic matter”. their employers are at war to decide who gets to control time. Red and Blue are enemies. Blue sends a letter to Red. Red replies.
and so on.
but this book packs an epic sci-fi love story in less than 200 pages—which, in turn, are written in flowery writing that more often than not read like poetry masquerading as prose. it is the nature of the novella format, and the nature of the authors’ writing styles, that nothing is said outright—not the letters, not the scenes, not the way the characters think, absolutely nothing. remember my weird onion metaphor?
so many layers. so many references. i feel like i could write a master’s dissertation about this book.
so. five stars. preemptively. because i did not get 10% of the message, and i will return until i understand it all.
when i do, i know it will be marvellous.
“why,” you ask, “did you mark it as ‘read’, then?”
i have read it. i have finished it. but this—this gem, this marvel, this onion—is the kind of book you need to read two, three, four times, before you get it all.
on the surface, the plot is simple. there are two women, who are referred to as colours. they are time-travellers. as the postscript succinctly say, “Red belongs to the Agency, a post-singularity technotopia. Blue belongs to Garden, a single vast consciousness embedded in all organic matter”. their employers are at war to decide who gets to control time. Red and Blue are enemies. Blue sends a letter to Red. Red replies.
and so on.
but this book packs an epic sci-fi love story in less than 200 pages—which, in turn, are written in flowery writing that more often than not read like poetry masquerading as prose. it is the nature of the novella format, and the nature of the authors’ writing styles, that nothing is said outright—not the letters, not the scenes, not the way the characters think, absolutely nothing. remember my weird onion metaphor?
so many layers. so many references. i feel like i could write a master’s dissertation about this book.
so. five stars. preemptively. because i did not get 10% of the message, and i will return until i understand it all.
when i do, i know it will be marvellous.
this was the best short story collection i’ve ever read. it’s unapologetically feminist and queer and weird. i enjoyed most of the shorts stories immensely and really looked forward to reading a new one every day.
favourites: the husband snitch, real women have bodies, eight bites and difficult at parties.
honorary mention to mothers’s, which was very weird and abstract, but had some of the best writing i’ve read in ages
the one short story i didn’t like was especially heinous, the law & order one. i’ve never watched a single episode of this show in my life and was equally confused and bored for the first ten pages, after which i gave up and skipped to the next one. fans of the show seem to love this short story, though, so maybe you need some context to truly enjoy it. (also i’m curious about the ramifications of how this story, which is essentially fanfiction, got published.)
favourites: the husband snitch, real women have bodies, eight bites and difficult at parties.
honorary mention to mothers’s, which was very weird and abstract, but had some of the best writing i’ve read in ages
the one short story i didn’t like was especially heinous, the law & order one. i’ve never watched a single episode of this show in my life and was equally confused and bored for the first ten pages, after which i gave up and skipped to the next one. fans of the show seem to love this short story, though, so maybe you need some context to truly enjoy it. (also i’m curious about the ramifications of how this story, which is essentially fanfiction, got published.)
i have a new obsession and it's called southern gothic.
atmospheric? check
eerie? check
moody? check
incredible? check
i highly recommend the audiobook. the narrator has the most delicious southern drawl and i could listen to her saying "says" all day long.
i do wish the secondary characters got more time in the limelight. this book is very protagonist-centred, and, although she is lovely, the other characters are also lovely and i wanted to see more of them. i feel like the author only scratched the surface of who they are. only one of the LI (yes, there's a love triangle; no, i didn't like it) really gets the chance to shine.
(at one point the narrator thinks "am i really worried about my love life when a ghost is trying to kill me?" and would you look at that, i was thinking exactly same thing.)
atmospheric? check
eerie? check
moody? check
incredible? check
i highly recommend the audiobook. the narrator has the most delicious southern drawl and i could listen to her saying "says" all day long.
i do wish the secondary characters got more time in the limelight. this book is very protagonist-centred, and, although she is lovely, the other characters are also lovely and i wanted to see more of them. i feel like the author only scratched the surface of who they are. only one of the LI (yes, there's a love triangle; no, i didn't like it) really gets the chance to shine.
(at one point the narrator thinks "am i really worried about my love life when a ghost is trying to kill me?" and would you look at that, i was thinking exactly same thing.)
2020 update: i have now read this book thrice and it gets better every time, like your favourite dessert.
***
i have never read anything like this before—and doubt i ever will. i’m quite sure the only good thing to be found here are the lovely descriptions of vermont—lovely enough to make me genuinely consider bennington’s MFA writing program just so i can live there. otherwise, it is pretty much a recipe for disaster.
every single character is loathsome. the plot reaches its climax about 30% in, yet the story lasts for over 600 pages. the writing goes from clumsy to purple to magnificent and back again almost seamlessly. i came out of the reading experience—because it is an experience, unlike anything i’ve ever felt before—almost smelling the scent of alcohol and cigarettes.
it is, quite definitely, the best book i have ever read.
***
i have never read anything like this before—and doubt i ever will. i’m quite sure the only good thing to be found here are the lovely descriptions of vermont—lovely enough to make me genuinely consider bennington’s MFA writing program just so i can live there. otherwise, it is pretty much a recipe for disaster.
every single character is loathsome. the plot reaches its climax about 30% in, yet the story lasts for over 600 pages. the writing goes from clumsy to purple to magnificent and back again almost seamlessly. i came out of the reading experience—because it is an experience, unlike anything i’ve ever felt before—almost smelling the scent of alcohol and cigarettes.
it is, quite definitely, the best book i have ever read.
stayed up until 2AM to finish this book (i can’t sleep when it’s this hot).
for a book that i wanted to read solely for the title, with no idea whatsoever what it was about, it was surprisingly moving and deep. it’s a nuanced, loving exploration of family relationships that pulls the strings of your heart when you’d least expect.
a few things made me uncomfortable, and i wish the mother was better developed, but, all in all, i am very happy this title (literally the title lol) caught my eyes years ago on goodreads and that i finally listened to the audiobook.
for a book that i wanted to read solely for the title, with no idea whatsoever what it was about, it was surprisingly moving and deep. it’s a nuanced, loving exploration of family relationships that pulls the strings of your heart when you’d least expect.
a few things made me uncomfortable, and i wish the mother was better developed, but, all in all, i am very happy this title (literally the title lol) caught my eyes years ago on goodreads and that i finally listened to the audiobook.
4 stars for “i was very confused but i also had a lot of fun”.
the audiobook narrator is awesome, but i think i’ll need to reread it in ebook/printed to actually understand everything. there are just too many characters and it’s too complex a world to make sense of it in audio.
the audiobook narrator is awesome, but i think i’ll need to reread it in ebook/printed to actually understand everything. there are just too many characters and it’s too complex a world to make sense of it in audio.
this was absolutely delightful. i can't remember the last time i had so much fun with a novel.
