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pineconek's Reviews (816)
I don't know what to say but I am just a bot!
I thankfully don't use slack for my current job (although MS teams is a great contender) so reading this was only slightly painful on that front. That said, the format was used to its max and surprisingly worked withing the context of the story. The story being that Gerald, our protagonist, leaves his body and starts living inside slack. With the slackbot as his companion. And the rest of the office staff react in questionable ways.
Some say she still hears the howling.
I can't decide if I liked this or not. It was a gimmick that didn't take itself too seriously and it did get me through a short bout of insomnia. While I didn't laugh out loud, it got enough chuckles out of me to warrant a 2.5 stars rounded up.
Recommended if you enjoy absurdity, evil jokesters that fake innocence, and if you were ever into Welcome to Nightvale.
I thankfully don't use slack for my current job (although MS teams is a great contender) so reading this was only slightly painful on that front. That said, the format was used to its max and surprisingly worked withing the context of the story. The story being that Gerald, our protagonist, leaves his body and starts living inside slack. With the slackbot as his companion. And the rest of the office staff react in questionable ways.
Some say she still hears the howling.
I can't decide if I liked this or not. It was a gimmick that didn't take itself too seriously and it did get me through a short bout of insomnia. While I didn't laugh out loud, it got enough chuckles out of me to warrant a 2.5 stars rounded up.
Recommended if you enjoy absurdity, evil jokesters that fake innocence, and if you were ever into Welcome to Nightvale.
How many good men are there in Sodom?
I absolutely loved the full-cast audiobook production of this. Like in her other stellar book, the Power, Naomi sets this book up to have multiple main characters with intersecting plotlines, and it works beautifully.
I want to write a little summary of this book to get you to read it. But that would be giving so much away. So instead, let me tell you the premise: what if the tech billionaires, the Musks and Zucks of the world, actually did have secret bunkers in New Zealand to wait out the apocalypse? What if online conspiracy theorists are onto something? What if some of the info gets leaked? And what if you've got this "golden ticket" but find it immoral to leave humanity to face its own destruction?
This book is much more than that, but thats a start. Five stars for the complexity of the ideas explored, the joys of shifting between points of view, and the clever allusions to our present existential questions. This novel is very 2023 with blatant allusions to covid. But somehow it manages not to overdo it.
Recommended if you're terrified of the state of the world, rising inequality, the possibility of a worse pandemic, enjoy cults, have fallen into nihilism, worship AIs, etc etc etc. and if you love speculative fiction.
I absolutely loved the full-cast audiobook production of this. Like in her other stellar book, the Power, Naomi sets this book up to have multiple main characters with intersecting plotlines, and it works beautifully.
I want to write a little summary of this book to get you to read it. But that would be giving so much away. So instead, let me tell you the premise: what if the tech billionaires, the Musks and Zucks of the world, actually did have secret bunkers in New Zealand to wait out the apocalypse? What if online conspiracy theorists are onto something? What if some of the info gets leaked? And what if you've got this "golden ticket" but find it immoral to leave humanity to face its own destruction?
This book is much more than that, but thats a start. Five stars for the complexity of the ideas explored, the joys of shifting between points of view, and the clever allusions to our present existential questions. This novel is very 2023 with blatant allusions to covid. But somehow it manages not to overdo it.
Recommended if you're terrified of the state of the world, rising inequality, the possibility of a worse pandemic, enjoy cults, have fallen into nihilism, worship AIs, etc etc etc. and if you love speculative fiction.
This felt like 1984 and handmaid's tale were put in a blender and the horror dial was set to an 11.
Obviously, this book follows Julia and her life in Oceania. We revisit familiar characters, and of course Winston Smith, and other concepts that Orwell left us: 2+2=5, room 101, rewriting history, newspeak, telescreens, big brother, etc etc etc. and I wasn't sure if and how the world would be expended beyond that.
And oh boy. This book left me more horrified than many of the horror books I typically read. The bleakness is akin to bleakness in movies like Children of Men and the Japanese movie Kairo (Pulse). The nightmares that Julia has, and are described so vividly, make the Saw movies comparatively tame. I'm using cinematic comparisons because this book is tremendously cinematic. The descriptions of horror linger and extend through every horrific detail. This is especially true of the 80% mark, when Julia is captured and tortured in the ministry of Love and experiences room 101. And what follows may well have broken my brain.
And the themes... oh how I love a good exploration of themes! In the feminist realm, there is a lot about reproductive coercion, maternal bonds, female friendships (and more than friendships), using sexuality to gain power, etc etc etc. but this book focuses most on the tension between Truth and Narrative, things Orwell explored almost a century ago and that continue to feel painfully relevant. The last few moments of this book are absolutely chilling in that regard, and I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
I try to be stingy with giving out five stars, but I can't imagine giving this retelling anything less. Colour me impressed. I'm so glad that the Orwell estate authorized this powerful counter-piece to the classic. Highly recommended if you enjoy female-centric dystopian/speculative fiction, have at least a cursory familiarity with the original book, and have a strong stomach for physical and psychological torture.
With that, I think it's time for my banana. (The mild spoiler here is that an Important Character looks forward to their daily banana)
I only have one question for the author: Brave New World retelling when??
Obviously, this book follows Julia and her life in Oceania. We revisit familiar characters, and of course Winston Smith, and other concepts that Orwell left us: 2+2=5, room 101, rewriting history, newspeak, telescreens, big brother, etc etc etc. and I wasn't sure if and how the world would be expended beyond that.
And oh boy. This book left me more horrified than many of the horror books I typically read. The bleakness is akin to bleakness in movies like Children of Men and the Japanese movie Kairo (Pulse). The nightmares that Julia has, and are described so vividly, make the Saw movies comparatively tame. I'm using cinematic comparisons because this book is tremendously cinematic. The descriptions of horror linger and extend through every horrific detail. This is especially true of the 80% mark, when Julia is captured and tortured in the ministry of Love and experiences room 101. And what follows may well have broken my brain.
And the themes... oh how I love a good exploration of themes! In the feminist realm, there is a lot about reproductive coercion, maternal bonds, female friendships (and more than friendships), using sexuality to gain power, etc etc etc. but this book focuses most on the tension between Truth and Narrative, things Orwell explored almost a century ago and that continue to feel painfully relevant. The last few moments of this book are absolutely chilling in that regard, and I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
I try to be stingy with giving out five stars, but I can't imagine giving this retelling anything less. Colour me impressed. I'm so glad that the Orwell estate authorized this powerful counter-piece to the classic. Highly recommended if you enjoy female-centric dystopian/speculative fiction, have at least a cursory familiarity with the original book, and have a strong stomach for physical and psychological torture.
With that, I think it's time for my banana. (The mild spoiler here is that an Important Character looks forward to their daily banana)
I only have one question for the author: Brave New World retelling when??
"yeah NBD I just have a bunch of stuff missing from museums in my room and like to look at them when I wake up"
Listen, we all love the myth of the chaotic neutral genius with complete disregard for the law. An art lover who steals without being motivated for money is therefore an enticing story. And his emphasis on separating himself from other art thieves - those that sell the pieces or, worse, damage them while they excise them from picture frames and display cases - is almost comical.
This book did a good job of showing us the thief's inherent narcissism while also detailing the shockingly lax security around art. From the beautiful descriptions, it's also abundantly clear that the author is also a lover of art. Taken together, this was a great piece of investigative journalism that details exactly what it says on the tin.
3.5 rounded up for the excellence of the prose. Recommended if you're into true crime but find heist stories motivated by money inherently boring (me), love feeling like you're in a museum, and wish you could please touch the masterpieces.
Listen, we all love the myth of the chaotic neutral genius with complete disregard for the law. An art lover who steals without being motivated for money is therefore an enticing story. And his emphasis on separating himself from other art thieves - those that sell the pieces or, worse, damage them while they excise them from picture frames and display cases - is almost comical.
This book did a good job of showing us the thief's inherent narcissism while also detailing the shockingly lax security around art. From the beautiful descriptions, it's also abundantly clear that the author is also a lover of art. Taken together, this was a great piece of investigative journalism that details exactly what it says on the tin.
3.5 rounded up for the excellence of the prose. Recommended if you're into true crime but find heist stories motivated by money inherently boring (me), love feeling like you're in a museum, and wish you could please touch the masterpieces.
Where is she??
Sadly, this really should have been a dnf. There was nothing about this book that I overtly enjoyed. The writing style charmed me at first - first person plural narration is rare for a reason, but can also be cleverly executed. And I think it was, for a little while, until it hit the walls of its own limitations and sent the narrative in circles. There's only so much story you can tell from the perspective of "we", and it invariably comes at the cost of fleshing out individual characters.
There were intermittent chapters narrated in first person singular and set at least a decade later. We got one chapter per girl, but all their voices sounded so similar and all the narratives were so mundane that "no plot just vibes" couldn't really save it.
In other words: I'm disappointed that a book about the cruelty of teenage girls and the disappearance of the teenage daughter of a preacher in a small town in Florida ended up being so...dull. This could have worked as either a short story or a skeleton on which to put much more meat, but in its current form I found it un-enjoyable and repetitive.
In lieu of this, I'd recommend reading the Virgin Suicides (which isn't terrific imo but is still a solid read), or Lullabies for Little Criminals.
Sadly, this really should have been a dnf. There was nothing about this book that I overtly enjoyed. The writing style charmed me at first - first person plural narration is rare for a reason, but can also be cleverly executed. And I think it was, for a little while, until it hit the walls of its own limitations and sent the narrative in circles. There's only so much story you can tell from the perspective of "we", and it invariably comes at the cost of fleshing out individual characters.
There were intermittent chapters narrated in first person singular and set at least a decade later. We got one chapter per girl, but all their voices sounded so similar and all the narratives were so mundane that "no plot just vibes" couldn't really save it.
In other words: I'm disappointed that a book about the cruelty of teenage girls and the disappearance of the teenage daughter of a preacher in a small town in Florida ended up being so...dull. This could have worked as either a short story or a skeleton on which to put much more meat, but in its current form I found it un-enjoyable and repetitive.
In lieu of this, I'd recommend reading the Virgin Suicides (which isn't terrific imo but is still a solid read), or Lullabies for Little Criminals.
One thing that struck me in the three weeks I visited Japan (Nov 2019) was that I literally did not see a single homeless person. I asked someone about this, who explained to me that they were hidden away from city and town centers, and were kept far from public consciousness.
I don't know how true that was/is, but that explanation stuck with me. I therefore deeply appreciated that Tokyo Ueno Station captured some experience of a homeless older Japanese man. We wound our way through his life story, both painfully mundane and painfully tragic, and saw how he operated in the world, in Ueno park, and relative to the people around him. This is a tragic "no plot just vibes" book that's slow and somber and left me feeling melancholic.
Recommended if you enjoy slow desolate works of translated fiction (in tone, this reminded me of Kitchen and of Winter in Sokcho) and are looking for something to make you pause and feel sad.
I don't know how true that was/is, but that explanation stuck with me. I therefore deeply appreciated that Tokyo Ueno Station captured some experience of a homeless older Japanese man. We wound our way through his life story, both painfully mundane and painfully tragic, and saw how he operated in the world, in Ueno park, and relative to the people around him. This is a tragic "no plot just vibes" book that's slow and somber and left me feeling melancholic.
Recommended if you enjoy slow desolate works of translated fiction (in tone, this reminded me of Kitchen and of Winter in Sokcho) and are looking for something to make you pause and feel sad.
Junji Ito, in a cafe: ok listen. Theres a volcano, right? And golden thread. And fiber optics. And it's all God but also there's a demon who's bigger than god. And it's a timeloop... And also one guy explodes into a million neurons. And of course everyone also melts into goop.
The barista: sir... that'll be 350 yen.
The barista: sir... that'll be 350 yen.
I didn't want this to ever end.
I spent two months living inside this book, annotating it, rereading passages, and taking in a few pages at a time. This book is all substance and no filler. And I mean absolutely zero filler. Something important happens every page, every paragraph, every moment.
I don't know how to summarize or review this book adequately, but I'll do my best to give you the gist: we first meet Clara, who is the younger sister of the beautiful Rosa. Clara has psychic abilities, a dog she adores, and a vivacious spirit. And so much happens to Clara that I won't spoil it here, but I will tell you that we eventually greet daughter, Blanca, who in turn gives birth to Alba. And that's the bare bones, but the story shines with a thousand details, beautiful and horrid - severed body parts, selective mutism, demonic possession, ghosts, a socialist revolution, sexual violence, young love, curses, etc etc etc.
Highly recommended but especially if you're interested in the kaleidoscope of generations of women inter-influencing one another and have a strong stomach for the cruelty of life.
I spent two months living inside this book, annotating it, rereading passages, and taking in a few pages at a time. This book is all substance and no filler. And I mean absolutely zero filler. Something important happens every page, every paragraph, every moment.
I don't know how to summarize or review this book adequately, but I'll do my best to give you the gist: we first meet Clara, who is the younger sister of the beautiful Rosa. Clara has psychic abilities, a dog she adores, and a vivacious spirit. And so much happens to Clara that I won't spoil it here, but I will tell you that we eventually greet daughter, Blanca, who in turn gives birth to Alba. And that's the bare bones, but the story shines with a thousand details, beautiful and horrid - severed body parts, selective mutism, demonic possession, ghosts, a socialist revolution, sexual violence, young love, curses, etc etc etc.
Highly recommended but especially if you're interested in the kaleidoscope of generations of women inter-influencing one another and have a strong stomach for the cruelty of life.
It's hard to write real reviews as I go through the Junji Ito catalogue. There's thirteen stories, they're spooky and kinda gross, blood falls from the sky, weird women do creepy things, and living apologetic ghosts haunt their victims. So, if you're into that, pick this one up.
How I picture Junji Ito when he saw House of 1000 corpses for the first time: bro, I did it way better. And my main dude spit nails and had an evil cat.
How I picture Junji Ito when he saw House of 1000 corpses for the first time: bro, I did it way better. And my main dude spit nails and had an evil cat.
This is a review for the English translation of the collected works - I hope to reread this in Polish sometime in the future.
Concentration camp literature never gets any easier. This is impossible to give a star rating to. Did I enjoy it? That's definitely not the word I'd use. Was it gripping and harrowing? Absolutely. Did it horrify me? Also yes.
Borowski writes fictionalized (question mark) accounts of being a Pole in the most infamous concentration camp and having to do the "dirty" work. He describes the experience of being one of the many who lead others straight to their deaths, unload corpses from gas chambers into crematoriums, or unload crushed infant bodies from the trains that brought the infants. He describes hunger, dehumanization, desensitization, detachment, memories of the before times, the omnipresence of quick and drawn out deaths, festering wounds, and all the horrors that come with the above. And, most strikingly, he touches on human morality and why he and others complied rather than rebelled. Broken spirits abound.
I can't in good conscience recommend this book to anyone by saying "here's an enjoyable piece of literature". But I do recommend it if you are prepared to face the psychology of someone who survived the Nazi death camps. Five stars.
Concentration camp literature never gets any easier. This is impossible to give a star rating to. Did I enjoy it? That's definitely not the word I'd use. Was it gripping and harrowing? Absolutely. Did it horrify me? Also yes.
Borowski writes fictionalized (question mark) accounts of being a Pole in the most infamous concentration camp and having to do the "dirty" work. He describes the experience of being one of the many who lead others straight to their deaths, unload corpses from gas chambers into crematoriums, or unload crushed infant bodies from the trains that brought the infants. He describes hunger, dehumanization, desensitization, detachment, memories of the before times, the omnipresence of quick and drawn out deaths, festering wounds, and all the horrors that come with the above. And, most strikingly, he touches on human morality and why he and others complied rather than rebelled. Broken spirits abound.
I can't in good conscience recommend this book to anyone by saying "here's an enjoyable piece of literature". But I do recommend it if you are prepared to face the psychology of someone who survived the Nazi death camps. Five stars.