I really liked this. It was super creepy, and well written, and featured some surprisingly well-rounded out characters. Even though we only get a glimpse of the people that Sgt Parks, Dr. Caldwall, Miss Justineau, and the Private were before the Breakdown, we have a very solid idea of what they’ve become. Then there’s poor Melanie, who has only existed post-Breakdown. “…then like Pandora, opening the great big box of the world and not being afraid, not even caring whether what’s inside is good or bad. Because it’s both. […]
Bad Feminist / Good Writer
When I was in high school, one of my favorite blogs was Sarah Bunting’s Tomato Nation. I read it obsessively, along with most of the other content on DamnHellAssKings, which sadly doesn’t seem to exist any longer. Bunting published an essay at one point called Yes, You Are, and I distinctly remember printing it out and bringing it to school to show this obnoxious boy in my science class (I was a lot of fun in high school). Yes, You Are listed the dictionary definition of feminism, […]
Triple Trouble
Three Wishes was cute, if nothing particularly special. Basically a glimpse into some family drama, big and wild at first but everything shakes out fine by the end. Still, it was a fun little read and the characters were overall pretty endearing. “Cat felt that sense of pleasure and pride that she always felt when she saw her sisters in public. “Look at them!” she wanted to say to people. “My sisters. Aren’t they great? Aren’t they annoying?” Triplets Cat, Gemma and Lyn turn 34 at the […]
Find the singer’s gun, then shoot yourself with it
Emily St. John Mandel has become an author like John Green or Liane Moriarty for me — I read her first book and adored it, so I sought out her earlier books and remain largely disappointed. Of the three I’ve read by her — Station Eleven, Last Night in Montreal and now The Singer’s Gun — this book definitely disappointed and irritated me the most. Anton Waker grew up with parents who ran a store filled with stolen goods, and a little bitch of a cousin (with whom he implies that he fell […]
I spent this whole book wondering if I liked it or not — not a good sign
I liked Station Eleven, so I grabbed a couple other Emily St. John Mandel books from the library. Last Night in Montreal — the author’s debut — is, like, pretty good, but not good-good — you know what I mean? I liked it, but the author’s sort of drifty, dreamy narrative style doesn’t work as well here as it did in Station Eleven. And while I desperately wanted to know how it ended and solve the central mystery, I didn’t really enjoy the journey getting there. “It was beginning to dawn on her […]
Let’s go to battle school for a while
I read Ender’s Game for the first time when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. I remember distinctly that my mom borrowed it from the library for herself, but I thought it was for me and had the whole thing read by the time she noticed I stole it from her bag. That’s the appeal of the Ender books — particularly the first — children and adults can both enjoy and learn from them. I’ve reread Ender’s Game and its sequels every few years […]
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