sunn_bleach's Reviews (249)

One of those books that challenges the way I thought a story could be written. This is the closest I’ve found to a book that is written (unsurprisingly) like a movie - not in terms of cinematic action, but in descriptions that read like screen directions, where the depiction of reality is less true-true than story-true. Fascinating book with beautiful prose that responds in the negative to Kierkegaard’s leap of faith (something I’m noticing has happened a few times in the last year of reading).

It’s a good problem to have when my biggest criticism is “I wish it were longer”. And I deeply, deeply do - not only to explore the House  that is God, but to simply have more time with Piranesi before the plot hits hard, the resolution of which never truly lived up to the conceit. Borgesian is an easy analogy; I found “Piranesi” more abjectly beautiful and celebratory in capital-m Mystery, with the caveat that the epistolary form doesn’t work as well when the action and dialogue pick up in the second half. Sad, contemplative, yet affirming. The last sentence is a gutpunch.

It’s hard to write speculative fiction with a social issues bent in the 2010s and beyond without accusation of Black Mirror-lite. So, perhaps readers might be interested to hear some of these stories predate the show, and that they have more in common with the tradition of Borges and other Argentinian/Chilean magical realism authors in addition to the contemporary issues of today (and yesterday, and tomorrow). I respected how the “Lifecycle” story to its extreme end, I found the title story masterful as a response to Kierkegaard’s “leap of faith”, and I enjoyed the parable-esque nature of the rest. The only one I thought a little trite was “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”, which kinda failed on the dual-story part with the African analog seeming cliché. But it’s a small price to pay for the overall collection.

What’s “literary” about this? Between the awfully cliche metaphors to a painfully trite depiction of love after trauma, I found this kind of impressively bad. The writing is like what an alien might imagine sex is like, and the depictions of polyamory feel like someone’s attempt to write stereotypes of poly. There are several reused metaphors and erroneous descriptions that make the word "literary" do some heavy lifting. Like that's fine, but the book tries so hard in the beginning to make you think it's "literary" or particularly sexually representative. (I'm thinking of a particular Oreo right now.)

The infamous dildo riding party ended up being one of the less sexually unappealing stories; sure, everyone knows how that kind of penetrative sex is incredibly dangerous, but at least it was interesting. Despite the author trying so hard to show you how she totally gets consent and pronoun usage, there are some pretty damn questionable aspects of consent throughout this, like waking up a lover with oral (something that works in male-gaze porn, but...).

Props to the book though for never being unentertaining, even if the cloying emotional appeals felt insulting. Gosh, I am so impressed by this, but not for any good reasons.

I’m quite charmed by this collection of stories all under 300 words. Some authors in this collection already show mastery, knowing how to choose their words as carefully as possible to imply memoria, lurking horror, or sudden twist. There is a preponderance of “cheating spouse” stories, which I expect would be the easiest to write in this format. But the haunting ones are QUITE haunting, and the successfully funny ones have me still thinking about the form of a short story days later.

Oof ouch my heart. This selection of essays was a random pull from Boulder Bookstore, which once again does no disappoint. A beautiful, somber selection of prose, poetry, and prose-poetry of ruminations on religion, the body, death, and what it means to be Irish, a woman, and an Irish woman. Particular shout-out to heavy use of concrete words and imagery, as in the Pain Index poems, and the parable-esque writing of short paragraphs that make each collection/passage.

A great compilation of cyberpunk with twists often based in religion and Malaysia’s cultural and ethnic struggles. Some of these are downright funny; shout-out to DMZINE and Attack of the Spambots. Only a couple stinkers in an otherwise awesome selection; I should read more books where the forward is a manifesto.

A fascinating, strange rumination on being a character in a book. The last chapter more or less redeems the fourth and fifth chapter that feels like three hundred pages of “yeah?” “Umm.” and “Well…” plus copious amounts of sex and slurs thet I haven’t begun to figure out. One character provides a mind screwdriver, but is it enough? Is it aware of being unjustifiable? Is that an excuse to write dreg? Perhaps I didn’t quite enjoy it, but I’ve thought about it a lot.

A great and accessible primer on climate change biology with cute vignettes from Thor’s life. Just wish it were longer! Nice to read a book on climate change with hope and ideas, not just doom.

Overall a solid selection of short stories meant to reflect on Kipling and colonialism’s legacy. The best take his format and run with it; the worst are either cliché or feel like they were written for a different prompt. “Samsara” is unbearably cloying (what Gen Zer doesn’t know Freddie Mercury? did the author ever speak to a teenager?) and also not related to the topic. “How the Camel…” and “How the Tree of Wishes…” feel like updated fairy tales for a modern age in Kipling’s style. “How the Ants…” and “How the Spider…” are eviscerations of colonialism and Kipling’s condescension in the way I want.