R.D. "Bob" Mathison > Recent Status Updates

This book is much cheekier than The Iliad and I’m loving it so far.

Book 16 is titled “Patroclus Fights and Dies” and I just feel like that’s got to be a huge spoiler.

These last few chapters leading into part three really upsettingly explore how fragile domestic stability can be when individuals prioritize their own obsessions or escapes over family bonds. I love how Emily St. John Mandel tells really big stories that still manage to feel incredibly intimate.

These latest chapters really emphasize how children get caught up in the decisions the adults around them make. Also, Lilia's revelation that she has "no first language" (existing between French and English) shows how her linguistic and psychological liminality mirrors her entire displaced existence between two worlds: her father's fugitive life and the family she was taken from. Love it.

Holy cow. Agamemnon is a bad dude.

Some themes that are already starting to emerge include the profound loneliness of linguistic extinction and cultural loss; how language shapes perception of reality, time, and geography; and the tension between freedom and rootedness. I just love the way this Emily St. John Mandel writes.

Book IV was incredibly dark, but equally exciting. It was also shockingly graphic in terms of violence.