Jonathan > Recent Status Updates

wish it was physically possible to read this in one sitting; it's been a while since i felt the urge to keep reading, of all books in the world it has to be this one...?

two stories in it's not living up to the blurb, and i don't enjoy the narrator all that much, but will listen to another story or two

not very proud to admit that at times this has me thinking, just get on with the story. i fear i'm not very appreciative of these memoir hybrid works that dangle somewhere between fiction and non-fiction. most interesting so far is the central friendship between a man and a woman that is very physically close with no indication of attraction (yes i am surprised, you barely find this sort of friendship in fiction)

started out considerably better than the other book--a lot of people seem to have been interviewed so it cuts to the heart of the matter. like with the other book though, you can see the genai turns of phrase slipping into this author's prose too,,, i really do wonder if people are aware this is happening to them when talking to an llm. also has a slightly genai boostery air about it, so we'll have to see

this crossed my path and i thought, why not look at sex scenes from 100 years ago. got distracted by being told the same character fact three times in a row (i wouldn't have liked to edit on paper either), took a detour to this man's wikipedia page (oh), saw nothing of the sex scenes so far

people including therapy speak in their art in an earnest manner,,, heartbreaking. this was too frayed, the characters seemed unfamiliar with their own universe and too self-aware, the fairy tale wasn't well-inserted, didn't enjoy the art much, awful dialogues. wanted too much and ended up with characters feeling like templates at best, shallow at worst. what a disappointment >-<

putting this on hold as i can't seem to follow the characters via audiobook, so i'll have to wait until the ebook is available (january, according to libby,,,)

very upset with the film since so far, this is beautifully written/translated and far more interesting than the film adaptation, which made me almost dismiss the book entirely.

dnf at 40%, far too defensive yet not informative or insightful. also frankly didn't enjoy this feeling so much like a podcast, with podcast interviews and things being added in. dropped it when the author tried to get chatgpt to talk dirty to them just because.

second book in a row that had a definition of a term i couldn't agree with (open relationships meaning only open to sex outside of it), and turned out to be unenjoyable. it feels shallow for how intimate it wants to be, in its quest to destigmatise sex shames those not having/wanting it. should have said first thing that he doesn't like condoms, i'd have dropped it right away. trans stuff would have upset me for sure

my least favourite part was the sudden consent lecture, along with the confessed refusal of the author at the end of the book that he didn't want to lay out his personal/private relationships. but that was exactly what this book was missing, to take its eyes off the clouds of theory and make its case for fwbs by illuminating the workings of these friendships on an individual level. i'm rather disappointed ;-;

far more theoretical than i assumed, which was its biggest weakness at that too, together with focusing so much on (presumed cishet) f/m relationships (author is a gay cis man). i feel like it took away little to nothing; felt like every time it was about to become more concrete it went 'everyone's different' :/

ironic that the daughter's girlfriend is how she wishes her own daughter to be (kind, not disruptive, good housewife), but lesbianism is a stain on her that forbids affection. it takes noticing shared worries over the daughter and the abduction of her dying patient to care for her that brings them the tiniest bit closer. a lot of tension lies in the mother's change being so slow, although she knows it would save her

i thought this was an excellent portrait of someone clinging to a prescribed system despite it never having offered any protection, refusing the upheaval resistance would bring about, due to how life has her cornered. on top of that, it also touches on parents unwilling to let go of the image of their child as mouldable, innocent, obedient, preferring obscurity for fear of disliking the child with a mind of their own

interesting pov of someone who can acknowledge changing times but is firmly stuck in conservative expectations (where is the line between worry and jealousy?). my favourite aspect of this, so far, is how the mother main character experiences judgement, is scolded for caring well for her old patient, and yet levels the same kind of judgement at her daughter's gf who is very kind and respectful of her... gf part aside

didn't end how i thought it might, never truly left the phase of personal disorientation and in that way showed that the change we can bring about in our small circles may be enough. got a laugh out of me that the only characters bringing about positive developments were women, only they shared true tender moments. frankly i'll have to think more about it. enjoyed this enough to want to read more books by this writer

incredibly clear-eyed writing style, explained concepts succinctly, and although due to its brevity it doesn't delve deeply into the topic, it's an excellent primer for the emergence of generative ai/so-called agi from an environment of eugenicist tradition and becoming a tool to (through sloppy, automated categorisation) enable fascism for a future that excludes the majority of humans. a truly despicable technology.

very grateful for libby's frankly great define feature, it's so non-intrusive and helpful with writing this old (yes i'm here for the infidelity)

if only i could stop looking for new books to borrow on libby :/

fascinated by the dialogue between 2-3 characters taking place in the same paragraph, the same sentence, no quotation marks. otherwise fascinated by the terrible rules thrust upon these victims of a blindness pandemic; at first i thought it inconceivable but, yeah, institutional ableism would do that. interesting female characters, hoping for them not having to succumb to misogyny (this too is fic research, shh)

very much appreciate academic writers who strive for the kind of clarity in their prose that doesn't make reading a challenge

this writer has a knack for introspection, and a visceral depiction of someone whose faith affects how he's able to take up room in this world and how guilt and shame (and to a degree wanting to break with tradition and not knowing how, and getting stuck in that), along with social stigma, and how this violence done to him is being handed down by his own hands to everyone he loves. still found him annoying as hell :'

one story that listed ways in which women had been raped and murdered threw in a 'i never heard of this happening to any man' about a specific scenario and it immediately reminded me of a black man who was raped and murdered in this exact way for being black and bi here, and i cannot imagine that this is violence unique to a single country. ah well, served to solidify the impression that this book wasn't for me

became a chore to finish reading, unfortunately. didn't help that four out of the last five stories all revolved around women being brutally murdered. i feel like this book would have worked as non-fiction (interviews). the stories were almost all structured the exact same way, and didn't seem to have all that much of a narrative to offer aside from women resisting but eventually being killed by misogyny.

i feel that introspection is the shining point of this novel, i enjoy the meandering in general. i just have to constantly remind myself to not hold any expectations for this character, but unfortunately his (casual) misogyny and undoubtedly his middle class background do not help. i think this arrogance paired with passionate suffering is quite common, i just don't find it all that interesting to observe hmm

prose was exciting for quite some time since i had an 'oh so this is how we do queer millennial prose' moment. but also there are things i do not understand, sadly the broader implications, so will need some aftercare (looking up interviews and reviews and such)

true equality is giving poor and rich characters the exact same speech/thought patterns // i also wonder why one would, in an english translation, leave spanish words as fragments of--what, authenticity? are these concepts truly so untranslatable? to rub salt into the wound of the reader not speaking spanish? since i only have apps set up to explain english words, i won't interrupt reading just for this :/

goodness i really don't enjoy this narrator, and the main character so far... i fear the scene in dumbo in which he accidentally imbibes alcohol and goes through a nightmare still affects me (made me intolerant of long scenes detailing the effects of any drug on someone :/)

doesn't happen always, but when it does, the alienation i feel re: cis gay culture is no joke

love to randomly find books with a beautiful title and a beautiful cover and beautiful prose also