sspaghettiboness's Reviews (138)

I’d like to come back to this soon. As for now, I appreciate and recognise Pynchon’s craft. I’ve enjoyed a decent amount of what I’ve read. But, it is wildly confusing. The way he has written Stencil specifically, it just makes this read so far unbearable, trying to understand what he’s doing or read his conversations. Pynchon spends so much time building these wonderful, finely tempered characters, even those who will only exist for a moment - but it becomes so confusing. What am I supposed to pay attention to? What is relevant to the plot? 

I want to try again and finish it out of spite alone, but until that time, I’m d o n e. Genuine admiration for everyone who has finished this book. 

Starting this review by saying that Ralph McCarthy is the best translator. These collections contained such great emotional depth and truly made me feel for the characters, and without such a dutiful and impressive translator, that wouldn’t have happened.

I alternated between 4 and 5 stars, but ultimately, had to give this book a solid 5. I acknowledge my predisposition, I’ve read almost all of Murakami’s work available in English and savoured every single word. There are some spots where the book grew dull, and somewhat repetitive, but even those were enjoyable. Adding: his brand of satire is sublime and shining brightly here. 

Particularly, I found Ryu’s Cinematheque very dry and boring - until I started comparing the plot devices to what he had used in Run, Takahashi! and suddenly was just marvelling at how much he had grown and improved as a writer in that time period. While the latter is fast, fun, and digestible, Cinematheque felt decidedly slow. But the way he worked the unreliable narrator into the story, clearly something he would later employ in another novel on a much deeper level, was so enjoyable. When Swans rolled around, it was like he had fully polished the interconnectedness. If you’ve read From The Fatherland, With Love, you can see just how deeply he was fine tuning that skill.

Topaz is in a league of its own. No book has ever, and I mean ever, made me come closer to physically retching. I think I have a high threshold for gross and freaky (basically my whole personality) but that… was… horrible. I f***ing loved it. There’s no other author who can do that.

Overall: is this Ryu’s best work? No. Popular Hits From The Showa Era and Coin Locker Babies are my top 2 books of all time. Is this incredibly enjoyable and satisfying, as a reader and fan of his work? Yes, very much so. Am I going to watch the film Tokyo Decadency after reading this book? No, I think the mental imagery from this was more than enough. 

I did not expect to become a Fuminori Nakamura completionist, but every novel I read by him simply makes me want to read another. This book is no exception. He excels at putting words to deep, twisting emotions built of rage, fear, and dread. The main character here is one built out of suffering, only thriving by receiving more.

Intentional or not, the first chapter gave me a little Fight Club vibe, although it was quickly washed away by how different this writing is. Which is what I like the most about reading his work - he does not waste time on superfluous description, he needles right away at exactly how he wants the reader to feel. In this case, it seemed there was a drowning sense of dread and apathy, which he then lit a flame by hope, and cemented the story with a healthy dose of reality. 

Excellent writing, excellent piece. I look forward to reading more by him very soon. 

To be blunt, if this book lacked the beautiful writing style and structure I’ve come to know as belonging to Haruki Murakami, I doubt I would’ve finished it. That is to say wherever this book lacked, whenever it made me roll my eyes, his prose is so unique and deliberate that it will keep you motivated to continue reading. 

I do have criticisms. I feel that he spent a lot of unnecessary time dwelling on sex. To the extent that I was seriously questioning if he fully grasps the difference between intercourse and intimacy. For a book that is all about relationships and growth, it was certainly… annoying. As a woman, so many times I just rolled my eyes and had to walk away from reading because of how artfully he wrote his female leads down to nothing other than sex objects existing in a man’s world. Benefit of the doubt, I did consider that perhaps this was an attempt to make the reader feel more immersed in the male lead’s head? I don’t know. All of the men had these well formed purposes and personalities that linked well to their professions. Well rounded characters. The women did not. At all. Only upon reflection did that fully click, but, their lives in the story seemed more like cliches piled on top of one another until a character was formed. 

The plot was interesting. Overall, I see why so many people cite this as their favourite of his works. I prefer his magical realism style compared to this writing, but you cannot deny his technicality and flawless word choice. Truly feels like reading poetry in paragraphs. 

This book was nothing like what I was expecting. With a title like Love In The Big City, I foolishly thought this would be a lighthearted piece about the trials and tribulations of finding your person. Instead, this novel felt like it zeroed in on the spaces in between love. The spaces the author exists in. I felt a deep connection to that idea. A lot of the inner monologue examined the other emotions that swirl around love - anger, jealousy, and profound sadness. It was very relatable and personable. 

The only reason I’m not marking it higher is because this isn’t something I would normally go for and it didn’t wow me, but maybe that’s because it felt so honest and true that there was no wow factor. This story is a relatable one for, I think, many millennials or young adults seeking something we’ve been taught we must seek, and instead finding disaffection. 

Honestly, this is my favourite book by Nakamura. I almost didn’t recognise him by the writing style, it was so different than other books I’ve read by him. 

Pickpockets are fun to read about when they’re this well written, I appreciated how he didn’t waste time building an overly dramatic backstory to this life of crime. The simplicity of the plot was also wonderful, it followed a very clear path and was well laid out. 

There is, of course, a few fun twists here. I think Nakamura did a better job creating twists in My Annihilation, but this novel had some wonderful heist action which was welcome opposed to his twisted/dark psychology route I’ve seen before. 

It was overall a great read, went by too quick, left me wanting more in the best way. Also, if it’s endorsed by Natsuo Kirino, you know you’re in for something great. 

Absolutely loved it, did not expect to read the whole thing in a day but I just couldn’t help myself. It was everything you could want from sci-fi: cunningly smart, funny, intense, descriptive, and a good bit of horror. This book came recommended to me from one of my brother’s smartest friends and he was dead on. It was like reading an action movie, I loved every second of it, and if you’re from Maine it’ll hold an extra special place in your brain. 

Absolutely terrific. 

This was not a fun book to read. The plot had so much promise and was completely snuffed out by the amount of time dedicated to explaining these  bureaucracies and real estate situations. It was a slow moving book, although the sense of time was very hard to follow, and it wasn’t until the last three chapters I could grasp about how long it took for the events of the book to unfold. 

I appreciate the writing and have respect for the author, I think they used an interesting well known literary device. And I did deeply love the cat, Nabu, and the old woman, and the Whatsitsname. I wish the book would’ve just followed them, I think there was just way too many characters and way too much happening. As a reader, a lot of this felt like filler without killer, so boring it was draining. It almost would’ve flowed better as a series of novellas that told each arc start to finish, letting you discover their relations as you went, but… 

This simply wasn’t any of that. 

First of all, this book is beautifully written. I don’t read female authors as often as I’d like, but I felt such a deep kinship with this book as it explored things like female rivalry, ageing, and a culture which commodifies sex and youth. 

The diary sections are, by far, the most fun and interesting to read. Kirino does such a fantastic job of maintaining her high level writing while also giving each character a distinctiveness it’s impossible to doubt who is who. 

Overall it was a great read, there are some slow patches which I found less than engaging, but this is a book worth sticking with! Very thought provoking about some heavy subject matter while unfolding at a true crime pace.