Kathy > Recent Status Updates

while the prose is gorgeous (a stunning, unusual voice), the themes are bleak and cynical in the extreme. mccarthy seems incurious as to the causes of violence; it seems that he’s the kind of christian that believes that ontological evil is real, and it possesses human beings, and therefore there’s no point in examining the “why.” maybe the remainder will prove me wrong.

oh god oh no 🫣🫣 it’s like watching a trainwreck. oh no oh no oh no

eh.

i’m almost disgusted by how beautiful and concise the prose is. what the fuck. how did she do this. “[Dawn came slowly]. The cold air sweetened, banded pebbles and crumbs of soil cast sudden pencil-long shadows, and the rearing lodgepole pines below them massed in slabs of somber malachite.”

the degree to which this is a legitimate spy thriller is craaaaazy. I had no idea this was such a huge element of this story.

obviously, horrifying info (most of it familiar to me bc I read Farrow’s articles as they were published) and great journalism. aside: so weird to hear abt Jon Lovett’s personal life years later after listening to Lovett Or Leave It frequently during Trump Admin 1

got train-napped and didn’t notice until it was too late bc I was absorbed reading this 🤙 worth it for the many hours to get home

it’s so funnnnnn (lotsa typos tho)

giggling & twirling my hair, etc

“But did you like [my poem]? … Or would you prefer… a sketch of my bruises? Rondo in B minor for sob and scream? Would you like me to do all your thinking for you, like a mama bird spitting chewed-up worm slurry into her babies’ eager, open mouths? … I’m just playing with you, doll. I would never accuse you of such regressive bookclubisme.” YESSSSSS finally an author who GETS MEEEEE

I went to my local bookstore and asked for “a recommendation for a book that feels like the author putting my brain in a blender, a la House of Leaves” and he came back instantly with this. I am thrilled and delighted bc it’s exactly what I asked for.

Uneven voice/tone in both the narration and dialogue is really starting to bother me at this pt

interesting world-building to justify and communicate the themes of the universally transfemme cyborgs. obvious, sometimes heavy-handed allegorical analysis of modern life via spec-fi dystopia lens. a large drawback to me, personally: POV character Dragonfly sometimes uses therapy speak, which fully breaks my immersion. she wouldn’t know how to say what she means!! let her communicate badly!!!