Levi Hobbs > Recent Status Updates

I don’t quite buy Madame Faye being this totally innocent, matronly woman who runs this brothel. Nuance I can buy. Sainthood—sorry, no.

The relationship between Cathy and Madame Faye is…scary, to see a predator working their con on an innocent soul.

Cathy Ames creeps me the hell out.

I’m really enjoying all the intriguing insights about human nature that Steinbeck has in here. Like Lee saying that unless he speaks in pidgin, white men can’t understand him…most people can only understand what they expect.

The only thing I can fault Steinbeck for is that his characters use language that is too dramatic to feel natural.

I love how he explores a character who is essentially a monster but —how did she become that way? What part was there from birth and what part was made?

The characters in this book are such a rich spectrum from angels to demons, from practical to enigmatic, from hardened to soft, poetic to brutal. His characters are amazing worlds in and of themselves.

When he explores the worldview of a character who is a pimp…it’s fascinating, in a morbid way.

Even Steinbeck’s side characters are more real than the protagonist of most modern books.

Cathy Ames, how you make my skin crawl, in the best possible way. It creeps me out that I can follow the way you think! Shivers.

These Egyptians really love their bread and beer. Some things transcend time and space.

When the government turns into the gestapo, it really pays to have friends on a Native American reservation. They are their own nations. Really cool.

Finally! It’s really picking up at the end.

It feels like we totally abandoned the science story for a family-building story halfway through.

What’s up with these Neanderthal dreams from the past??

I don’t like that Kay stops being a rational scientist and becomes a stereotypical emotional woman just because she’s pregnant.

The book really drags about 3/4 the way through.

I like that Kay decides to get pregnant with one of the monster children. Bold move.

Wow the descriptions of lovers smelling each other’s pheromones…just wow. Really weird.

I like that Kay actually sees the suffering women as people, not just test subjects.

Evolution strikes again!

Good Lord this is so deep into cellular biology I have no idea what they’re talking about.

Who knew science was so political? Mankind is doomed.

The Kangaroo Court scene halfway through the book gets me really pissed off. Screw Dicken.

Buckle up for a crash course in pharmaceutical corporations, funding, research, boards, politics…

There’s a lot of sexism in the scientific world. I wonder how women feel reading this.

A female scientist! Kay Lang is awesome!

Dicken is a fascinating character. A virus hunter from the CDC. Such a unique set of skills in a person…

Love it that Vetch comes back into the story! It's about time Ged wasn't alone.

What's up with the weird interlude with the old brother and sister who live on a sandbar?