Curtis > Recent Status Updates

Drama! High school experience seems alien to me(I wasn't popular/didnt go to events). Get the feeling Krissy's friends are snakes. Dad meant to be charming but blows diagnosis out of proportion/makes it about him. Hope I like someone in her corner. Overuse of 'hermaphrodite' even after we learn it's outdated. Slight after-school special vibes: explaining AIS to some, commiserating with those who have it. Invested.

Bleak atmosphere smothers; nihilistic end. Scanty characterization of monster's victims dulls some of its impact potential. F's not smart to the end, not getting monster's intent is others, not him. Resolution touching and poignant but unflinching. Despite length, feels like novella for its simplicity. Examines how prejudice begets itself & marginalized prej. is response to priveleged oppression. Better on 2nd read!

Deal has some issues; wonder how much Shelley sees it, especially about assumption that monster 2 will fall in love with monster 1. In-built selfishness of inflicting this fate on another. Monster has his own prejudices; punishing all humanity for the fauls of the few he's encountered. Good look at how prejudice breeds prejudice among marginalized. F & monster's fates/outlooks becoming more similar. Intense bleakness

Packed section begins w/ monster's murders & vision of monster in dead of night; great horror set-piece. Natural retreats become turbulent as F hikes in wintry mountain landscape & meets monster. Backstory longest section in book, highly memorable, but overlong, gets convoluted, & monster's deal hampered by his murders, which make it hard for F to agree. Thematically rich, existential, atmospheric. Best part so far.

Resurrection scene odd in its simplicity; monster just comes to life, F. runs & sleeps, runs again, comes back & doesn't question when monster's gone. Almost funny. Indicative of his evasion of responsibility. Interlude chapter incl. letter from home about woman w/ postpartum depression; more motherhood parallels. Nature, friends ground F. again, until both interrupted by monster in great horror scene of sighting him

Slow burn full of foreshadowing, from importance of affection in F's life to respect of nature being likened to piety, to Greek refs linking to old themes of fate/destiny vs hubris. Minimal dramatization of revival scene as its not the point; best to enter book as if it's just a mystery to discover F's tragic past. Love references to motherhood & F losing sense of self while experimenting. Noticing more w/ re-read!

Awful ending. Scary creatures spout goofy exposition & literally dismiss the story's first half out of hand. Cool visuals/concepts scattered aaround that I wish had been used better. Rushed & incohesive after plodding middle section; no outline or structural editing was done, themes poorly realized; often thoughtless in execution. The cool climax wasnt worth it. Cutter killed the goodwill he'd built up in The Troop.

Problem w/ using all tropes means many plot elements feel random; no story/thematic connections. Most gratuitous 'sex abuse' backstory I've read in ages. But at least climax is entertaining! Ridiculously over-the-top; rapidly discards lots of plot/characterization; logistics often make no sense, but still compulsively schlocky fun. Laughing at it. Slow burn fails, but finally, Cutter craziness I liked in The Troop.!

Fitting that cover is 2 stock photos edited together; this book is cliches on top of one another. He apes Stephen King's style to point of parody, from mental interjections, silly-scary visualis, to mantras that characters repeat to themselves. Toybox flashback was useless; was wondering if it was meant to be tense? Only to be irrelevant. Cheesy similes; has to rephrase something he's describing. Snail's pacing. Bad.

Cutter seemingly looked at a menu listing all the tropes & traumatic backstories, & said 'I'll have one of everything.' It's undersea Solaris w/ sprinklings of many other stories (one scene lifted straight from IT). Everything bad seems to have happened to Luke. But it's all lame in execution. At times scares are just 'what IF there was something scary in here with me?' Tries to be deeper than The Troop; not working.

Almost impressive how much things get dragged out because of constant flashbacks. Entering lab/meeting its occupants lasts 50 pages! Some flashbacks necessary but other long ones only used to explain what something sounded like; easily trimmable. Plot too reminiscent of Solaris & The Abyss. Shame because core ideas seem to be interesting (Westlake's tapes have me intrigued!) but attempts to be cerebral not landing.

Getting invested! Marked improvement once Luke gets to base & briefed on mission. Lead-up to this could've been cut down. Tragic backstory overload--how much baggage can you pack into a MC before 100 pages? Tension builds; mysterious deep sea feel played well. Feels like I can predict some things (words in blood obviously say 'Fig Men;' why can't Luke work that out when he was just thinking about it?) but intrigued!

Disease's rules seem lose; Cutter gets mixed up on how it works within 20 pages--or possibly a sign that narrator has the forgetting disease & will be unreliable as he forgets more? Lots of potential there. Dialogue, storytelling cornier than The Troop, w/ frequent backstory telling which doesn't blend well with present action. Ties into memory motif, w/ things protag. would rather forget. Intrigued by premise, tho!

Ending was best part--especially Warsaw uprising. Overall, lots of wasted potential. If not for the inherent intensity of this history & my interest in it, it'd be 2 stars. Author keeps getting in her own way, chopping narrative to pieces to insert bloviating self-inserts, while skimming Bund's surface/philosophy in favour of fanfic inventions. Too zoomed in. I learned lots, but better books on the topic must exist.

Horrific by this point as holocaust ramps up; engaging despite author's weaknesses. Shocked how Zios/Bund refuse to cooperate in resistance. Rapid intercutting now seems an obligation as many cut-aways add less than nothing. Author continues fanciful invention around what people thought or did, like historical fic instead of history. Can't tell what's from historic accounts or her ideas. Spells out modern connections

Presumes knowledge of con. camps in France & elsewhere w/o explanation? Structure becoming increasingly fragmentary, but at least covers things I'm fresh to: goings-on of interwar Poland cozying up to Nazis, Zionists allying w/ nationalist goals to expel Jews; Bund increasingly popular in Jewish areas, winning Polish elections up to invasion. Attempts to flee rebuked by every country. Horrific. Hope it sticks landing

Picks up with revolution but intercutting prevents lingering on Russia's transformation. Same with Nazism's rise. Hightlighting pogroms horrificly eye-opening; lends credence for why many Jews roped into Israel settler project. Anyone would want to flee, Bundism seemed a losing prospect in the face of that. Would be accidental Zionist argument but for its justification of influcting similar violence on Palestinians.

As it goes, the less author can justify including her ancestor, who was barely involved to begin with (she speculates he was more involved than is proved). Now he's fully irrelevant to Bund narrative. Bund themselves are sidelined; minimal description with differing Jewish philosophies, & focusing tightly on handful of Bundists means hard to get broad picture of Bund's aims. Saved by the history being so interesting.

Intense telling of botched 1905 revolution & its blowback--didn't recall this many massacres/pogroms. Crabapple's style puts you right int he action; far from dry. But author once again inserts herself by comparing it to time she went to BLM protest--huge reach. Bund criticized for walking from contentious meeting regarding their socialist agency which made it possible for Bolshevik schism, so Bund isn't perfect.

Written in engaging, un-academic way, using g. grandfather as framing. Though bit tenuous, works to introduce us to world he's fighting against, showing why Jewish Bund is needed, linking it to modern intersectionalism. Immersive; love the history it covers. But author gets in her own way at times: memoir-izing distracting, invented character thoughts/dialogue rarely works. Praying she doesn't over-indulge this.

Solid but not worth full price--would buy at clearance! Fun to flip through & look at; an informational wish-list for plant lovers. Very introductory, not definitive, & geared to hotter climate than mine, esp cactus section. Fantastic visuals but some not-so-helpful photos too. Sometimes hypes up a species within genus yet doesn't show it (baseball plant). Perfect for start of my houseplant phase, but I'd outgrow it.

Australian writers makes for big cacti section, many of which are near impossible to grow indoors outside of that climate. Wish book made that clear. Difficulty often underrated. Variety of cacti/succulents surprising! Didn't know they had such variety. Confused why disimilar plants categorized as same genus; wish it elaborated on identifying. Authors include tips specific to each plant alongside general rules.

Soviet invasion in Afghanistan sparse on detail; says US assumed an oil motive but was misled, then doesn't clarify their actual motives. Focus on Salem's playboy lifestyle is displacing more interesting historical aspects. Bin Laden corporation still interesting as it intersects more with geo-politics. Interesting how region traumatized by US leads to extremism; makes sense. Trump makes appearance; as dumb as ever.

Salem section dull & drawn out: just showing him being a rich playboy for 40 pages. Bit interesting with tensions between SA and 'western' culture he embodies, or his business deals, but too many anecdotes of him flaunting wealth. Best part was someone named Anita Pizza. Picks up again when finally returning to Osama as he's further radicalized; world's biggest buzzkill, seems OCD about extreme rules/lifestyle.

Death of MBL shifts book; back in time for Osama's life. Dual Arabic revolutions. Both anti-colonial: one wanting to return before that period (Islamist fundamentalists), other wanting to go past it (progressive/socialists). SA shelters expelled Islamists to bolster their power against socialists; US assists, leading to hotbeds of extremism. OBL & Khashogghi in same cell! Things picking up; eager for Soviet invasion.

Love variety of plant shapes, sizes, colours! Text highlights 'architectual quality' of plants, though some photos don't quite do justice (close-ups or shots of young plants not always helpful). Many plants require similar care (how many need 'bright/indirect light' or 2 inches dry soil)? Wish the care level was more elaborate; many listed as novice level when I hear they're finnicky. Love looking through it though!

Brisk pace; book straddles turbulent eras & also goes back to start of Islam, Wahabbism. Polytheistic Hajj origins interesting. Awed by Saudi corruption; no wonder US worried of Nasser-backed overthrow! US & Other nations propping up SA for oil relations & putting down rebels. Treatment of women horrid; Bin Laden just shows up, marries children & leaves. Not a cent spent to improve lives of locals; roads over rail.

Anxious about keeping track of all names/places etc, yet drawn into narrative fast; novelty of vastly different culture (believing telegraphs are witchcraft & dancing evil; almost killed over an ox) meeting modernity & insatiable enterprise. Rags to riches narrative, straddling lots of history from WW1 & 2, Ottomans, depression, etc. Surreal opening w/ Saudis meeting Hollywood stars @ white house. Gonna be wild book.

Book mostly aesthetic: beautiful to flip through. Information broad w/ glossary of terms for beginners. Wish there was a section on pruning or illustrated diagrams for plant growth. A visual catalogue for most houseplants. Notable ommissions: money tree, bamboo. Great pics, but some too close or people-focused. Socially conscious: land/colonial acknowledgements, organic solutions encouraged. Picture book for adults!

Lose a lot when doing audio-only; author gets into highly complex subatomic/chemical examination of plants at each level which requires book's illustrations. Though not totally lost; he makes things simple & rephrases when he can for retention's sake, weaving between practical/layman level & specialized language. Learning a lot despite much of it going over my head, making it good to come back to as I learn subject.