reagan > Recent Status Updates

I don’t believe the dramatic reactions in this book are merited. You would think this group of 7, after knowing each other so intimately for 3 years that they are “not impressed by their best and worst traits” anymore, would not be shocked at Meredith’s little reveal. Maybe I’m being too much of a critic.

The plot better be good 😭😭 this is already pretentious

The narrator is Mamiya? And the guy they claimed was Kozuka earlier is Kida? Or is this passage another schizophrenic delusion?

Can’t tell if it’s poor writing or if the author is trying to intermingle the narrator and Ryodai’s stories to confuse readers on purpose.

OK they’re trying to play mind games with me

EARLY PREDICTION:

The narrator IS Ryodai Kozuka after all, but has multiple personality disorder just like Miyazaki, leaving him confused about his surroundings. It would explain the abrupt narrative style and the ambiguity of his identity.

Interesting analysis of Tsutomu Miyazaki’s psyche. Quite disturbed.

This book is very graphic and I’m not sure I’m cut out for it. I’m going to try and continue, because I think there is merit in the themes presented, but I’m just hoping that this doesn’t turn gratuitous.

“Just as I had caused the twitch in Grandma’s eye, I was the swelling in my mother’s cheeks, and was the fracture in her arm.”

Brilliant quote. Not so sure about this book though- I found some of the previous parts of the transcript to be confusing and therefore hard to read.

“Resurgam”

My dear Helen. What an injustice that has been done to you.

“Helen, why do you stay with a girl whom everybody believes to be a liar?”

“Everybody, Jane? Why, there are only eighty people who have heard you called so, and the world contains hundreds of millions.”

:3

No no never mind. Everyone should be a Jane. Her strong sense of justice amidst a culture that silences women and children is satisfying.

“But I feel this, Helen: I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved.”

“Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.”

Wordy but I like it. I want to be a principled Helen Burns, but I’m more of a Jane Eyre I think.

“She ought to look” or “ought to be”. I’m reminded that our present culture is progressive. In the 1800s, a child was seen and not heard, expected to project a dutiful happiness instead of their true misery.

❤️❤️❤️

DAMNIT SALLY YOU IDIOT!

Waleran, Percy, and Prior James were all part of the White Ship plot or at the very least were instrumental in covering it up

Oh my god Aliena is way too patient with Richard. God can he shut his mouth!!!! Ungrateful

Tom, though a stern and capable man, is nevertheless terrified of William’s army- not just for his family, but also because of the sheer size of the war horses. In modern literature, one of the faults I find with characters is their inability to be afraid, for they must know all the answers and respond with quick wit. It is unrealistic. Tom, who has never experienced war, is rightfully afraid.

William used to be a terrifying character, but with every page I understand his fears and insecurities. Though he has societal power and authority, he will always be in the power of others so long as he remains concerned with image. It would be frightening if he overcame that barrier and retained the same behaviors.

I am loving the time jumps. Watching the small growth of the characters is both realistic and tasteful. Excited to see how Richard develops.

I KNOW THAT’S RIGHT PHILIP!!!!