Jay > Recent Status Updates

Hmm. The audiobook might not have been the best way to consume this one; I keep losing track of the POV and have to keep backing up.

I'm... I'm just not liking this one. I'm not even a quarter of the way through it, and I'm already so bothered by Will (our narrator), because he feels so incredibly naval-gazing and Holden-Caulfield-y and powerless to effect any change in his life beyond shame and disgust and stumbling through the world, and... I dunno. It's off-putting.

I'm... I'm just not liking this one. I'm not even a quarter of the way through it, and I'm already so bothered by Will (our narrator), because he feels so incredibly naval-gazing and Holden-Caulfield-y and powerless to effect any change in his life beyond shame and disgust and stumbling through the world, and... I dunno. It's off-putting.

Oh good, now we're condemning suicide. :/

Matheson's biases are on full display. The solidly middle-class existence of Chris, his surprise at seeing black people in Heaven, his conviction that a one-armed man wouldn't be 'whole' in Heaven until he had a second arm. The list is growing.

First: The Matrix references are amusing, given the modern context.
Second: The 'preachy' tone is both easier and harder to tolerate than I expected.
Third: "I didn't understand that until he explained that no one on earth develops anything revolutionary alone; all vital knowledge emanates from Summerland—transmitted in such a way that more than one person can receive it." What the hell, Matheson? Elitist ghosts?

I've read this book once before (and the next few as well), but it's been a while, and I never finished the series, so off we go.

I'd forgotten that a couple of white authors had used the N-word, and that bothers me.

After finishing Chapter 34, I'm with Elmo: This is ridiculous.

This is my second read-through, and I'm revising my opinions of Quentin. Not completely -- he's still a self-centered, naval gazing twit -- but I'm realizing that he's got more issues than simple immaturity. I can't put a name to it (I'm vastly unqualified to even BEGIN a 'diagnosis'), but I feel there might be a chemical imbalance that's either underpinning or exacerbating his rampant dickery.

I was really hoping to enjoy this book, and possibly the series that follows, but I'm only a third of the way through, and I'm seriously considering abandoning it in frustration.

I'm tempted to Google where the phrase "Show, don't tell" comes from (I think it's Chekov or Tolstoy), but that feels disingenuous. Wherever it's from, it doesn't seem to apply here.

I'm fully 1/3rd through this book, and I still have several questions about worldbuilding details. I hope they're addressed by the halfway mark, because the reveals have been surprisingly slow. I mean, three cheers for avoiding info dumps, but if you're gonna do your exposition via context, just do it.