Ariel > Recent Status Updates

Managed to find a copy of this after letting it slip thru my holds years ago & forgetting to find it again. Loving Machado’s writing; & (side note) randomly, serendipitously, during my bi-monthly 5-minute perusal of Instagram, the first post I saw was Alvin Schwartz’s illustrated version of The Green Ribbon (a childhood memory I’d forgotten.) I preferred Machado’s version.

I can’t remember how I first came upon No Longer Human, but it was after reading about Junji Ito’s manga series adapted from Dazai’s book that I prioritized reading it. A translator’s note compares Dazai to 18th-century philosophers, & the narration of semi-autobiographical character Yozo Oba feels particularly Kafka-esque from the beginning.

No idea why I never made it even 1/4 of the way through this book (most likely the availability of several long-standing & highly anticipated library holds) but I’ve yet to stop finding even more books tbr IMMEDIATELY, so this one’s going back to “Want to Read” status. Hope to find time yo finish soon.

My hold is finally available after idk how long… Ling enough that picking up where I left off at 78% to 60% to remember anything at all about the book, let alone the precise moment/mood where I was forced to stop reading thanks to the maximum 7-day check-out period from whatever library I originally borrowed from. 🥵

Reading the premise of this book now, I have zero recollection of adding it to my reading list & don’t know what about it would’ve appealed to me (aside from my 2 most trusted Goodreads friends had read & rated it favorably, which is enough of an endorsement for me!) So far, it’s giving mindless beach-read, but I can’t say I’m not enjoying it/waiting for things to get cutthroat.

Not sure how I managed to read all of the other books from this series (my fave collection of authors, all in one Amazon series!) & somehow miss Karen Russell’s contribution. After finishing her most recent novel, The Antidote, I was lamenting the lack of unread Karen Russell writing in my life, & lo; Stag appeared before me!

So excited for new Karen Russell - & a whole novel! I love her short stories, but the slow burn reveal of her surreal literary landscapes are such a treat to savor. Doing my best not to read it too quickly, so the disappointment of having no more Karen Russell to read is bearable.

Fave literary formula: Victorian-era woman reckoning with her self-hood & sexuality, society’s imposed constraints, control, power or lack thereof, & what drives her - her fears & innermost desires - add some laudanum & a vampire (literal or figurative) to assist in said reckoning *bonus points for sapphic narrative* & the woman’s descent into madness transforms, then ultimately enlightens & exalts her