Elda Mengisto > Recent Status Updates

It seems like Raymundo's time in Manila is filled with interesting antics. One thing which stood out was his sexual deviation, along with how he encounters Jose Rizal's work for the first time. The journal entries near the end of this part show his excitement towards meeting him, only to hear he got arrested. Yet the footnotes still remain paramount here.

It's curious to see how Paul of Tarsus was very sex negative, which provided Christianity an alternative way through celibacy, which translated through the monastic tradition later on. There were a lot of debates as Christianity started taking form, from debates over widowhood to what things represented. Could there be a sex-positive form of the religion of the future; if so, how would it reflect themselves?

At the beginning, the writing is quite dry, considering that it's an academic text. Once we get out of "Setting Out", it gets much better, particularly with the new information we have. It was interesting to read about the differences between the Greeks and Jews, particularly in terms of families. MacCulloch also delves into Jesus' life in this context.

For some reason, the intro is a bit clearer than the actual contents of Raymundo Mata's diary. Maybe it's because of the excess of footnotes which accompany each entry, but there's definitely an intellectual conflict in terms of how to interpret his legacy. Especially considering the multitude of languages spoken in the Philippines! Though I'd appreciate a bit more to focus on Raymundo's story...

After WWII, it seemed like women's rights didn't become much of a priority within the Soviet government. By the time the USSR collapsed, women were encouraged to become mothers along with their status as full-time workers. The part about women being relegated to primary- care doctors was surprising. Then again, there were the interactions between Raisa and Nancy Reagan, which showed their different backgrounds.

Wow, that was a doozy of a first part! What really intrigued me with the new Soviet Union was how they tried to advance women's rights from education to no-fault divorce, The fact 70% of Soviet doctors in the mid-1970s were women shows that. though as seen with Alexandra Kollontai's conflicts with Lenin, there were still conflicts at the top. Stalin's regime reversed some of these, strangely enough.

Everything surrounding the 10th Hunger Games was quite...surreal. Lucy Gray seemed quite passive in terms of survival until the home stretch, where she seemed to tame the snake mutants and fight her way out. All the while, we see Coriolanus trying to play out the Games on her behalf for as a long as possible, with some feelings in the mix. Dr. Gaul's lesson, on the other hand, exposes something darker in mind...

It was really nice to re-enter the world of Panem for this prequel, though there is quite a bit of telling in the first part, seeing its a YA novel. Getting into the mind of Coriaolanus Snow really intrigued me; he wants status, as well as to care for his family and his new tribute. The pre-game catastrophes are quite surprising; I didn't know that many tributes died in advance of the games!

The first part surprised me in more ways than one. Darnell has a challenge with helping Harriet Tubman and friends record an album, but what makes it more interesting is the things he deals with from the inside. Religion takes quite a big part of the early part, particularly in the contrast with Harriet's unwavering faith and Darnell's hesitation. It really makes the end of this part even more suspenseful!

Omelogor has a curious storyline; along with Chiamaka, she's the other one who tells it in the first person. Is there a reason why Adichie does this? The questions about having children despite Omelogor having the good life was one thing, but what really surprised me was the money laundering she apparently does in Nigeria. Seeing her note how provincial American universities are was quite funny, however.

Kadiatou's story was quite surprising, as she really embodies the immigrant experience. While I thought she was from Senegal at first, her life in Guinea was really well-written, along with the travails across both continents. I liked hearing Binta's story, and was sad to hear she died suddenly. Kadiatou has pretty back luck with sexual assault; the last one just made me wince on traumatic it was.

The switch in POV from Chiamaka to Zikora is quite strange, though they have similar themes of love, loss, and motherhood. For the latter, it really focuses on her relationship with Kwame and the son she bears without him, which makes me quite sad because they initially had a nice bond with them. "So this was happiness, to live in the first person plural." It's also funny how she had a low opinion on Pope Benedict.

The first part of the book is really well-written; Adichie weaves the past and present really deftly. Chiamaka seems to be an interesting character in terms of her struggles, though sometimes I question her choices her partner. She shouldn't have gotten into that affair with that English professor!

The second part of the novel feels a bit strange, with Grenouille going across France and then hiding in dirt for several years. Sometimes, I got lost with the plot here, though some moments brought me back. Seeing him transform in Montpellier gave some life, as well as the lecture on fludium lethale. Strange we only have one murder...

The first part initially turned me off by the writing style. Sometimes, it felt like it was going to be a bland story of Grenouille's life, almost like a folk tale. However, it eventually got better, particularly with how Suskind describes the different scents and the like. The first murder, on the other hand, was...wild.

The second part really delves into the Pat Riley era, in which he takes the reigns of the Lakers and leads them to success. More interesting are the side characters to the Lakers dynasty, in which Pearlman really delves into how they fit in and sometimes, where they went wrong. He also has some funny sentences, like Jerry West smiling "for 4.2 seconds" after the Lakers won the 1972 Finals.

I was quite familiar with the events of the first part, thanks to "Winning Time", its adaptation. It's really sad to read the prologue when Pearlman tries to interview Jack McKinney, and how he claimed the latter made the Showtime Lakers in of him not remembering it at all. The Paul Westphal arc was something, especially with the end of how Magic was the one who got him sacked.

The second part has a lot of the name dropping and intense storylines, particularly when we meet Colette Bing. I'm surprised Carlton was a more thoughtful character than we got at the beginning of the story, albeit with his drag race arc. Astrid's story is taking quite the turn, knowing how the movie changed the ending. And Kitty didn't last long with her transformation, apparently.

I'm surprised Rachel and Nick's wedding was pretty settled up in the first part. We have the conflict in which Nick may have to choose between his family and his wealth, but that was settled relatively easily...? We also have the plot between Astrid and Charlie, which I find interesting as Astrid's relationship with her husband varies in the movie. But Kitty Pong getting her day in the limelight? Intriguing.

The "Not Alone" segment was pretty heartwarming, as Amanda finds allies and eventually love. The description of her engagement and marriage, "a romantic live-action episode of Doctor Who", was especially heartwarming (including the feared leak). "Inferno" focuses on Amanda's first trip to Italy to speak at the Innocence Project, which takes a lot of courage on her part.

The second part focuses on life after the first acquittal, and the overall sense of unease Amanda goes through. The adjustments to day-to-day life is hard, especially with the fact she could be whisked away at any moment. The story about her being duped by a criminal is really hard to hear, and derails her time in New York. But there's little sprinklings of hope, like when she saw the fairy poster at home.

The first part deals with Amanda in prison, as she focuses on her perspective during those four years there. There's an anthropological feel to some of the chapters here, especially when talking about community and even intimacy. I find it all fascinating, even as Amanda doesn't touch the highlights; instead focusing what's changing in her inside.

What's interesting here is how each of the girls are attached to different trends within China as they mature. Siyue, through the Olympics, improves her English and even gets to work in the UK, which shows globalization to some extent. Leiya deals with labor and having to manipulate her birth certificate to get her daughter into school. Sam focuses more on Socialist activism. And all is intriguing.

Yang focuses primarily on the countryside for the first part, and two girls with higher ambitions than their little towns. I'm surprised for how few expectations there are for June and Siyue in the countryside, though education would be their way out, somehow. The writing style is pretty good, albeit simplistic, which makes me wonder if it was meant for young adults instead.

Going through the Sun King's palace, the French Revolution, and Napoleon, the second part of the book feels a bit more comfortable to read, and more interesting. The chapter "How He Did It" was quite surprising in terms of form, but gave me a bit of light towards what people got from Napoleon. "The Murder of Madame Bovary" weaves an interesting tale, and learning about Harriet Howard was a surprise!

The book so far is surprisingly not what I had expected. While the subtitle "An Adventure History" implies Robb going all across France, it's the writing which sort of got me lost. That said, there's a lot to learn through Robb's journeys, from the basic structure of France to some of the theological debates in one chapter. We're getting to know France before it is what we know today.

"The Mongolian Mark" feels a bit jarring in contrast to the first part of the book, though when I read it was another novella, it made a bit more sense. The sexual tension that buzzes throughout this part really well, though I feel like the ambiguity between the in-laws really confuses me. Something could've gone really wrong.

Despite the seemingly ordinary startup, "The Vegetarian" feels like a horror story in a bunch of ways. We have Yeong-hye turning to veganism to stop her nightmares, and her husband struggling to help her. There's some seriously questionable practices in the book, which is curious because being vegan isn't impossible in Korea. What does Han want to say here?

The viewpoint shift quite surprised me. The narrator claims it's because Snow White can't tell her story objectively, though her point of view was pretty compelling. It was interesting to see the huntsman story told in another way.

I really like the beginning. It really does pull you into that time period, though I could also imagine that Snow White''s birth might be a bit scary in this time period!