Margaux

I was not expecting to love this book. I didn't know it was adapted from a webcomic and so I was a little disoriented upon finding that it did not have an overarching plot or narrative. Most of the short sketches are contained in 4 to 6 panels with a few exceptions. Despite my initial resistance to the format though, the characters really won me over.

Jillian Tamaki is really good in portraying relatable characters (yes, even super mutant ones) and the various ways they negotiate with the world. She does not gloss over topics such as teenage sexuality, dealing with insecurities and their various hormone-driven angst and she does it with so much heart that you start feeling for these characters in the very short strips that you encounter them.

I especially love the antics of one character named Frances. She appears to be your typical prickly, jaded, pseudo-intellectual teenager. She smokes in class and does a lot of crazy things in defiance of societal norms and expectations. But she does it with so much sass and acerbic wit that I can't help but love her.

Probably a 2.5 but upgrading because I agree with her views on library funding and the welfare state in general. Her essays about growing up in poverty were also quite touching. Plus, Moran is a very very funny woman, though some of the essays sometimes border on the silly side. Good thing I listened to this on audio so I was only half-listening when she writes about fish or the royal wedding or British politics (of which I know nothing about). Still a very enjoyable read if you get her brand of humor.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I love the very atmospheric writing which details the setting and forms a very clear picture of a character's surroundings. I also love how each mystery is resolved in a chapter or two and are quite realistic unlike other books in the same genre. However, what kept it from being a 5-star book for me was the ending. I just felt that everything was tied so neatly at the end that the resolution to the overarching mystery felt kind of a cop out. Despite this however, I still want to read more about Mma Ramotswe's life and adventures as a lady detective. Now, if only I could find the next book in this series...

So I finally finished this book... after putting it down for more than 3 months. I read it because Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea was one of my unexpected favourites this year and I wanted to read some of his short stories. I could say that it was well worth the read, if only for the story “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” which really struck a chord with me. I also liked “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” which are actually quite similar since they have the same setting and even share some plot devices.

So, what took me so long to finish this book when it was only a mere 154 pages? Well, I did not particularly like the Nick Adams stories and I was practically falling asleep every time I read one. In fact I would have forgotten that I was still reading this if not for my goodreads list.

In sum, the stories in this collection are a hit-and-miss for me which explains the 3-star rating. I find that I love when Hemingway writes about loneliness and desolation as portrayed so succinctly by the following quote:

“...It was not fear or dread. It was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it was all nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada...”

Needless to say I'll definitely be reading more of Papa's works in the future.