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Very Jo March - Professor Bhaer coded relationship

So...third person omniscient might not be my favorite perspective. Possibly even bottom 3.

I listened to the audiobook version of the graphic novel version of this book ... and the story still held up, so I'm not mad about it.

The narrative voice is so different from what I've been reading lately. It's interesting to read from a kid's perspective.

I didn't enjoy the story - was missing any real motivation from the MC. Also overpromised, underdelivered based on the hype around it. Some things were dropped in like Kuang revisited her post its & realized she meant to include them, but then they weren't worked in well.

The actual writing was good - she's skilled with world-building, clear writing, good syntax, etc.

Babel was WAY better and more immersive, IMO.

Woah! Hello intrusive thoughts and stuff that should stay in your brain.

I'm not as engaged in this book as Babel, but I do appreciate the writing and storytelling.

This is ... weirder ... than Babel. I enjoyed Babel, I'm getting through this one. It is fascinating to observe how Kuang's mind works through complex, philosophical ideas leveraging known literature and mythology.

Nope, I just can't.

Really interesting to see what Lawhon took from Martha Ballard's life and how to adapted it to write The Frozen River. I wish she'd incorporated more of the communal transactionary element of society, particularly amongst the women. Fascinating to read the real account of Ballard's life in her own words, vs the reimagined version Lawhon built.

There's a lot of pre-marital promiscuity happening for the 1700s ... not the puritanical New England image I grew up with haha

Martha is my kind of MC. A little tough and self-assured, especially in a time when women are dismissed (but really, how much has that really changed?).

I'm struggling with this book ... it's probably going to be a DNF because the logic holes are too big and the absurdity factor too high.

We've moved far in the number of pages and action, but not much in time within these lives; keeping me engaged the whole time. That's skillful writing!

Turns out, there is such a thing as too much description/showing. The writing is a bit overwrought and stiff...a millenial doesn't speak like that, let alone think like that. I'm tripping over myself. Interestingly, my first drafts tend to be similarly dense.
I blame the editor - they should've had a heavier hand in the process and guided Parekh better, particularly since this is a debut novel.

We took a slightly weird/unexpected turn (I did not bother to read the description of the book, as usual). I'm not loving the direction we've headed, but the writing is good enough and I'm just invested enough in the characters, especially Meg, to continue to reading.

This story builds slow and gets more and more interesting.

Just couldn't get into it. On the heels of The Running Man it had a "same but different quality" and that might be partially why. I'll try again another time.

Oh we're really speeding up suddenly. All that meandering, and suddenly we have action at the 13hour26minute mark. Even if the pacing was intentional, 87% is way too long for building up to the climax!

I'm a little cross-eyed by the names (which probably would have been easier to follow in print format), but otherwise, largely keeping up. It's dense with world building for a single book. I'll probably manage to finish the book in time for the club tomorrow after all.

Oh man! I've already restarted this book twice ... this one's really going to take attention!

It was a bizarre choice to go for a male narrator when most of the POVs were female.

This book feels like a funhouse mirror view of my life/the life of friends and family who've gone through this immigrant experience. Sometimes an exact reflection, sometimes slightly warped from my own experience, and sometimes like it's written for a white-audience.

This and The Serviceberry are high on my nonfic rec list. I'm connecting with different things in this second readthrough and really appreciate that.

Very easily a do-not-rec read.

😡I now understand the phrase "navel gazing". This book is so gratuitous!

I'm hate reading my way through the rest of this because it's been talked about so much and I want to see if there's any redemption and because it's the only book available that I've (kind of) wanted to read from the Pride challenge list. Had one of the ones I really wanted to read been available I would've DNFed this some time back.

What in the ever loving actual f!? The more she shares, the worse this gets and it's an effing memoir!

The side quests into figuring out familial issues is so abrupt, clumsy, and distracting from whatever this story is trying to do.