alison > Recent Status Updates

damnnn

i am so so close to being done! this book man... [lights cigarette]

SO GOOD!!! tolstoy is a deeply empathetic, thoughtful, and well-read person. his skills are unmatched, and i cant imagine there will EVER be a writer in our post-instagram reels future who can write with the depth and precision that he has achieved in Anna Karenina

dont really care for the historical past segments tbh. feels almost like a different character. also this middle section has become a bit of a drag but the beginning is really excellent

this book feels like reverse-engineered sex and the city, with a sprinkling of korean intergenerational trauma for flavor.

it's not a very subtle book; in fact it feels transparently like the author's semi-self-insert, down to the monolids and sparse eyebrows of the main character.

the book opens with a bang, and just...loses steam mid-way?

ok actually shes annoying as fuck. god i fucking hate depressed people but they probably hate themselves more so whatever. jeeeesus christ.

she can be a staid, boring, hateful protagonist. complimentary bc i can tell its on purpose

ok fine i like it again

UGH. now shes pissing me off. letting the plot slip past her like a fucking chump. girl wake the fuck up and smell the psychological experimentation

"I was his lens if he would only raise me and look with me."

lets all blow up and die. pet theory that theyve alrd brought people back (the bal-- whatever guy). the expats are cover for smth else (obv). graham goes back in time to his og timeline, and shes writing letters to him.

"I don’t think he was boasting but rather trying to find a way to relate to me, a permutation of womanhood rendered sexless by authority. I came to understand that this bothered me, and I felt embarrassed about that, as if I’d been caught complaining that men on the street had stopped catcalling."

i really love the internal voice!! so sharp, so witty, so self-deprecating. but i struggled with some of the dialogue that tries too hard to be Hitchhiker's Guide and not enough its own thing.

THESE WEED SMOKING TIME TRAVELLERS ARE INDOCTRINATING OUR CHILDREN WITH THE WOKE MIND VIRUS.... More at 6

so freaking good

130/209

weird!

still havent seen these FUCKING aliens

cool intro! the space-y stuff is lingering in the bg but im excited for whats to come

its getting fun!!

super cute beginning, love will scott, dont love the aunt marriage, whatever!

oh she cooked…

so good,,, i LOVE a good setpiece

love lymond so much. so much intrigue!!! so many needles to be threaded!!!! the fact that dunnett can even hold so many ideas in her head, nevermind writing it, nevermind making it historically accurate, is insane to me. shes a towering genius of fiction.

GIRL... be so fucking fr rn

GIRL... be so fucking fr rn

very strong first half, always love weike wang's insights and ability to critique family without resorting to caricature

2nd half less intriguing, i hate unhappy marriages

very strong first half, always love weike wang's insights and ability to critique family without resorting to caricature

i change my mind; i actually really like the scenes with R. i feel like the contrast really brings out the main characters personality.

still find the novel scenes a bit on the nose metaphorically speaking.. human = typewriter, man = memory police, voice = human spirit or whatever