Caveat that the excitement didn’t wear off, I still love this book to pieces, but I’m very fundamentally aware of everything that could be much better about it, lol.
*Rabbits* by Terry Miles
Such a unique and fun idea, a genuinely interesting plot to follow, and I’ll be reading the third book (yet unannounced as far as I know) as soon as it comes out lol. But the prose is so simple in a Tiktok-coded way, there’s a LOT of required suspension of disbelief, and most of the characters are not that likeable in a way that I can’t quite tell if it’s on purpose.
But I adore it anyway. It’s trash, but it’s my absolute favorite kind of trash.
_Mc_Who on
Piranesi lol
I know I’m gonna get flamed for this in this sub
Concept was great and original, the plot that made use of the excellent world building ended up being incredibly limp
CalypsosBirthday on
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihira. When you’re elbow deep in the relentless trauma-porn of it all, the story is so sad and so moving but once you’re done (especially after that ambiguously unresolved non-ending) all the flaws leap out. Somehow, it was nominated for the Booker! The post-read hangover is like a fever breaking. Was it even a good book or were we all conned? Is it beautifully written or just excessively, overly written…and long?
After the initial popularity cooled, it was hard not to be influenced by all the reviews tearing it apart and asking questions like:
Why is a straight woman telling this story? Why did New York City feel so thin an underdescribed? Why shoe-horn in the racial diversity (or in Jude’s case, ambiguity) of some of the characters when it had so little to do with the story, their lives, or experiences. How exactly are all of them so rich and successful? What did describing Jude’s 38th horrific rape accomplish that the first 37 times didn’t?
najing_ftw on
Anything by Ayn Rand. 15 year old me thought it was transcendent. Now…bullshit wrapped in terrible writing.
No_Sky_2111 on
Gone Girl! I couldn’t put it down, but afterwards I was like… meh.
5 Comments
Caveat that the excitement didn’t wear off, I still love this book to pieces, but I’m very fundamentally aware of everything that could be much better about it, lol.
*Rabbits* by Terry Miles
Such a unique and fun idea, a genuinely interesting plot to follow, and I’ll be reading the third book (yet unannounced as far as I know) as soon as it comes out lol. But the prose is so simple in a Tiktok-coded way, there’s a LOT of required suspension of disbelief, and most of the characters are not that likeable in a way that I can’t quite tell if it’s on purpose.
But I adore it anyway. It’s trash, but it’s my absolute favorite kind of trash.
Piranesi lol
I know I’m gonna get flamed for this in this sub
Concept was great and original, the plot that made use of the excellent world building ended up being incredibly limp
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihira. When you’re elbow deep in the relentless trauma-porn of it all, the story is so sad and so moving but once you’re done (especially after that ambiguously unresolved non-ending) all the flaws leap out. Somehow, it was nominated for the Booker! The post-read hangover is like a fever breaking. Was it even a good book or were we all conned? Is it beautifully written or just excessively, overly written…and long?
After the initial popularity cooled, it was hard not to be influenced by all the reviews tearing it apart and asking questions like:
Why is a straight woman telling this story? Why did New York City feel so thin an underdescribed? Why shoe-horn in the racial diversity (or in Jude’s case, ambiguity) of some of the characters when it had so little to do with the story, their lives, or experiences. How exactly are all of them so rich and successful? What did describing Jude’s 38th horrific rape accomplish that the first 37 times didn’t?
Anything by Ayn Rand. 15 year old me thought it was transcendent. Now…bullshit wrapped in terrible writing.
Gone Girl! I couldn’t put it down, but afterwards I was like… meh.