evelyn > Recent Status Updates

almost DNFed. the chapters from Peter’s perspective are so hard to read. sentences begin with no subject, and i have to carry this huge cognitive load of making sense of what’s going on. not enjoyable. but i was reading reviews and apparently this is how james joyce writes?

constant struggle of reading in a second language: i feel like much of my bandwidth is expended on making sense of the language.

julia is an intimate piece about female friendships, closure, and what it means to grow into adulthood.

i loved how zhang took us through space and time, weaving julia from her past in texas into her present in new york; how her homage to her first NY apartment took us elegantly through the flowering and eventual breakdown of her friendship with julia, in perfect synchrony

not a single word in this story is wasted.

it is rare for me to be so deep in rooney’s book and still not hooked. the main issue i’m having so far is characters show an excessive amount of overthinking, which is relatable, to a point. hopefully there’s more growth in the coming pages

sharp diminishing marginal return after the first 3 chapters. learned a new concept from the chapter about generational trauma: adaptability - the ability to keep functioning even though something might not be right. no info on how to expand adaptability tho

liking zhang’s writing more!

propriety is easily one of my favorite short stories. loved the sensory details of everyday objects. many sentences worth savoring. the ending!!!

silence is a tale of how, well, silence is passed down through generations. not sure if i like the restraint that seems to come every story set in china, but i love stories that decode information between the lines of a conversation.

finished the first 2 stories.

ada zhang is a lot easier to read than duras. but i found there to be less to savor from her words - perhaps it’s because she depicts emotions very literally. one of the greatest joys for me in reading is actively filling in the gaps, and i find less room to do that in zhang’s writing.

Anyone else has a pandemic apartment they never went back to?😭😭😭