simonator's Reviews (183)

As with all real history books, it gets a little tedious to keep track of all the royals and movements of real people. However, the author managed to keep the tone engaging and subtly humorous without compromising on academic rigour. This is almost the perfect blend between taking the interested reader seriously by discussing sources and reflecting on what can or cannot be known, while not devolving into the hyper sterile language of a scientific journal article. 

Takes Muntzer for what he was : a religious revolutionary with a great social concern, with no illusions to any quasi-Leninistt spirit but also not dismissing his proto-democratic-radicalism. 

Advisable reading to summarize some of the elemental Marx

Ein gutes Beispiel wie man aus einer simplen Fabel, in der auf einer oberflächlichen Ebene nicht viel geschieht, eine Menge an Bedeutung herausgearbeiten kann. Das Buch stellt viele Beziehungen dar; Mensch zu Tier und Natur, Frau und Mann, Gedanken- und Außenwelt, Stadt und Land, Zivilisation und Naturursprünglichkeit. Spannend dabei ist, das immer ein Teil des Gegensatzpaares nur als Leerstelle, als Spiegelbild behandelt wird - versteht man beim Lesen. 
Kunstvoll auch, wie in der Berichtsform des Buches, einige traurige Plotelemente (wobei man kaum von Plot sprechen kann) im Voraus leise angedeutet werden, um eine gewisse Spannung zu waren, und gleichzeitig eine schwermütige Grundstimmung zu fördern. Es ist bemerkenswert, wie die Autorin überhaupt so einen einsaugenden Text über letztlich nur Gedanken und Ackerbau geschrieben hat. Trotzdem war es letzten Ende doch etwas zu lang. 

Sweet and authentically steeped in Chilean history. Sappy to the point of corniness at times, but with hints of magical realism vibes here and there. The narrative lense flits from character to character to give miniature windows into life under the dictatorship, which is interesting and touching, as the main and rich secondary cast is painted vividly and effectively, even though construed to give the broadest most insight into the different sociological milieus. 
Overall, not the most sophisticated novel, but touching nonetheless. 

What a dignified yet exposing, mystifying yet sober, simple yet sophisticated, terrifying yet beautiful, disillusioning yet romantic portrayal of a people's custom in the eyes of it's participants and onlookers alike.

Another fantastic read in the catalogue of Engel's wise application of historical materialism. The reader will be surprised of the obvious class nature of the peasant wars. 
Chapters v and vi are quite tough to read as an endless listing of facts and troop movements, but this is what makes this both a political polemic and a genuine historical reference text.

Wwe lost a witty travel writer to the revolution. 

The diaries are some serious mythmaking by a young and charming Che, who describes his own bravado in a hilarious and self-deprecating style. Both his descriptions of delicious natural sceneries and the squalor of the poor he encounters on the travels are highly valuable.

Interesting facts, but reads more like a series of journalistic reporta tied together a la "look at the outrageous sh*t Israel is doing". But there's no deeper connecting, conceptualizing argument or systemification. I'd rather watch a documentary then. 

Becky Chambers' books are always a cozy, lighthearted read - this one even more than her others. Scene after scene, we get to know the domesticity and lived reality of the inhabitants of an enormous human fleet drifting in space and poverty, but under some form of space communism. In lengthy, lengthy dialogues, the characters discuss their lives and how they feel about it. Frankly, that gets hella boring at some point - which is, too, a theme for the Wayfarer series. The communist nature of the fleet society is interesting for a second of fans of organised space life, but it lacks a serious, deeper foundation based on a critique of capitalism or even understanding of planned economies/societies (especially regarding the incessantly brought-up topic of money and trade). Everybody's just an emotionally mature hippie who doesn't like money and who's fluent in therapy-speak - that's communism, apparently. 
If you're waiting for a plot in the first third, don't get your hopes up too much. The author prefers much mroe to revel in the little moments and little lives of her creations, letting them yap for pages on end, with not much of a plot, or even problems, to spur them on. Then, halfway in, a genuinely intriguing plot takes shape of an immigrant who falls through the fleet society's cracks, hangs out with the wrong people, and tries to make a living in the wake of a major industrial disaster. And THEN, two chapters later, that plot just ... fizzles out off-page. The rest of the book's THIRD is about the remaining cast DISCUSSING what just happened - even though most of them didn't even have anything to do with the events! I wanted to scream at this waste of a great story idea. 
I still finished this book fairly quickly, though, as the writing is charming at times, and the world-building undeniably creative, combining hard sci-fi geekdom with fantastically alien aliens. But I think this'll be the last book of the author for me. 

Highly informative and great proof of the power of Marxist approaches to analysing contemporary politics. Theory side could've taken more space.