pineconek's Reviews (816)

This is far from a perfect collection. There were a few skips and a few stories that frankly just went on for way too long (I'm looking at you, dog walker story that took me 4 days to get through).

Two stories reminded me of video games I either enjoy (rusty lake series) or have desperately wanted to play (what remains of Edith Finch), which was a very cool experience. Respectively, they had the "what the heck is going on" vibe and the "I reaaaally shouldn't be exploring this family house full of sad morbid secrets" vibe. Other than those, I enjoyed the weird nightmare vibe of the story told by M to Merry.

I wouldn't recommend this as an entry point to the authors work - he is a stronger novelist than he is a short story writer. That said, he's very clever, plays with imagery, and wears his literary references on his sleeve in a way that's often quite satisfying. Because of this, I expected a little more oomph from the stories. The subtlety and suddenness in which some of my favorite ones ended was both a frustrating tease and a reason to think "dang, he really is clever".

Recommended if you're looking for horror short stories that leave you feeling like the last page of each was ripped out but like...in a good way. 3.5 stars rounded down.

This was fine in a "exactly what it says on the tin" kind of way.

19 short stories is a lot to fit into such a relatively small collection, so these stories are indeed vignettes. The writing is as brutal and grotesque and beautiful, much like the author's acclaimed novel, and there's some interesting hints at commentary on the body.

Recommended if you're looking for a "no plot just horror vibes and make it gory" horror collection.

This was a "I know I'll love this book so I'll procrastinate reading it until I need it" kind of book, and this review is a "I loved the book and idk how to write a review that does it justice" kind of review.

Autofiction meets magic realism meets brutal depictions of deep human pain meets intergenerational trauma meets cultural interpretations of historical events etc etc etc. commentary on human intimacy, mental health, morality, false duality of victim and perpetrator, quantum physics, linearity of time, importance of stories, parasocial relationships, proximity of history, etc etc etc.

I annotated so much of this book and really took my time with it, and I recommend that you read this slowly should you pick it up.

If you liked this book, please read the book of form and emptiness (you'll love it), and/or some of Jonathan Safran Foer's fiction for more of these themes. If you liked those books, you'll probably like this.

In short: highly recommended if you're into any and all the themes described above, enjoy being sad while reading, and are ok with a little bit of woo-woo dream logic and graphic depictions of violence that humans inflict on other humans. Five bright stars.

I actively had to remind myself not to read these before bed.

I usually don't flinch when reading horror before bed. But some of these stories, rather than lulling me gently into sleep, made my heart legitimately pound and kept me wide awake in the wee hours of the morning. This was my first JCO (I'd DNFd Expensive People in the past, but hope to pick it up again) and it was a great sampler. Her writing forces me to look head on at the car crash, hold my breath even when I know what's coming, and be unable to look away from the carnage. And then, right as the story is getting extra-good, the ending is so abrupt and teasing that the words settle in to live rent-free in my head.

All those positives said, the collection was a mixed bag for me. While there were 2-3 stories I loved and were 5-star worthy (Strip Poker specifically stands out as the gem of this collection), others dragged on and had me put down the book for days at a time. Possibly a necessary respite.

Recommended if you enjoy feeling unsettled by short stories and narratives of covert dread. 3.5 stars rounded down.

I liked wind a lot more than pinball (3 and 1 stars respectively). Both read like brief novel opening ideas/impressionist sketches of ideas. In wind, it works. The reader is left with a nice impression of college and late night bars in 60s Japan, a sense of melancholy and longing, and in general you get a glimpse into some of the beautiful ways Murakami's writing later developed.

In pinball, the main idea sketched out is... The narrator sleeping with two twins he can't tell apart who live in his apartment for no reason and basically act like naive children/furniture? I know Murakami doesn't have the best track record when writing women but for fucks sake. Pinball was a chore to finish because of that alone, and the only real redeeming part was the quality of the prose. The man can write, and has written some great stuff. This isn't one of them.

I'm a casual true crime fan but didn't know much about Bundy before picking up this book. I really appreciated the unique perspective - this book is written by an ex police woman turned crime writer who worked with Ted at a crisis clinic (yes, really) and then remained friends with him on and off. She chronicles her difficult feelings about accepting that someone who seemed so kind and intelligent could be such a monster, and the afterwords have amazing content about the events that followed the publication of this controversial book.

I favor true crime that focuses on victims and survivors and treats them with dignity. I appreciated the grace with which Ann Rule narrated horrible events and the consequences of these on the victims and their families. She even tactfully comments on the personality cult around Bundy (girls wanting to marry him etc).

I recommend this book to anyone interested in a deep dive and insight into a horrible person who "just seemed so nice".

I love the parables (and everything of Butler's that I've read so far) and I absolutely adore this adaptation. It does it justice and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Recommended to anyone interested in finding hope among ruins and community among strangers.

This was a great book and almost impossible to read.

This book covers how journalists approach sources when reporting on traumatic stories ( think murders, traffic accidents, mass shootings, sex trafficking, etc.). The author surveyed over a hundred people about their experiences with the media and it led to this incredible eye-opening and harrowing book.

I say it was almost impossible to read because it is unflinching. I'm not sure what magic the author used to fully convey the horror and absolute helplessness people will feel during media circuses around tragedies but I could only handle it in small doses. This book explores so many fine lines: how do we tell people's stories without making it gratuitous? How do we respect privacy while wanting to remain transparent? How do we consume media about disasters without glorifying the perpetrators (and yes, we're looking at you, true crime genre). How do journalists handle their own vicarious trauma?

The book was written during the pandemic and touches on recent North American tragedies with a big focus on Toronto and Canada, which my Canadian self appreciated very much. While unflinching, the book remains sensitive and respectful towards people affected the Toronto van attack or the Pulse club shooting, among other things. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time and pay special attention when I next see tragedy reported in the news.

Recommended for anyone who's ever taken an interest in the ethics of true crime, who has an interest in journalism, and who has wondered what privacy means in the age when everything sensational is recorded somewhere.

Thank you to NetGalley for kindly providing me with an electronic advanced reader's copy!

Consider this a review of the entire first series, volumes 1-5.

Volume 1 was pretty ok. Nothing special but I was hoping it would ramp up to some interesting moral dilemmas, character development, etc. Instead, this tanked. Probably the most entertaining part of this was seeing all the things Squid Game used and how much improvement there was in the Netflix series relative to this manga. I'm not sure how open of a secret that is, but this manga includes children's games like red light green light, tug of war, a "true or false' race, and a final "two camps attack" similar to squid game.

With that aside, the execution oscillated between dull and uncomfortably sexual. Basically, instead of character development, moral ambiguity, and at least some intrigue usually present in games of death, we got rapid fire (boring) violence, lots of comments about (and visuals of) teenage girls' breasts, and two characters expressing that they were "super hentais". "Disappointed" is too gentle of a word to tell you how I felt about the entire second half of the series.

Not recommended. Go ahead and skip this.