Joyce > Recent Status Updates

成功学？

I am reminded of the passage from The Sense of an Ending: "How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but—mainly—to ourselves."

Perhaps I am not at a place where I can appreciate his genius yet.

Character development feels rushed. For example, I understand why Lizanne would work with Clay in a profitless contract, but there lacks a triggering event for this decision, especially given her characterisation has always been towards "cold" and "calculating".

Of all three characters, clay makes the least sense to me. One minute he's still thinking about escaping and next he is loyal to the group? He interacts with Silverpin maybe four, five times and suddenly he can't leave her?

Also, I feel like there would be more depth to the book if viewpoints from both sides are included

87 pages in, and I'm still not sure who the main characters are or what the main plot is about...

"我在想，飞蛾扑火时，一定是及快乐幸福的。"

Meh. It's boring. I'm bored now.

WHERE ARE ALL THE GOOD BOOKS???

Ach, it is easy to judge Katherine now. But one must wonder, how would I have behaved in her situation? Would I have been able to perceive Isabelle as clearly as I do now?

I feel like this is also in part a commentary on how and what the other thinks as he or she is writing a book.

TOK time: what is truth? Your perception of it is always alerted by the facts you have

I love it...everyone lies.

进度未免太慢了吧... 都40%了。 说好的幸福在哪里啊？

it's good but it could be better

Despite everything, I would appreciate it if she would take the time to explain the terms.

I love the way she takes your expectations and TWISTS it. "'I can't,' you say, kindly, because it will take him time to understand that you're not the blue woman anymore, that you won't do the things the blue woman did."

This is a work of art. Like all works of art, it is glorious and sophisticated and beautiful to behold. And, like all works of art, I'm not sure I am fully able to appreciate it.

IS THAT A REFERENCE TO 朱元璋?? "a fish whose name changed twice in one year thanks to a princess discovering that something that tasted delicious when you were starving in exile didn't necessarily remain so after you had returned to eating courtly delicacies."

IT'S SO PRETTY!!! "She pressed her thumb to the first glyph. A shadow unfurled briefly but was gone before she could identify it. The second attempt revealed a two-headed dragon's twisting coils. Long-range missiles, then: thunder in the sky."

GHOSTWEIGHT: so far, this is reminding me of the beginning of Chronicle of a Death Foretold - in the best way possible, of course. They both hint subtly (well, this book more obviously) at the warpage of truth by inadvertent human hands. "Even the act of remembrance ceases the truth.'

I don't know...this all seems a bit deus-ex-machina-y to me...