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laurelthebooks's Reviews (662)
A love letter to New York City indeed - Jemisin's prose is, as always, nuanced and immediate here. I am no NYC native having visited only a handful of times, but this book left me slightly in awe of the city as Jemisin displays it through her characters (not a neutral sort of awe either, the awe of seeing something that can be both great and terrible).
Like any other love letter, The City We Became displays compelling and deep emotion that occasionally makes the reader into a voyeur - an observer to the intimacies that would repel some and attract others.
I find myself unsure how to rate this book. It is undeniably skillful in its execution, yet I would hesitate to recommend it to some readers. It has extra-dimensional beings (quite literally), dark turns, vivid emotions, and some truly startling characterizations. Do you love NYC? Read it. Do you hate NYC? Read it. Do you not care about NYC or the idea of concepts inhabiting flesh? Perhaps don't read it - or perhaps do (challenging book here to recommend).
In the end, I can only say that I enjoyed it and that Jemisin wove this together masterfully. If you're thinking about reading I will happily discuss with you!
Like any other love letter, The City We Became displays compelling and deep emotion that occasionally makes the reader into a voyeur - an observer to the intimacies that would repel some and attract others.
I find myself unsure how to rate this book. It is undeniably skillful in its execution, yet I would hesitate to recommend it to some readers. It has extra-dimensional beings (quite literally), dark turns, vivid emotions, and some truly startling characterizations. Do you love NYC? Read it. Do you hate NYC? Read it. Do you not care about NYC or the idea of concepts inhabiting flesh? Perhaps don't read it - or perhaps do (challenging book here to recommend).
In the end, I can only say that I enjoyed it and that Jemisin wove this together masterfully. If you're thinking about reading I will happily discuss with you!
Beautiful prose, some minor plot holes, a kind ending, murder horses from the sea, and a really slow start.
This book swung wildly from *really* good to *meh*, but at the end, I was still happy to have read it!
This book swung wildly from *really* good to *meh*, but at the end, I was still happy to have read it!
This novella was fun - reading it felt a bit like exploring a visual novel game without the visual aspect because you were only really hearing from the characters being interacted with and not from the character the story follows. That perspective of the dialogue was one of the most interesting parts of this novella as it doled out bits and pieces of the world and characters that needed to be assembled. Overall, definitely a unique style of narration, but one that made for a thought-provoking break from the usual (the bits of bobs I puzzled out of the world-building were also fascinating).
(Cover art by Feifei Ruan is stunning as well.)
(Cover art by Feifei Ruan is stunning as well.)
As a disclaimer, before reading this I had no clue who Ingrid Sischy was or what she wrote about. The title caught my eye in the library one day and I figured why not.
I haven't read art and fashion criticism or celebrity interviews before, but the tone present throughout all of the pieces was a joy. I didn't know who Ingrid Sischy was, but I am now familiar with how she writes. It felt like pop culture history with perspective, and I enjoyed reading it in bite-sized pieces.
I haven't read art and fashion criticism or celebrity interviews before, but the tone present throughout all of the pieces was a joy. I didn't know who Ingrid Sischy was, but I am now familiar with how she writes. It felt like pop culture history with perspective, and I enjoyed reading it in bite-sized pieces.