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It was fucking beautiful

Incredibly poignant, and I think a big core of what this book is about, and I also think a core understanding of what it means to engage in revolutionary struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

@strikescanbeillegal@bookwyrm.social To clarify, which topic are you wanting to learn more about? Are you wanting to learn more about direct action, or environmental justice (EJ)? Maybe even personal accounts of movement building? This book does touch on a lot of topics. Depending on what you want to learn, I also might not have an immediate answer - I am learning mostly through organizational political education. But I would love to find an answer for you!

Also, I will clarify: I don't necessarily think that this book is harmful, and I do think it would be a good primer for folks who are new to political organizing. I just think it's really important to understand that this book offers a pretty narrow perspective.

I wanted to like this book more. And the beginning and the ending were compelling and easy to get through. I really liked the ideas about decentralized systems that was part of the world building, and how technology and nature can exist in symbiosis.

That said, perhaps I wasn't a fan of the writing style? There was a family drama in the center of the story, but I did not find those conflicts to add a lot of meaningful tension to the overall story.

My number one critique of this book is that it had so many opportunities to share and relate revolutionary movements throughout history to the climate movement, and it did not. Even worse, there were parts of the book that critiqued attacks on oil pipelines in the SWANA region that were connected to local anti-imperialist movements, without drawing the connection between anti imperialism and the climate movement (embarrassing, frankly).

That said, I think the book is a fine introduction to the idea that violence in the form of property destruction is a legitimate action to take, although I wish the book made a stronger case to the idea of armed resistance in the pursuit of national democracy and socialism. I also think the last chapter of the book was the strongest, since it offered good critiques of climate doomerism.

Anyway, I shouldn't be surprised lol, but whatever, it was fine.

my loan from the library expired - it was really interesting, I might pick up again

This book made me feel disgusted in a way that a book has never made me feel. It was really fascinating, and upsetting, and I'm glad it's over. I'm not a huge fan of the horror genre, so perhaps it wasn't for me. But, as brutal as this book was, and how clearly allegorical it was, it surprisingly did not have a lot to say beyond "imagine what it would be like if we had industrialized meat but made from humans". Maybe it did say something more than that (it did seem to touch on the topic of how we so easily can dehumanize others), but I didn't grasp it. ANYWAY, it was okay, thanks TikTok for the recommendation.