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pineconek's Reviews (816)
There's nothing worse than trying to taste non fiction about an interesting and tragic topic with underwhelming writing.
Let me express the bad first: this book is incredibly bloated and repetitive. Atrociously so, something that was especially apparent in the audiobook. A good illustration of this is that the epilogue was nearly an hour long and the end credits another twenty minutes.
A fifteen hour audiobook is very much in my comfort zone, but this one felt truly endless. The story was harrowing and gruesome, but eventually leaves us desensitized to women pulling pieces of jaw bone from their mouths and slowly dying of sarcoma because it's our tenth time hearing about it in extreme detail. I suppose that's the point - the author does indeed impress upon us how widespread the problems were and how similar the cases were.
We also have a wide, wide cast of characters that blend together. The extensive emphasis and descriptions even of minor characters (think siblings, nieces, and neighbors of the women we're following), while likely done in an attempt to humanize the women, instead detracted from them.
My point being: I wish the book has been edited down and had much tighter writing. The same book at about 60% it's length would have been a five star read for me, but the frustration of the reading experience really docked my rating and, again, detracted from the actual point.
But I finished it. I'm free.
Recommended if you're ready for a deep dive into a legal case affecting several dozen people, are interested in corporate greed, and don't mind extensive repetition.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
Let me express the bad first: this book is incredibly bloated and repetitive. Atrociously so, something that was especially apparent in the audiobook. A good illustration of this is that the epilogue was nearly an hour long and the end credits another twenty minutes.
A fifteen hour audiobook is very much in my comfort zone, but this one felt truly endless. The story was harrowing and gruesome, but eventually leaves us desensitized to women pulling pieces of jaw bone from their mouths and slowly dying of sarcoma because it's our tenth time hearing about it in extreme detail. I suppose that's the point - the author does indeed impress upon us how widespread the problems were and how similar the cases were.
We also have a wide, wide cast of characters that blend together. The extensive emphasis and descriptions even of minor characters (think siblings, nieces, and neighbors of the women we're following), while likely done in an attempt to humanize the women, instead detracted from them.
My point being: I wish the book has been edited down and had much tighter writing. The same book at about 60% it's length would have been a five star read for me, but the frustration of the reading experience really docked my rating and, again, detracted from the actual point.
But I finished it. I'm free.
Recommended if you're ready for a deep dive into a legal case affecting several dozen people, are interested in corporate greed, and don't mind extensive repetition.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
Physics!!! Science!!! Billiard balls!! Protons!! Quantum physics!!! Aliens!!! Video games!!! Misanthropy!!! Human computers!! Political intrigue!! Rise and fall of civilizations!!! Great writing!!!
Above is how my brain feels about this book. This book is an absolute feat of imagination and storytelling. The analogies used to explain complex physics problems were astounding, and the non-linear storytelling kept me intrigued throughout. It was a particular delight on audiobook.
I'm so glad there's two other books and that they're thicker. I'm hyped.
Highly recommended, but especially if you enjoy science of really big (astro) or really small (subatomic) things, beautiful storytelling, and don't mind being confused.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
Above is how my brain feels about this book. This book is an absolute feat of imagination and storytelling. The analogies used to explain complex physics problems were astounding, and the non-linear storytelling kept me intrigued throughout. It was a particular delight on audiobook.
I'm so glad there's two other books and that they're thicker. I'm hyped.
Highly recommended, but especially if you enjoy science of really big (astro) or really small (subatomic) things, beautiful storytelling, and don't mind being confused.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
One of those "excellent art but I didn't enjoy reading it" kind of books.
Maali Almeida is dead. The cause of death is unclear, but thankfully Maali gets to take on a spectral form in a colourful afterlife and observe what happens next. Over seven days, we find out more about our hero, his friends, his body, his work, and the political landscape of Sri Lanka.
The book was narrated in second person which works only sometimes. It didn't work here, where Maali was both narrator and audience. I felt this made the narration even more needlessly choppy and confusing. I say even more because a lot of things were said indirectly or alluded to in passing, so important plot points could easily be read over and missed. I know some readers like that kind of enigma in their narration, but it was lost on me.
And, of course, the elephant in the room: it reminded me of Shafak's 10 minutes 38 seconds. A lot. And I cannot help but compare it to that book and tell you to go pick that one up instead.
1.5 stars rounded up because some of the writing was indeed good and I can see this working for some people.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
Maali Almeida is dead. The cause of death is unclear, but thankfully Maali gets to take on a spectral form in a colourful afterlife and observe what happens next. Over seven days, we find out more about our hero, his friends, his body, his work, and the political landscape of Sri Lanka.
The book was narrated in second person which works only sometimes. It didn't work here, where Maali was both narrator and audience. I felt this made the narration even more needlessly choppy and confusing. I say even more because a lot of things were said indirectly or alluded to in passing, so important plot points could easily be read over and missed. I know some readers like that kind of enigma in their narration, but it was lost on me.
And, of course, the elephant in the room: it reminded me of Shafak's 10 minutes 38 seconds. A lot. And I cannot help but compare it to that book and tell you to go pick that one up instead.
1.5 stars rounded up because some of the writing was indeed good and I can see this working for some people.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
I need a book like this on every single topic I enjoyed as a child and now have vague ideas of that I haven't fully fit together in a coherent way.
The audiobook, read by the author, is an absolute treat. Everything I'd ever heard about quarks, dark matter, the moons of Jupiter, relativity, the periodic table, the multiverse, etc. was connected so neatly and clearly that it actually sits in the correct spaces in my head. That's kinda neat.
Highly recommended but especially if you think physics is cool (but struggled learning it), love feeling the vastness of our universe, and enjoy finding out how scientists named things.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
The audiobook, read by the author, is an absolute treat. Everything I'd ever heard about quarks, dark matter, the moons of Jupiter, relativity, the periodic table, the multiverse, etc. was connected so neatly and clearly that it actually sits in the correct spaces in my head. That's kinda neat.
Highly recommended but especially if you think physics is cool (but struggled learning it), love feeling the vastness of our universe, and enjoy finding out how scientists named things.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
I wanted to like this so bad but it was just a slog.
I typically enjoy apocalypse fiction a lot. I don't need much to happen or for characters to be likeable. I just need it to be interesting. Or for some ideas to be explored. Some substance. Something.
And good writing doesn't hurt either.
The dog stars basically lacked everything I was looking for. I couldn't get into it, couldn't stay in it, and was annoyed with basically every character. Events were painfully predictable and every semi interesting moment or encounter was followed by "and then they died". And that bleakness could have been interesting had things been detailed even half as much detail as the mechanics of flying a small plane were. Wow did we hear a lot about flying a small plane.
The writing style was also fragmented and not-quite-experimental in a way that I largely found jarring. All in all, I didn't enjoy my reading experience and didn't connect with the book.
I would really only recommend this if you're really into planes and guns and lusting after the first flesh-and-blood healthy-ish woman you've seen in a decade.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
I typically enjoy apocalypse fiction a lot. I don't need much to happen or for characters to be likeable. I just need it to be interesting. Or for some ideas to be explored. Some substance. Something.
And good writing doesn't hurt either.
The dog stars basically lacked everything I was looking for. I couldn't get into it, couldn't stay in it, and was annoyed with basically every character. Events were painfully predictable and every semi interesting moment or encounter was followed by "and then they died". And that bleakness could have been interesting had things been detailed even half as much detail as the mechanics of flying a small plane were. Wow did we hear a lot about flying a small plane.
The writing style was also fragmented and not-quite-experimental in a way that I largely found jarring. All in all, I didn't enjoy my reading experience and didn't connect with the book.
I would really only recommend this if you're really into planes and guns and lusting after the first flesh-and-blood healthy-ish woman you've seen in a decade.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko
I've gone from "I don't really read manga" to "yes please give me all the horror manga" thanks to Junji Ito and I have exactly zero regrets.
This adaptation of Frankenstein is delightfully gruesome and creepy - an excellent late October read. I also really enjoyed the various interwoven tales of Oshikiri that followed. Horrors from alternate dimensions, murder, body horror, and skeletons in walls... this book has it all.
Recommended to any horror lover, regardless of whether or not you've read manga before. It's accessible and creepy and I can't wait to read everything this man has written.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
This adaptation of Frankenstein is delightfully gruesome and creepy - an excellent late October read. I also really enjoyed the various interwoven tales of Oshikiri that followed. Horrors from alternate dimensions, murder, body horror, and skeletons in walls... this book has it all.
Recommended to any horror lover, regardless of whether or not you've read manga before. It's accessible and creepy and I can't wait to read everything this man has written.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
I'm a "How High We Go In the Dark" stan through and through but this was...pretty mid, as the kids say.
The author is a great writer capable of producing beautiful and direct prose that ranges from funny to emotionally devastating. This collection did not however live up to my expectations, which were based on the later novel. I was hoping for more ethical and moral dilemmas, heartbreak, political commentary... But alas.
Thematically, these stories explore some fun perspectives on and retellings of Japanese legends and pop culture (Yokai and Kaiju galore). But alas, they're largely forgettable. Several of them read like polished writing exercises (perhaps from the author's MFA) - not bad, but not extraordinary. The bar was high and this book just didn't reach it for me.
That said, there were some good bits - I liked the experimental blurbs before each story. I really liked the "types of ghosts" afterlife guide. The titular story is about a dancing contagion, which is always fun. Child and parent loss were peppered in a few stories, which is a theme I found well developed here but better developed in the author's subsequent work. C'est la vie.
Recommended if you enjoy modern retellings of Japanese lore ans enjoy "fragment" style short stories. But please, don't use this as a benchmark when deciding whether to read the author's subsequent masterpiece.
The author is a great writer capable of producing beautiful and direct prose that ranges from funny to emotionally devastating. This collection did not however live up to my expectations, which were based on the later novel. I was hoping for more ethical and moral dilemmas, heartbreak, political commentary... But alas.
Thematically, these stories explore some fun perspectives on and retellings of Japanese legends and pop culture (Yokai and Kaiju galore). But alas, they're largely forgettable. Several of them read like polished writing exercises (perhaps from the author's MFA) - not bad, but not extraordinary. The bar was high and this book just didn't reach it for me.
That said, there were some good bits - I liked the experimental blurbs before each story. I really liked the "types of ghosts" afterlife guide. The titular story is about a dancing contagion, which is always fun. Child and parent loss were peppered in a few stories, which is a theme I found well developed here but better developed in the author's subsequent work. C'est la vie.
Recommended if you enjoy modern retellings of Japanese lore ans enjoy "fragment" style short stories. But please, don't use this as a benchmark when deciding whether to read the author's subsequent masterpiece.
Atwood has range and, the problem for me, is that I love certain parts of that range but don't particularly care for others.
This book is divided into 3 parts, each part with many short stories. The first and third sets of short stories focus on a couple I didn't much care for, while the middle stories were a grab bag. While there were some enjoyable moments, I largely found these forgettable and skippabale.
Recommended for Atwood completionists who are in the headspace for a lot of stream of consciousness and characters who ask "what if' while going about their daily lives.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/7rhiwvWp9YY
This book is divided into 3 parts, each part with many short stories. The first and third sets of short stories focus on a couple I didn't much care for, while the middle stories were a grab bag. While there were some enjoyable moments, I largely found these forgettable and skippabale.
Recommended for Atwood completionists who are in the headspace for a lot of stream of consciousness and characters who ask "what if' while going about their daily lives.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/7rhiwvWp9YY
"I don't want to rate this because I was so disappointed" - me, for the past 3 days
I was so excited for this book. When our power went out earlier this week, I thought "yes!! an evening of reading Exoskeletons!!". And then I finished it out of spite and frustration and now we're here.
The book is written from Kris' first perspective perspective to her now-deceased wife, Beau. Beau died in childbirth and "the kid" she birthed was given a second shadow. Shadows, in this society, are doled out to those who seriously injure another person. They replace prisons, instead tarnishing people for life with higher taxes, housing and work restrictions, and other overt forms of discrimination.
Amazing concept, right? Given that we now live in a world where our digital past can be dug up (or fabricated), held against us, and result in social punishment outside of a court of law, I was really interested in what this book had to say. But all the insights felt shallow, vaguely reminding me of simplistic instagram infographics that use the right words but don't actually get into the details of a social issue. I also found the exploration of kink alongside these themes really jarring and frustrating. I think I was looking for a story with some meat, but instead got a series of disjointed vignettes against a backdrop of this shadow system.
While this is a 2-star read for me, I actually have multiple friends I would recommend this to because I think they would like it. Maybe you know who you are. But if you don't: recommended if you're interested in very overt discussions of oppression through a modern queer lens, don't mind highly experimental writing, and don't mind losing out on the sci-fi social commentary that I found lacking.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/7rhiwvWp9YY
I was so excited for this book. When our power went out earlier this week, I thought "yes!! an evening of reading Exoskeletons!!". And then I finished it out of spite and frustration and now we're here.
The book is written from Kris' first perspective perspective to her now-deceased wife, Beau. Beau died in childbirth and "the kid" she birthed was given a second shadow. Shadows, in this society, are doled out to those who seriously injure another person. They replace prisons, instead tarnishing people for life with higher taxes, housing and work restrictions, and other overt forms of discrimination.
Amazing concept, right? Given that we now live in a world where our digital past can be dug up (or fabricated), held against us, and result in social punishment outside of a court of law, I was really interested in what this book had to say. But all the insights felt shallow, vaguely reminding me of simplistic instagram infographics that use the right words but don't actually get into the details of a social issue. I also found the exploration of kink alongside these themes really jarring and frustrating. I think I was looking for a story with some meat, but instead got a series of disjointed vignettes against a backdrop of this shadow system.
While this is a 2-star read for me, I actually have multiple friends I would recommend this to because I think they would like it. Maybe you know who you are. But if you don't: recommended if you're interested in very overt discussions of oppression through a modern queer lens, don't mind highly experimental writing, and don't mind losing out on the sci-fi social commentary that I found lacking.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/7rhiwvWp9YY
Sayaka Murata continues to ask "what if we just shifted social norms around cannibalism and sex" and it continues to make a reader's skin crawl.
Like any short story collection, there are a few skips. That said, it's still a stellar collection with characters that appear in a few stories (something I personally love), familiar characters from Earthlings making a visit, and lots of weirdness. The titular story was one of my favorites, although I decided to not read it while I was eating.
Recommended if you've ever wondered why we don't make clothing out of human hair or what human flesh would taste like stir fried and are morbidly curious about the answers.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/7rhiwvWp9YY
Like any short story collection, there are a few skips. That said, it's still a stellar collection with characters that appear in a few stories (something I personally love), familiar characters from Earthlings making a visit, and lots of weirdness. The titular story was one of my favorites, although I decided to not read it while I was eating.
Recommended if you've ever wondered why we don't make clothing out of human hair or what human flesh would taste like stir fried and are morbidly curious about the answers.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/7rhiwvWp9YY