Reading Q4
Dec. 19th, 2019 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livHaving missed at least a dozen Wednesdays, let's see if I can catch up with some brief reviews.
Not-so-recently read: I borrowed The boy on the bridge from the library as it's a prequel to The girl with all the gifts which I was very impressed with.
TBotB has many of the strengths of tGwatG, particularly that it's incredibly compellingly written and tense, with really vivid characters. The worldbuilding of the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse is original, and the gradual reveal of the second generation zombies we meet in the first book, set 10 years later, works really well. There were a few bits where the biologically implausible technobabble should have been skipped rather than detailed, but for the most part I believed in the zombies as a plausible, non-magical phenomenon, and the idea of a Cordyceps variant that infects humans is pretty clever.
Both globally (it's basically about the beginning of the end of human civilization), and in terms of the specific characters going through their plot, there is just enough hope to give the book a varied emotional tone. The characters really don't have plot immunity though and lots of stuff goes horribly wrong from their already dire starting situation, including some pretty gory detail of both gun violence and zombie attacks.
My biggest problem with the book is what it does with the autistic teenage prodigy, Steve. He's written mostly sympathetically, and not portrayed as 'lacking empathy', but his characterization relies on lots of stereotypes about savantism. And the ending sets up something very close to a better dead than autistic narrative, which made me regret reading the book even though it's otherwise very good.
angelofthenorth lent me this, knowing that I'd enjoyed Conversations with friends by the same author, which she also lent me.
I found NP ultimately somewhat unsatisfying. It's incredibly well written, and I really cared about the characters, but the plot is one that I'm a bit bored with, pretty much the standard, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, reconciliation arc. The book it reminds me of most is The lessons by Naomi Alderman. It has a very vivid picture of not just troubled relationships between young adults, but also the experience of being a small fish in the huge pond of a world famous university, in Rooney's case Trinity Dublin rather than Oxford. I was very interested in the intricacies of social class, where the protagonists start out as poles apart in their small town, but both are seen as provincial outsiders once they get to university.
The on-again-off-again relationship between Marianne and Connell is very beautifully portrayed. They are deeply deeply in love but also struggle with communication and just being teenagers unsure of how to interact with eachother and the world. I did like that it's not a love conquers all narrative, but there's still something moving about the protagonists being something like soul mates even if they aren't an obviously perfect couple.
The book deals interestingly with topics like domestic violence and mental illness, without that being the focus of what the book is about. There is a very chilling scene where Marianne's mother can't protect her from violence by her brother any more than by her father (who had died before the book began), and Marianne remarks that her mother
So half my d-roll have been raving about Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma, a Good Omens longfic about Crowley going to therapy. I think it waswildeabandon who convinced me to read it, and I'm certainly glad I did.
Nnm writes really amazing Crowley, and has created a wonderful viewpoint character in Aubrey Thyme, the therapist who tries to treat him and takes some time to realize that he is literally a demon who has literally been through Hell. I inhaled the whole thing basically at a sitting, even though there really isn't much plot beyond recapping the events of the series. It's all quite literally character development.
The writing is funny and also heartrending. It's very much based on the TV show and perhaps goes even further than that at taking the Ineffable Husbands as definitely a romantic couple. I was less convinced by Nnm's Aziraphale, though I really like the depiction of how difficult and scary it is to interact with an angel who is infinitely kind, but I love the exploration of Crowley's relationship with him, seen from Crowley's POV.
The theodicy is worth reading. Thyme is an atheist who finds herself in the Good Omens universe where God and Satan and all that take on Christian theology do in fact straightforwardly exist. I really liked Thyme's refusal to worship God despite discovering that She really is an all-powerful creator. It's not a childish, haha God is an abusive parent, take, but it really engages with judging God by human moral standards.
I think a lot of people found the work incredibly comforting, the idea that somewhere out there is a really good therapist who would be patient with even a literal demon who has condemned all of humanity to eternal torment. I kind of didn't; it reinforced my fear that if I ever have serious mental health problems, the best I can hope for is to recount my thoughts to some slightly daft woman who will unconditional-positive-regard at me. Of course most people don't even get a competent therapist, or not for long enough to actually be helped. But the portrayal in GO is idealized and yet still utterly off-putting.
I would recommend D&tTPMoT:aIP highly even so, but I expect most people who would appreciate it have already read it, except for a friend who hates fanfic anyway.
Currently reading: King of morning Queen of day by Ian McDonald. This is an early McDonald about fairies in Ireland around the time of the revolution. McDonald is very good at weaving the supernatural into real world history, and countering soppy American takes on Irish mythology.
I'm a bit tempted to DNF the book, though; I've put it down for several weeks and I'm disinclined to restart it. Partly because it is actually three books about three generations of half-fae women, and I didn't quite have the energy to start again with the second protag just when I'd got interested in the first.
And mainly because it is rather too rapey for my tastes. I mean, bad things happen to male characters but they are things like being fooled by scams and losing their wealth and professional reputation. Girls and women get raped by fairies, and it veers a bit too close to the classic horror trope of being punished for being curious about sex, plus the descriptions are unnecessarily detailed.
Up next: Don't know, I'm rather bogged down in KoMQoD so I haven't thought much about the next thing.
Not-so-recently read: I borrowed The boy on the bridge from the library as it's a prequel to The girl with all the gifts which I was very impressed with.
TBotB has many of the strengths of tGwatG, particularly that it's incredibly compellingly written and tense, with really vivid characters. The worldbuilding of the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse is original, and the gradual reveal of the second generation zombies we meet in the first book, set 10 years later, works really well. There were a few bits where the biologically implausible technobabble should have been skipped rather than detailed, but for the most part I believed in the zombies as a plausible, non-magical phenomenon, and the idea of a Cordyceps variant that infects humans is pretty clever.
Both globally (it's basically about the beginning of the end of human civilization), and in terms of the specific characters going through their plot, there is just enough hope to give the book a varied emotional tone. The characters really don't have plot immunity though and lots of stuff goes horribly wrong from their already dire starting situation, including some pretty gory detail of both gun violence and zombie attacks.
My biggest problem with the book is what it does with the autistic teenage prodigy, Steve. He's written mostly sympathetically, and not portrayed as 'lacking empathy', but his characterization relies on lots of stereotypes about savantism. And the ending sets up something very close to a better dead than autistic narrative, which made me regret reading the book even though it's otherwise very good.
angelofthenorth lent me this, knowing that I'd enjoyed Conversations with friends by the same author, which she also lent me. I found NP ultimately somewhat unsatisfying. It's incredibly well written, and I really cared about the characters, but the plot is one that I'm a bit bored with, pretty much the standard, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, reconciliation arc. The book it reminds me of most is The lessons by Naomi Alderman. It has a very vivid picture of not just troubled relationships between young adults, but also the experience of being a small fish in the huge pond of a world famous university, in Rooney's case Trinity Dublin rather than Oxford. I was very interested in the intricacies of social class, where the protagonists start out as poles apart in their small town, but both are seen as provincial outsiders once they get to university.
The on-again-off-again relationship between Marianne and Connell is very beautifully portrayed. They are deeply deeply in love but also struggle with communication and just being teenagers unsure of how to interact with eachother and the world. I did like that it's not a love conquers all narrative, but there's still something moving about the protagonists being something like soul mates even if they aren't an obviously perfect couple.
The book deals interestingly with topics like domestic violence and mental illness, without that being the focus of what the book is about. There is a very chilling scene where Marianne's mother can't protect her from violence by her brother any more than by her father (who had died before the book began), and Marianne remarks that her mother
decided a long time ago that it is acceptable for men to use aggression towards Marianne as a way of expressing themselves. There's also suicide of a minor character, and the way that affects both the protagonists and their community, and a very non-romanticized portrayal of Connell's depression.
So half my d-roll have been raving about Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma, a Good Omens longfic about Crowley going to therapy. I think it was
wildeabandon who convinced me to read it, and I'm certainly glad I did.Nnm writes really amazing Crowley, and has created a wonderful viewpoint character in Aubrey Thyme, the therapist who tries to treat him and takes some time to realize that he is literally a demon who has literally been through Hell. I inhaled the whole thing basically at a sitting, even though there really isn't much plot beyond recapping the events of the series. It's all quite literally character development.
The writing is funny and also heartrending. It's very much based on the TV show and perhaps goes even further than that at taking the Ineffable Husbands as definitely a romantic couple. I was less convinced by Nnm's Aziraphale, though I really like the depiction of how difficult and scary it is to interact with an angel who is infinitely kind, but I love the exploration of Crowley's relationship with him, seen from Crowley's POV.
The theodicy is worth reading. Thyme is an atheist who finds herself in the Good Omens universe where God and Satan and all that take on Christian theology do in fact straightforwardly exist. I really liked Thyme's refusal to worship God despite discovering that She really is an all-powerful creator. It's not a childish, haha God is an abusive parent, take, but it really engages with judging God by human moral standards.
I think a lot of people found the work incredibly comforting, the idea that somewhere out there is a really good therapist who would be patient with even a literal demon who has condemned all of humanity to eternal torment. I kind of didn't; it reinforced my fear that if I ever have serious mental health problems, the best I can hope for is to recount my thoughts to some slightly daft woman who will unconditional-positive-regard at me. Of course most people don't even get a competent therapist, or not for long enough to actually be helped. But the portrayal in GO is idealized and yet still utterly off-putting.
I would recommend D&tTPMoT:aIP highly even so, but I expect most people who would appreciate it have already read it, except for a friend who hates fanfic anyway.
Currently reading: King of morning Queen of day by Ian McDonald. This is an early McDonald about fairies in Ireland around the time of the revolution. McDonald is very good at weaving the supernatural into real world history, and countering soppy American takes on Irish mythology.
I'm a bit tempted to DNF the book, though; I've put it down for several weeks and I'm disinclined to restart it. Partly because it is actually three books about three generations of half-fae women, and I didn't quite have the energy to start again with the second protag just when I'd got interested in the first.
And mainly because it is rather too rapey for my tastes. I mean, bad things happen to male characters but they are things like being fooled by scams and losing their wealth and professional reputation. Girls and women get raped by fairies, and it veers a bit too close to the classic horror trope of being punished for being curious about sex, plus the descriptions are unnecessarily detailed.
Up next: Don't know, I'm rather bogged down in KoMQoD so I haven't thought much about the next thing.
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Date: 2019-12-20 01:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-12-21 08:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-02 04:55 pm (UTC)