Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

1.5/5

Genre: Literary noir? Literary Thriller ?

Checked it out because of the hype around the author and Idk man. This book is the very definition of "no plot, just vibes" and even though I don't mind that, I can appreciate if there's a point to all of it. The book was repetitive for like 70% of it, so when it picked up, I didn't really care much.

We follow the titular character in the 60s, and she works at this juvenile correctional facility for boys. We get to see how mundane her home life is with her drunk of a father, until Eileen meets special someone at work. All in all, the story takes place in a span of only a few days before Christmas.

Even though I hated this book, I'd still recommend it to those who enjoy wallowing in the morbid thoughts of a strange character like Eileen here. I didn't spoil the details in case others might have a different experience from mine.

I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Moshfegh and had similar thoughts to this. Very bad and pointless

Real hater smh

Lol I actually wanted to check that one out, seeing as it's the book that made her blow up.

this novel was amazing, and the epitome of every description I’ve ever heard of Murakami and his works. he crossed boundaries here, but none of it was bothersome or in bad taste.

there’s so much i could say, but the way in which he’s able to weave such a complete and satisfying narrative out of such a unique structure, with the alternating POVs, tenses, and degrees of fantasy from chapter to chapter is so impressive.

the characters in this one were also some of my favorites. as opposed to the few side characters in Killing Commendatore or Colorless Tsukuru, Hoshino, Oshima, and Sakura all lend a strong sense of unity and camaraderie to the novel. also the protagonists, Nakata and Kafka, are just so intricate and loveable. I didn’t want to leave them.

what a masterful ending from the guy who’s known for abrupt and unsatisfying endings lol

5/5

Ok it's gonna be a long one because I haven't posted in a minute

:​

This book was fantastic, a Lord of the Flies with a more optimistic outlook on children and a more pessimistic outlook on adults. Lots of post-war Japanese literature seems to be grappling with the fallout (literal and figurative) of the war, and this one does not seem to predict good things for Oe's country.

The relationships between the children are deep and fleshed out, and the prose is beautiful. It's a quick read, I'd recommend it as long as you can read about horrible things happening to children.

I was really underwhelmed by The Master and Margarita. The first part seemed to drag on endlessly to me, the devil pranking Moscow's residents one by one was mind-numbing and seemingly without consequence. I think the story picks up when Margarita is introduced, there's one stunning centerpiece to the novel I think anyone who has read it will remember.

The far more interesting part of the book to me are the book-within-the-book chapters about Pontius Pilate. I think there's a far more interesting story there to be told about what it feels like to kill a Messiah, or to be a villain in a gospel. Unfortunately they only make up a small portion of the text, and I couldn't make the connection between them and the Moscow chapters.

I thought this one was fantastic, The Haunting of Hill House is one of my all time favorite books and this Rebecca had its echoes all over it. The setting is creepy and beautifully rendered, and the plot is lingering enough to create tension without being boring.

And finally

This is the worst book I've ever read. Under no circumstances should you read this bullshit

Hold up I just looked at the cover to the Master and Margarita that I used lmfaoooo

I need that

Explain death stranding book? The game is one of my favorite games of all time, but had no idea it had a book out

Maps of our spectacular bodies by Maddie Mortimer

Genre: Lit Fic

3.5/5

The story follows a woman named Lia, who's battling cancer, and how this journey affects her daughter, Iris, and her husband, Harry.

We get to learn about her teenage days growing up with a father who was a clergyman, a mother who was not always easy to deal with, and how these formative years affect how she interacts with her own teenage daughter in the present.

The book deals with grief, God, sex, and motherhood.

What impressed me the most was how tenderly written the subject of cancer is in the book, and also the fact that this is a mature debut. All I will say is that I'll be on the lookout for her future works. I underlined a good number of quotes in this book.

This is not a perfect novel by any means. It is overlong, and cancer in this book is a character that also has a voice and knows current affairs, general knowledge etc. It didn't work for me: those sections were borderline impenetrable, confusing, and a severe tonal clash. Some poetry bits are clunky, plus way too many distracting gimmicks and literary devices in the novel AKA doing too much.

Even after saying all that, I'm still impressed with this book. It might not be for everyone, but I dug the potential, and I appreciated how this is based on the author's real life (her mom died of cancer when she was 14).

I never actually played the game but I believe the novel is a two-part novelization of the general plot of the game. It features fan favorite characters such as Die-Hardman, Sam Porter Bridges, Fragile, and more. I don't think the plot is actually that good, it's bizarre and hard to follow and while I usually enjoy Kojima's allegorical way of seeing the world this one just doesn't click for me. It doesn't help that the actual writing itself is awful. Characters pop in and out of scenes with no introduction, none of the concepts are explained meaningfully, and there are nonsense sentences all over the book

Finally finished Ubik. F***ing great! Highly, highly recc’d.
As someone with minimal experience reading PKD, this was a surprise. I expected some far-out but prophetically accurate, high minded speed freak sci-fi pulp with theosophical undertones. And you get that, plenty of that. The book is never on solid ground for more than 5 pages before another twist or destabilizing idea gets laid on top of the pile. D***’s understanding of the human internet, and his foresight towards a world drowning in microtransactions and forced obsolescence, are shockingly on point. Frankly, I was flummoxed when the the universally-known entrepreneurial investor with a presence on Mars & a reputation as “the biggest mark in the universe” was named Stanon Misk. That was some Nostradamus s***. Missed it by only so much.
But for all that it’s surprisingly goofy and legit funny as well, and at times truly horrific. In the minds eye it seemed to me like Inception by way of Severance, as stylized by Wes Anderson. But also more uneasy than that description, or just most filmed entertainment ever allows, a thick haze of harried paranoid dread permeates the edges of this book like the stink of a cigarette dipped in embalming fluid
Easy, breezy, quick, a great book if you feel like your poor attention span needs a jolt. You can read this! Use only as directed

Not really adding anything new here but yeah obviously it's one of the greatest books of all time

Just finished the sellout last week

@op what are his other books like? I liked the book, but I found the epilogue and prologue the most interesting

I've read four of his novels and they all share a similar comedic critique on the world from the perspective of a black outsider protagonist

his prose is pretty consistent so if you liked The Sellout you'd probably enjoy his other books too

my favorite book of his is The White Boy Shuffle. it's a funny California coming of age novel with memorable characters

Took me ~two dozen pages to figure out his cadences, then the pages started flying.

The characters were interesting and relatable, plot left me wanting just a little more to consider the book great and not "just" really good though.

Want to read more, will definitely peep WBS

2 exquisite books couldn't put down

More on the first book? Looks really interesting

An amazing piece of political fiction that reflects on the thorny legacies of the Arab Spring
The author is a queer Egyptian writer and ceramicist. Former architect and a triathlete, and his writing reflects this flexibility and curiosity because the author's note details his own experiences fighting in the 2011 protests, and the physical damage it brought on his career as an athlete in Egypt

The plot itself follows 3 days of the protagonist's life in Egypt (in early 2030) leading a revolution between 3 major factions in Egypt while the country is under lockdown. He seeks a political prisoner to give a sermon but also carries the means to end his own life when confronted

Have a read of the full plot here: hajarpress.com/books/you-must-believe-in-spring
I only link this because bro curated an ENTIRE playlist to compliment his novel

The writing is gorgeous, plot thrilling and research is outstanding. 5/5 for me

Thank you - will definitely add to my TBR list

don’t know how to post pics but just finished Quentin Tarantino’s novelization of ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’
i felt it was a phenomenal companion piece to the film, and really fleshed out the characters even more so than their screen counterparts.
Tarantino’s writing style is so him, you can almost here his voice when he is geeking out about 1960s pop culture. Which is a pro if you’re a fan, and a con if you’re already not a fan of his writing style.
Overall, the way he fleshed out not just the characters, but the setting of 1969 Hollywood (which feels much like its own character) I thought it was excellent.
While there are plenty of fun moments from the film still here, the novel builds the world around the characters in such an elaborate way, and the novel also ends at a different point than the film did. Many times this book had me laugh out loud, or give a goofy smile because of how enjoyable the words on the page were to read.
I’d give this a genuine 8.5/10

Deadhouse Gates
5/5
You can see how much better it is than the first one immediately. Amazing book.

Got up to halfway with this one, you can definitely tell it was written by a screenwriter, and Cliff is much different in the book as compared to Brad Pitt version.

That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu

2/5

Genre: literary fic

Novella, so a short read.

This one I'm not comfortable rating because it's clearly a case of the writing style not being for me, but if you like Ocean Vuong (On earth We're Briefly Gorgeous), maybe you might like this.

It's about a Ghanaian young man who was sent into foster care when he was born, then rejoined his mother when he was an adolescent. The book also deals with identity, love, and mental health among black men, and the novel is set in Tottenham, England.

If I knew what I signed up for, I'd have probably gotten a better experience. It is definitely a poetic novel but sometimes the writing is so elusive that it's hard to tell what's going on. I've realized I don't have a lot of patience for such books lol.

Is it possible to download (pirated) books and read them on kindle ereader? Any reliable sites? There’s several books on my list that my local library doesn’t have