Tasha > Recent Status Updates

Book 8 of my Collecting Dust series. One chapter down and I think this is going to be a quick read, despite the length. This is saying something since I read about 3 pages or so on the theories of classic mathematicians. If I remember correctly, Larsson was a journalist and so he feels compelled to give readers all the facts no matter how extraneous. I ain’t bored though. There’s something about his writing.

Done! This was a surprisingly good series with a great story that could be explored with another book or two. The writing’s not very good and the characters are there just to move the story forward but the relationship between the zhree and humans were interesting. I enjoyed the politics too. Three stars.

All hell broke loose! And Donovan just made a huge decision that may have devastating consequences for himself! At first I really didn’t know this was going to end since it’s only a duology, but now I see that an end is near. Pacing is rapid-fire, but this could have been a trilogy with all the plot that’s going on! Character development is nonexistent though. Just pawns to carry the plot.

I definitely understand the implications now! I was thinking way too small apparently. Things will be absolutely buck wild and Sapience will be smack dab in the middle. Lee does a great job in describing military leadership and camaraderie. I approve. The “relationship” between Anya and Donovan is bogus. He risks a lot and he barely knows her. Lots of telling too. But I’m enjoying it!

The plot thickens as Donovan and co just learned info that was hinted at in the first book. I’m not quite understanding the implications, though. They lived without zhree technology before so….humans should be good, right? Or is it about being left out to dry? This series is only a duology so I hope it ends well because there seems to be a lot of plot to unfold. I’m really enjoying it though!

Woohoo! Done with The Horse and His Boy. This strategy is working! Anyways, although it’s definitely weaker than Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and Magician’s Nephew, it ended up being okay once the adventure into Tashbaan and Archenland began. The story moved quickly once Sasha and co had a clear goal and had a time limit to reach said goal. I enjoyed it. On to Prince Caspian!

Done. This could’ve been a four star, but there was way too much bloviating. Still, Hai’s relationships with his crazy co-workers and Grazina was genuinely touching and managed not to be maudlin…which is an accomplishment when you consider the problems I had with the book. There was also some great writing when the author’s not getting in his own way. Three stars.

This is the sort of book that will get accused of being pretentious. The navel gazing and monologues are irritating and over the top. It all feels dishonest and I’m under the impression that Vuong was thinking too much about literary prizes when he wrote this. It could be that more straightforward prose doesn’t suit him because I didn’t feel this way about On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.

“…as Hai realized that, with sudden dismay, that BJ looked like an unhinged Big Bird from Sesame Street.” …”doing a jig down the aisle that, with her bad knee, looked more like a walking seizure.” That wrestling part was FUNNY. That kind of humor is odd to have in a book full of blather like “my favorite kind of light is the one that comes from a microwave left open in a dark room.” Dude, bye.

Well I don’t eat pork and haven’t since I was little. If I did eat it, I would probably stop after reading that about the pigs. Matter of fact, there was a whole section on a monkey in On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Gruesome stuff. That last chapter ended with a bit of foreshadowing. Are Hai’s lies to his mom and his addiction going to catch up to him?

The best parts are Hai’s time with his screwball restaurant coworkers. He seems to go outside his own head when he’s with them. Those parts are funny but also gross. I’m never eating at such places again! His relationship with Ganzina - dementia and all - is touching in a weird way. Vuong loses me a bit with some of the dialogues, though. He’s getting in the way, using the characters to lecture.

I have a solid opinion on this now that I’m 100 pages in. It’s good. It’s very different from On Earth in tone but similar at the same time. The MCs in both are deeply melancholy and I get the feeling that both are a least a little autobiographical. So one may dislike this if they like the way On Earth was written. But if they enjoyed it because of the subject matter, then I think they’ll like this too.

Okay, I’m serious. I’m gonna finish this. Each chapter is about seven pages long so I’ll read a chapter a day. That means I’ll finish by mid-August. I got this!

So Grazina shows Hai her dead husband’s library and he’s happier than a pig in shit. I can relate!
“Rows and rows of the perennial classics: Homer, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Austen, Montaigne, Flaubert, Turgenev, Faulkner. But there were also Nabokov, Toomer, Salinger, Atwood, Baldwin, Morrison.” He notices holes in Camus’s The Stranger and chooses The Brothers Karamazov to read. This is a sign!!!

It’s more prosy and less abstract than On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. There’s a lot of vivid descriptions; I think Vuong spends about ten pages just describing the layout of the town. I think this is going to be a slow read and I don’t know how I feel about it yet other than that.

Yeah….no. Almost done and I only have the epilogue to get through. I’m tempted to 1 star this, but I think I’ll give it two. I do know that there are 3 more books to this, but that must be a “second trilogy” since the story is definitely finished right now. I won’t be touching that with a 10 foot pole and won’t be reading anything else by Clare.

The so-called big reveal is finally dropped. Dragging that out for three whole books was absurd. Man, there’s so many things wrong with this book. Other than the breakneck pacing, the “romance” is very intrusive to the point where the fantasy and other character development is just dropped or rushed over. I’m also supposed to believe people can’t recognize their own family members!