Maria > Recent Status Updates

this whole conversation is diamond - facts, but the answers creepy and fascist

I just realised this and I love that the author has kept this little inside joke between the reader and her until Frances realises this / about <spoiler>Lars</spoiler>

I love how (most) everyone seems to have rhyming or alliteration nicknames for others


This one's hilarious.

Also, someone LITERALLY threw a book across the room. Damn

*
The story has now successfully transferred some of the fear into the reader

Glad it finally reads like a thriller now, the pages *almost* flying..

Glad but sad the way a character comes up. The dynamic among all the characters (so far) is interesting, and the house creepy but not too much yet, which is of course just beginning so makes sense..

I hope there's some scandal soon. Also, I miss old [insert character name because the it'd be sort of a spoiler to say so!]

I dont quite like the Sherlock/ American detective / GenZ typa thing going on here that feels like it's going on the hacking route

not sure it is, though. but still

Ok but this would be very, very awkward if the wife did indeed pretend all that

ick

I hate how real this is.

And how dangerous.. exactly how you'd expect such a case to be

‘You’re worrying yourself about a
blasphemy-related case?’

‘Salam Bhai. How are you?’

‘I’m good. You’re dodging my question.’
---
I LOVE how the author captures real conversations w desi peeps

Love Waqas' new swagger, damn. "Technically speaking.." heck yeah!

I suppose.. give more policemen personal cases? yikes, idk

What a disappointing ending

Loved the lady freedom bit though! That, at least, Esther was resolutely sure about

Also satisfying about Bud not quite being the perfect best, yay!

Love to see

- women's place in society restored
- end of nepotism
- THE OWNING CLASS being called the lazy ones, if we usd their definition
- end of child labour
- education as a social right for all

There's still some xenophobia, but other things like abolition of capital and fam wealth which feels radical is easily explained why and how it'll be done or needs to.

READ THIS.

Now we know why the book's called what it's called

Air

"Private property is already done away with for ninth-tenths of the population..."

"...when labour can no longer be converted into... bourgeois [owner class] property... you say individuality vanishes. You must, therefore, confess that by 'individual', you mean no other person than the bourgeois,"

Ya'll this man/men was spitting facts ~200 years ago, no wonder this still STANDS

I love how she played him with historical characters guessing he won't know a thing about history – and being right!! Woohoo

..and accepting his invite anyway. Hmm

This must've been the juicy contemporary of its time, or a college kid relatable story

I've yet to find out what makes it a classic, so, curious.

"for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation"

...

"It has accomplished wonders far surpassing Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts, and Gothic cathedrals; it has conducted expeditions that put it in the shade all former Exdoduses of nations and crusades" You can see how mad bro is, damn.
-
globalisation rant is there but more in racist context

I'm sensing strong Mary Sue vibes on the outside. Like TV show perfect (hardly believable / romanticised)

But here for the depresso and sad girl overwhelm

? Think we'll see

Amazing how relevant this can be - and I don't mean *reading* into this and interpreting a meaning, then comparing it to the present

I mean direct quotes!

Also this would probably be enriched by some knowledge of history, though Marx and Engels are nice enough to give a background anyway

I hope this comes to sth

Because so far it sounds like what the reviews were implying- flat (aka meaningless)

Hopefully not!!

-
Not just race overtly (or at least on the outside?)

"we needed our own places...and the dark people could have their own places, and there they could do their own dark things, or whatever.."

If words could physically shake you with rage, these are it

"and maybe that was the point, the point of it was to break him, to break all of them..."

That's deep. Ouch

Mousing Hamid knows how to pull a cliff hanger

Also how to set up characters relationships in a way that they're matured by the time of crisis, so stakes feel high. And you feel the tension too, as a reader

Can't wait to read on but sleep awaits!

This is giving me his earlier stories' writing style vibe and I'm not loving it

Is this a parody of the CoVid shopping craze? 😂

Idk.. this was published I 2022, which would've given the author a very vivid memory of the time while writing

Wat

Even though it's not the ending I expected (altho what did I even expect?) I still hate it

I want to so bad finish it off but this book feels longer than it is

Just like her days

I dislike the character more now, thankfully I'd detached her emotions from reality as presented in the book early on

I realise more so now that I have to keep my hopes low because this isn't a plot or even character driven book at this point – Literary fiction, a critic called it. Well. I'll just have to see what that means in this book's case

At least I'm curious how it ends on & also 1 bizzare character

This is turning into a horror film

Hate it hereee

This better be a year-long timeline rather than time jumps. Or.. I'm sensing rapid change

I don't know. I just don't want it to disappoint. I don't mind the flashbacks though. I do hope the bf's was the last one, ugh

Oh so this is where the golden line ( "live-in prostitute" one) comes from