Fish in Exile

3.75 - I don't really know what to say about this one. I liked a lot of it, but it was hard to get through because I didn't want to read it anymore but also didn't want to DNF. I don't know. It was just exhausting and I struggled. Maybe it to Nao's credit that the emotional strain of their marriage was palpable enough to convince me to never get married or have children, but I don't really think that was the point. I admired her exploration of grief in this absurd, bizarro way (half the book is filled with them “walking their fish” or trying to empty out the ocean) and I loved the writing style but anytime the husband and wife (Ethos and Catholic) interacted, I became more frustrated with Catholic's behaviour towards her husband than immersed in the picture of their grief. I became so annoyed with her over 75 pages that by the time the narrative switched to her POV I didn't want to read anything she said. People that deal with their pain by hurting everyone around them will never not frustrate me. Especially when they hurt the one person carrying the pain with them.

maaaan i wasnt that into this overall. im a sensitive, easy to cry kinda person too! the little things did hurt—walking the fish is one image that haunts me—but ionno, you ever get to a point where a book is so sad that it kinda turns to melodrama. that's how it felt for me lol

vi khi nao is definitely an incredible writer. someone said that this felt more like an experiment with language and i second that. i felt like i just got out of a showing of something from tsai ming-liang but with hirokazu koreeda's narrative. which is great! i guess. but as beautiful as the images were i'm still lost. maybe this just ain't my jam!