Alexandra Kaste

Fascinating story of how a fairy tale would look in the real world. Nice and twisted with quite good atmosphere and an unreliable narrator thrown in to boot (although the supposed twist was pretty obvious). But although the narrator stands out, I think her sister is the real fascination. Here is someone that is supposedly sane who never even really comments on her sister's obvious insanity and only seems to notice it when the awful cousin Charles points it out. So pink and white and in the end pretty much as crazy as her unwashed, schitzo sister. The only weakness in the book is the one dimensional Charles and townspeople (but even that goes away once you consider that merricat narrates the book). Overall very interesting fable that's even more interesting when you find out the author was agoraphobic too.

This book was almost soooo good. And there are some things it nails. It's interesting, quickly paced, and has some great dialogue (even though I felt like the author was patting himself on the back for recreating early teen speech patterns) and an understanding of the society in which it's set. Also shout out to the main character for being as afraid of insects as I am. But dang there were some clunky parts. Don't you just love it when writers explain their metaphors explicitly? “It's like I'm batman and that means I have to be brave because overcoming your fears is a great coming of age theme” (exact quote (really)). And for a book that claims to see its characters as three dimensional people, the portrayal of a lot of these people is remarkably caricaturish. That mom though. I have a pet peeve when writers reference other books. Loved all those super obvious references to To Kill a Mockingbird. It's like when pretentious teens name drop bands to jack some of their cool (and I'm in a position to know because that's what I do).
This book probably deserves a three, but it was a fun read and the flaws were only obvious after reflection. They didn't really interfere with the reading experience. If only the author would just let his protagonist be without low key inserting his philosophy and musings into this absurdly precocious 13 year old.

Short review: Kanye should read this book.

Long review: The only other Butler novel I've read is Dawn, which I basically couldn't put down. I'll say right off that I enjoyed that book a lot more than this one and felt that her Butler's very logical, methodical writing style better serves sci-fi with a lot of moving parts. The very unadorned prose felt a little bare in this case, with Dana often feeling one-note and almost perversely logical. But that's just style and really only affected my enjoyment of the story and less the story itself.

The story is fascinating. Slavery is one of those historical horrors that have been rehashed over and over in popular culture so much that it almost doesn't seem real. The subtleties of it are often lost in the historical retelling, becoming a horror show that your mind shuts off. Kindred is all about the subtleties of slavery, really bringing home a power imbalance that perverted both master and slave. I've never read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I'd never really thought that much about the relationships that would form between people on opposite ends of the power spectrum and all the complications that that entails. The human in people recognizes the human in others, but that voice can be shut up.

At points I did want to shake Dana for what she forgave Rufus for, and it did stretch my suspension of disbelief, but I can see it as a coping mechanism. It's exhausting to live in anger, to fight back constantly, much easier sometimes to forgive and let things happen, an instinct that Dana has to actively fight against.

There's a lot more going on in this book. It's definitely one I'll be chewing on for a while, and while I didn't always love the writing, the subjects explored have so much dimension that I know I'll keep coming back to it.

There's

Oh what webs people create for themselves to try to adhere to what's decent on the surface while their desires and actions simultaneously undermine the whole thing. This tortured book could have been avoided if they had just been respectively divorced and freed of an engagement but after reading this I can see why they didn't. They had entrapped themselves in a mesh of invisible wires that govern and shape human interactions.

Ken Follett should not be allowed to continue writing. Two stars only because it was an easy read but, oh God, the man has a genius for stale, one-dimensional characters and predictable plots. It takes place during the plague and never once did I feel the terror of the situation. The deaths only happened to those that the story didn't really rely on and I honestly did not care once. Also, sexing up the middle ages should be a crime. Was there sex? Yes. Do we need a description of every one of the women's boobs and lots of inconsequential sex scenes? Aw heck no. Follett, please stop.

I DONT KNOW WHAT I THINK ABOUT THIS BOOK! Is the darkness the horrific treatment of the Congo at the hand of the Belgians, or is it a dated and colonialist metaphor for primitivism??? Is it both??? Are we supposed to agree with the perspective of the narrator?? Are we supposed to criticize it?? I don't know! Still hard to read dehumanizing portrayals of the Congolese whatever the intended reading. Also so much tell and less show. Idk. I'll be thinking about it a lot at least.