Exhausted anarchist and school abolitionist who can be found at nerdteacher.com where I muse about school and education-related things, and all my links are here. My non-book posts are mostly at @whatanerd@treehouse.systems, occasionally I hide on @whatanerd@eldritch.cafe, or you can email me at n@nerdteacher.com. [they/them]
I was a secondary literature and humanities teacher who has swapped to being a tutor, so it's best to expect a ridiculously huge range of books.
And yes, I do spend a lot of time making sure book entries are as complete as I can make them. Please send help.
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A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, …
I am absolutely loving this book. I think part of it is how familiar I am with the places they travel through, but it's also just such a beautifully told story.
I am absolutely loving this book. I think part of it is how familiar I am with the places they travel through, but it's also just such a beautifully told story.
Emily has lost control of her Amulet and is imprisoned in the Void, where she …
Content warning Spoils a weird turn in the story.
While I mostly love the ways that these characters are presented (though I do wish there were more consistently existing parents of children in the story, since some of the parents seem to get dropped in the middle), there are narrative choices that leave me a bit confused because there was nothing really choreographing those decisions earlier.
A major plot point with Navin and Aly seems to just... come out of nowhere, and I'm not entirely sure why it's even part of what has been happening. Nothing really prepares the reader for Navin and Aly (along with other characters) to go to a space station and then to another planet. For every other book, we've remained on Alledia; suddenly, we're introduced to Typhon and how it and Alledia are connected... except we've never really heard of Typhon to begin with. And there was nothing indicating a space program, either.
I don't inherently dislike that as a turn, but I think it needed sufficient signposting in earlier books so that it doesn't feel like something totally random and like Kibuishi couldn't figure out how to continue the story any other way than tossing in a random new narrative point. As it stands, though, I think it just conveys lazy writing and a failure to engage with the world on Alledia that has already been built and developed throughout the course of the story.
Another thing that I'm not a huge fan of is that conflict isn't... actually conflict? Trellis enters Valcor (land of the elves) to reclaim the throne, but then he decides that the "false king" (his friend and ally Gabilan) should remain as the king and that he will become the adviser. I think Trellis's decision makes sense, but the fact that Gabilan barely resists (even when he does) any of the advice Trellis gives him on how to protect the kingdom... is strange. Gabilan was shown as being very headstrong and requiring evidence or countermeasures to persuade... And here he's just like "Well, I guess you're right."
Everything feels too easy sometimes. I don't think we need an all out war, but it'd be nice to have some degree of tension and actual disagreement. There's a lot of "work together in peace" type talks that just feel so... frustrating because that's not how interactions between people occur. Sure, we can sometimes be like "Oh, yeah, actually you're right," but it's usually because... it's very obvious to ourselves that we're wrong. It's weird to have a value or a principle and then just kind of go "Ah, well, shucks. Guess I just gotta dump it for something else because you were nice to me!"
I like the potential of the story, but it often feels very liberal in the most infuriating ways.
One thing I know adults reading this often complain about are how the kids are shown as stronger than everyone, and I actually don't mind that. Only Emily is really shown as being stronger than others (as a Stonekeeper). She embraced the powers earlier, then she became more cautious of them, then she gave in to them, and then she learned to defy and fight against Ikol (the voice in the stone that can control Stonekeepers). That is literally the path of her whole story arc and gets her to the character she is at the end of the series.
The adults telling Navin that he is a natural leader is very funny because even he resists that and pushes back, and I think that's a good thing because he recognises that he's not but that he is capable of being so. He still sees the possibilities for growth (though, there is a teacher who he has to convince to let him do something in an earlier book because that teacher thought Navin was incapable). If anything, this could be a good commentary on the way that adults constantly push their problems on children if it was reworked somewhat, especially since this has been a perpetual thing that has been done ("the youth are okay" or "the youth will fix it" or "it'll get better when the young take over" are all things that have been said by generations older than them who do nothing at all to solve the problems they created or enabled).
So I like the kids and their portrayals. They can be useful conversation starters, especially if you're an adult reading it with a kid.
A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, …
This book is going to be fun. According to the translator's note at the back, she uses the Japanese names for the cities; having lived in Taiwain, I'm familiar with their Taiwanese Hokkien/Mandarin names.
It's also going to be fun having to remind myself that this is all fictional (as in... the "translated" novel that the original author wrote isn't really translated), regardless of the presentation.
This book is going to be fun. According to the translator's note at the back, she uses the Japanese names for the cities; having lived in Taiwain, I'm familiar with their Taiwanese Hokkien/Mandarin names.
It's also going to be fun having to remind myself that this is all fictional (as in... the "translated" novel that the original author wrote isn't really translated), regardless of the presentation.
Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked …
Content warning Could have spoilers for the final story.
I want to start out with this: I don't know that this book is entirely for me. That's fine. It was still an experience to get through, and I only really started realising what the structure of the book was doing when I explained my discomfort with the first two stories to a friend and was starting on describing the beginning of the first.
To my friend, I had said: "All of these people are abusive assholes. I don't know if the sister is going to be, since I'm not done. But the husband and the brother-in-law were atrocious and disgusting." As soon as I said that, it finally clicked what was being done and the kind of message that Han Kang had wanted to transmit. And it's because the key figure, the person whose interiority we often don't have and who we're being pushed to look at as strange... is Yeong-hye. She's central to every story, but we're only allowed to follow the people harming her.
I do want to say, however, that the first story used shock value that hadn't been choreographed or foreshadowed multiple times. This includes the utilisation of suicide (which I thought this was done well despite the lack of foreshadowing, especially for the situation it is in) and two instances of animal torture and abuse (the first of which felt like it came entirely out of nowhere and was deeply frustrating, and the second was much more mild than the former but still could be upsetting). The second story involved a lot of sexual behaviours that were entirely questionable, which mostly felt discomforting because we know what the character we're following is thinking and the kind of obsessive attitude he has taken towards to object of his sexual desires. It's uncomfortable because we know what kind of tricks he's using to get what he wants and why he's treating people the way he is, which really isn't positive.
The third story, though, is her sister. Her sister isn't shown to be a good person. She's going through all the 'what if' moments and wondering where she screwed up and if she could've done better for Yeong-hye. She realises that she caused some of Yeong-hye's problems through the control she's had over her, by wanting to lock her away... and recognises that she's in the wrong. She's not presented as good but as changing. (I also like that she realises the kind of control that women are under by their husbands and the societal pressure of having children. It's woven in the story well.)
Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked …
I finished that second story. I did not like it, but I am starting to get a better handle of the structure of these three stories, but I'm still... Idk, I don't know that this is a thing I really enjoy. Let's see how I feel about the third story.
I finished that second story. I did not like it, but I am starting to get a better handle of the structure of these three stories, but I'm still... Idk, I don't know that this is a thing I really enjoy. Let's see how I feel about the third story.
Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked …
Content warning Creepy men, mentions of masturbation and abuse.
... The second story in this book is really making me want to DNF. Like, I'm really pushing through it, but it's pissing me off. A lot. And I kind of think that's the point, but idk. It's making me so uncomfortable.
I'm tired of reading about this man having sexual desires for his sister-in-law; I don't like how it's dressed under a guise of him "doing his work" (he's an artist). It's actually bothering me. I don't even like having to have read about him basically abusing his wife in one instance and him masturbating in another. I just... I think it's supposed to make me feel gross, but idk. I am not enjoying it.
Makoto and her cousins visit a café run by a witch that’s cloaked in magic …
The characterisation is getting better, especially through little asides. More of the stories are a bit more connected, so it makes it entertaining.
I also love that there's an anthropology-researching cat. Adorable.
The characterisation is getting better, especially through little asides. More of the stories are a bit more connected, so it makes it entertaining.
I also love that there's an anthropology-researching cat. Adorable.
Makoto goes to a local cherry blossom festival and happens to encounter someone who has …
The biggest draw for this is that it's a cute manga with witches and sweet moments. However, if someone were to ask me about these characters and their relationships to each other, it'd all be very flat.
Seriously, I'd be writing sentences like "Makoto is a teenage witch in high school. She's friendly and prone to getting lost. Her cousin Chinatsu... wants to be a witch and is curious?" while trying to describe it. It really is pretty low on the characterisation and the overarching story (if there is one—this seems very slice-of-life... and that's fine, but it's not my personal favourite).
The biggest draw for this is that it's a cute manga with witches and sweet moments. However, if someone were to ask me about these characters and their relationships to each other, it'd all be very flat.
Seriously, I'd be writing sentences like "Makoto is a teenage witch in high school. She's friendly and prone to getting lost. Her cousin Chinatsu... wants to be a witch and is curious?" while trying to describe it. It really is pretty low on the characterisation and the overarching story (if there is one—this seems very slice-of-life... and that's fine, but it's not my personal favourite).
Makoto Kowata, a novice witch, packs up her belongings (including her black cat familiar) and …
I'm still going to read the other volumes that I have on my computer, but I found the initial volume somewhat obnoxious for random humor that both doesn't fit and feels unnecessary in the context of the story (a girl telling a boy that living with his cousin is "lewd" for some reason, a girl grabbing her crotch because it hurts if you ride a broomstick and being told to "get her hands out of there").
I also think the characters aren't... being given some good intros, so everything feels really fast-paced. Each chapter feels a little disconnected in what's happening, feeling more like a serialised comic strip that's been extended to a few pages each and then being combined into a single volume.
I like the idea. I always love witchy stories, especially ones that have whirlwind and whimsical characters, but this feels like a semi-negative start …
I'm still going to read the other volumes that I have on my computer, but I found the initial volume somewhat obnoxious for random humor that both doesn't fit and feels unnecessary in the context of the story (a girl telling a boy that living with his cousin is "lewd" for some reason, a girl grabbing her crotch because it hurts if you ride a broomstick and being told to "get her hands out of there").
I also think the characters aren't... being given some good intros, so everything feels really fast-paced. Each chapter feels a little disconnected in what's happening, feeling more like a serialised comic strip that's been extended to a few pages each and then being combined into a single volume.
I like the idea. I always love witchy stories, especially ones that have whirlwind and whimsical characters, but this feels like a semi-negative start for something that has an interesting idea.
Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked …
I was not expecting the two instances of graphic animal abuse. They kind of came out of nowhere, and they weren't anything like previous mentions.
I was not expecting the two instances of graphic animal abuse. They kind of came out of nowhere, and they weren't anything like previous mentions.
Chi is a michievous newborn kitten who, while on a leisurely stroll with her family, finds herself lost. Seperated from …
In the summer of 2002, Kim Hae-on was killed in what became known as the …
It's rare that I find books that really deal with grief and actually engage with how people might process it. I also like that it shifts between perspectives of characters who are dealing with the fall-out (grief or guilt) of one event, and I like how things are open-ended enough for you to really consider what the connections are or if there are any.
Also, it's beautifully written. This translation reads so well, though I'm always wondering what I'm losing in translation.
It's rare that I find books that really deal with grief and actually engage with how people might process it. I also like that it shifts between perspectives of characters who are dealing with the fall-out (grief or guilt) of one event, and I like how things are open-ended enough for you to really consider what the connections are or if there are any.
Also, it's beautifully written. This translation reads so well, though I'm always wondering what I'm losing in translation.
Flamboyant, theatrical and ambitious, Margaret Cavendish was one of the seventeenth century's most striking figures: …
The book is called THE BLAZING WORLD and other writings, but I just finished the short story called "The Contract" first. I don't like how this editor organised these stories.
Which was... more of a stage play and really should've been made as a stage play (not that a dead woman can do that, though). Also kind of boring and not my cup of tea, even for classic literature.
The book is called THE BLAZING WORLD and other writings, but I just finished the short story called "The Contract" first. I don't like how this editor organised these stories.
Which was... more of a stage play and really should've been made as a stage play (not that a dead woman can do that, though). Also kind of boring and not my cup of tea, even for classic literature.
Flamboyant, theatrical and ambitious, Margaret Cavendish was one of the seventeenth century's most striking figures: …
Normally, I try to read the introductions to these editions, but I generally hate them because a lot of the editors that Penguin enjoys getting seem to want to tell you how to think rather than actually just contextualising the novel or writings. This one is annoyingly the same.
Anyway, that's not going to impact my review, but it is a common annoyance that I have had for Penguin Classics for years now.
Normally, I try to read the introductions to these editions, but I generally hate them because a lot of the editors that Penguin enjoys getting seem to want to tell you how to think rather than actually just contextualising the novel or writings. This one is annoyingly the same.
Anyway, that's not going to impact my review, but it is a common annoyance that I have had for Penguin Classics for years now.
Emily, Trellis, and Vigo visit Algos Island, where they can access and enter lost memories. They're hoping to uncover the …