Dana > Recent Status Updates

I had to return this to the library, so hopefully I will get it again soon to finish it!

I'm glad we found out right away what happened to Nassun

"It had once been a residence of some dignity, but what I had taken to be stucco was in fact some patent substance newly glued to the front wall: it was grayish-white and crinkled, like a split-open brain, or nougat chewed by a giant." Nobody does creepy but apt descriptions like Hilary Mantel.

"There was something in him, lighter than ego but darker than insecurity, that needed constant buffing, polishing, waxing."

"Hamilton believed that revolutions ended in tyranny because they glorified revolution as a permanent state of mind. A spirit of compromise and a concern with order were needed to balance the quest for liberty."

"Like most deadly attractive people, he had a hollow at the center of him. What people loved most about her husband was how mellifluous their own voices sounded when they echoed back."

If it weren't for the reading challenge I would have abandoned this hot mess about 100 pages ago. Harkness has fallen into the World Building>Character Development>Plot Pit, when an author believes that their readers want all details about the mechanics of the world and also has fallen so in love with his/her characters that what passes for plot is tedious and disjointed. BOOOOOOOOORED

Initial thoughts: -no one does quiet and melancholy like Emily St John Mandel. -this is the book The Goldfinch could have been if Tartt hadn't gotten so caught up in the details of furniture restoration.

"He works with crazy intensity, feeding hours like dry twigs into the fire..." "I for one welcome our new android overlords."