river taylor > Recent Status Updates

Claims that “is” is the most important word; writing is compared to fishing, in that the words are used as bait for the unfinished page

Finally finished part 1 of 2. While the entire premise of this book is that it deals with friendship and betrayal and what opportunities (if any) are offered to black women, it seems as though this first half of the novel was setting up necessary context, not just in Sula and Nel’s lives, but the lives of their ancestors and community members, for why this eventual betrayal will be so heartbreaking

Never understood, prior to now, that Lady Macbeth prayed to dark spirits for the ambition to murder. I had always just assumed she was just a much more dominating force when I was younger

Lots of thoughts so far on: religion, denial of one’s perception of reality, and rejection of personal identity as a result of extreme trauma

The novel just shifted from 3rd person to 1st; I’m suddenly so confused on who’s narrating now

Paul’s quote about Let It Be being much happier to record than originally believed kinda made me sad

Finished section 1; Very interested in the dynamic between Willem and Jude, especially after the backstory involving Hemming. Would love to learn more about JB besides his little artsy career. And I’d love to read more about Malcolm, I feel like I’ve learned more about how he feels than seeing him actually get to do anything

I’m finding myself to be really annoyed with JB (probably because I find the whole Starving Artist archetype to be incredibly irritating and poorly carried out in a lot of media), but the description of JB knowing why Jude would hate the portrait he’s making was so lovely to read. I feel like there’s so much intimacy in knowing someone so deeply that you know exactly what it is that they’re insecure about

Very much easier to read than I had originally assumed it would be. Yanagihara has a very interesting style in which they feel the need to explain the context in everything with a drawn out backstory, which is probably why this book is 800+ pages

That initial conversation that David and Giovanni had about time and “well Americans are a different species” was just so intimate, I fear that I too would have fallen in love with Giovanni

The description of the memory he has about his night with Joey nearly brought me to tears. Also his conversation he has with his father where the father said he wants to be more of a friend than a father

Cersei saying she’ll wear Robert’s slap like a badge of honor and Robert saying “stfu or I’ll honor you again,” I can’t help but be gagged. Also, just read the trial by combat chapter and I always forget Bronn exists. Ew

Dany’s just arrived in Vaes Dothrak, and I would love to learn more about the Dothraki culture