Madeline

I enjoyed the writing and the descriptions of Japanese culture but I don't think I relate to the unhappy housewife. I also didn't really understand the where the shift in her relationship with her husband comes from, like how did it go from being so bad she wanted to jump out a window to them watching movies together without ever discussing their issues? And I did feel like the ending was anticlimactic.

If you saw me crying with my earbuds in any time in the past few weeks, it's probably because I was listening to this.

I started watching the vlogbrothers in 2008. I'm not a religious watcher of YouTube like I was in those days, but the Greens continue to add happiness to my life. Also they are indirectly responsible for many of my treasured friendships as well as my marriage as I met these people through the online community they formed.

A few of the stories John tells in this book, I have heard before through his vlogs, and like New Partner can bring him back to previous times he listened to it, hearing about Harvey reminds me of watching his vlog about it, alone in the lab, crying and realising that maybe I had OCD and maybe I could get help, both of which were true. Hearing about his obsession with his various mortifications reminded me about how as a teenager, I had a dream I got to meet him in person at my house, but he left because I was too boring.

But even if you're not a fan of John's books or videos, I still think most people will enjoy these essays simply because they are wonderful essays. They are thoughtful and funny and heartbreaking. They are good companions for anybody living through the Anthropocene.

I always find dystopian literature pretty interesting and a bit frightening. The most frightening part is that much of it, including 1984, is based on actual events. 1984 is largely based on the Soviet Union as well as Nazi Germany. My father saw me reading it and mentioned that it was much more frightening when he read it before 1984. However, horrible futures like this still have the potential to become reality, which is why it is important for us to learn from history and prevent the development of a future dystopia.

I read it because I saw the author on tiktok talk about introducing polyamoury. I'm not poly myself but I think it's really cool for it to be accepted as legitimate. I thought this was so fun and I loved the world she built. You do have to accept the world as it is rather than think too much into it. It's a different universe, so things don't make sense the way they would in our universe. I also don't agree with other critical reviews about the violent nature of the protagonist. Thoughtout history, violence has been necessary to enact change and while I hope we can rise above that in the modern age, this is fantasy/sci-fi about a world in dire need of change. The violence suits it. I think it would have seem fake if the protagonist managed to play nice with her oppressors.

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. From everything I heard, I expected it to be a really sappy romance with really sappy characters and and a really sappy happy ending. It turned out that the characters who experience the central romance were actually very strong-willed and often very cruel. There are very romantic speeches, but the book is anything but smushy love. I found the story to be very well-written and interesting and it is certainly one of my favorite books.

Harold and Maude is my most favorite movie so when I found it as a written play, I had to read it. The screenplay was actually written before the play and both were written by Colin Higgins, and as a result, I don't really find either better than the other. They have basically the same plot with slight difference and both were extremely hilarious, sad, and clever. I laughed aloud and I had tears streaming down my face during my reading and I felt very satisfied afterward. I definitely recommend it.

I thought I would leave a bad review because the first half of the book really bored me. I do think certain things could have been cut down but it ended up being really unsettling which reminds me of lots of A24 films. So it was very well done with the way it made you feel gradually more and more unsettled.

I read this as I love Caitlin Doughty's videos and books and she recommended it on her channel. There was lots of interesting information in the book as well as some good analysis of certain stories, but most of the analysis came across as kind of forced. I also don't know if organising the stories by type of building or place worked for me. I would have liked them to be organized by type of story or part of American history that they referenced. I struggled to connect with the idea that houses seem haunted because of strange parts of the architecture or that hotels seem haunted because they're not quite like home. It didn't really hold my focus very well and was kind of hard to get through, but I did learn some interesting facts.