Madsen > Recent Status Updates

"The Lesson" absolutely wrecked me. Sobbing in the bathtub, rereading the last paragraphs over and over. I recorded the story and it got me again, had to cut out the sniffling and fumbling to turn off the recorder.

Interesting enough, but lost the thread over the holidays.

You know what? This book is not good and I don't have to finish it.

Really interesting so far. Regretfully, the aspect categories she is discussing is not the one that has been stuck in my mind, but hopefully there will be some pointers toward further reading that will scratch that itch.

There's too much filler and not enough substance here to justify finishing. If I were trapped in an elevator with this book and nothing else, it would be one thing. An editor needed to ruthlessly slash this down to the worthy pamphlet within.

The hate read ritual: after dinner, Mum finishes the dishes and I tell her about the obnoxious thing that came up next and then we watch British Bakeoff

Tonight though, during a passage where Mindy bemoans how the weight her son gained on antipsychotics means that no one will ever love him and take care of him after she dies, I was unable to contain my shouts of disgust and disrupted the dishwashing.

This book is like an excessively clever bit of architecture. Beautiful, but you suspect that it might collapse under it's own weight. We'll see if it holds up and whether the roof leaks.

I am reading this because my Dad asked me to and I love my Dad. And as I grit my teeth through each grating paragraph, I remind myself "I love my Dad."