Amalia Sanchez > Recent Status Updates

Does the casual sexism lighten up or should I expect to encounter updates about how each female character's breasts bounce for the entirety of this tome?

I realize this is a classic and the writing is beautiful, with interesting themes already introduced in the first several pages. I'd really like to finish it but not sure I can stomach all the old school patriarchy.

Wesleyan reference! Inserted randomly as the quintessential example of performative edgy queer indie vegan pretentiousness. Swoon 🤩 I accept and revel in this stereotype.

How has this poor woman lived through so many life-threatening events?! Fascinating so far.

Heavy is, true to its name, a very heavy read. I'm typically a binge reader who likes to devote large blocks of an evening or weekend to devouring a book in one or two sittings... something not possible for Heavy. There's so much history and pain encompassed in Laymon's memoir that the words weigh on my mind and heart. I'm 14% in and find myself nervous about what the next 86% will feel like to carry.

Everyone seems wowed by this book but I'm more than halfway through & I'm still confused. I am often moved by the emerging love story & the writing is beautiful but so many of the details of the basic premise (e.g., who the opposing forces actually ARE in the time war) remain intentionally hazy while lyrical descriptions & "scene setting" meander on & on. I find my attention wandering. I want slightly more plot.

So far I'm obsessed. Highly recommend the audiobook version - Juliet Stevenson is a GIFT as the narrator! And the tale is engaging from the very first page. Lately I've been so lucky to happen upon a patch of 5-star contenders (and that's saying something, because I'm stingy with my stars).

Enjoying the reporting and super excited for the remainder of the book but holy hell I cannot recommend the audiobook version. Ronan Farrow is one of the most irritating narrators I've encountered. He does voices for each of the characters - which means a slew of EXTREMELY awful accents, including a smattering of bad Ukranian, Russian, British, Australian, and Italian accents (just so far). It's so distracting!

"My father and he had cemented (the verb is excessive) one of those English friendships which begin by avoiding intimacies and eventually eliminate speech altogether."

Not sure why but I'm reallllly having trouble keeping momentum with this book. I read a chapter (or half chapter) at a time and lose steam. I like the story, and like learning about the historical components of the 1960's Indonesian revolution, but it's been a slog to get to 70%.

Must... finish... last... 30...%

Has anyone else read this and found the same difficulty?

"The library knows its own mind... When it steals a boy we let it keep him."

I'm charmed!

Can Rushdie ever write a novel that's not an ode to his creepy love for teenage girls? Or without indulging the narcissistic fantasy in which those teenage girls insatiably ache for characters who [shock!] are thinly veiled versions of the author himself? I mean... an old dude surnamed Rushd who catches the undying affection of a tender young thing because his mind is just too brilliant not to adore? Gross, dude.

Good GOD, I think my stint reading books only by female authors has ruined me for male authors forever. I can't stomach all the casual sexism now that I've detoxed from it.
"She had invited him, in a voice that trembled with girlish shame, into her bed and allowed him to enjoy her... she granted him access to even those parts and uses of her that in their early life she had been inclined to keep to herself."
VOM-IT.