bug_lightyear's review against another edition
4.5
A great book, painfully relatable from the point of view of being a "woman" in science and then transitioning. It's saddening to see that not so much has changed in the few decades between his experience and mine.
I skipped the few middle chapters that went into detail into his research as I don't have the background to understand it.
I skipped the few middle chapters that went into detail into his research as I don't have the background to understand it.
jnchnbyreads's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book I love and hate. It is constructed so that the reader would be pulled from dimension to dimension in just a single sentence, the two dimensions being AD30s Jerusalem, and 1930s Moscow. I initially enjoyed the absurdity of the Moscow chapters, but they quickly proved to be far too disengaged for me to understand the plot. It is filled to the brim with craziness happening in every chapter, but I still wouldn't call it a plot-driven book, because although a lot of things happen, they have almost nothing to do with the main storyline. Some characters show up once, do something super random, and then just disappear ( kind of like the way Soviet Union would 'make' people disappear out of thin air ). I appreciate his creativeness, but I read laboriously during the Moscow chapters. The main story is, actually, very simple and straightforward ( not gonna spoil it ). Everything else is just ... vibes. I believe this is Bulgakov's deliberate artistic choice, though. I don't think he would have wanted the Moscow chapters to be pleasant or easy to read, I believe they were meant to be a massive senseless roller-coaster that only goes up, up, up, up until you've lost your breath and struggle to keep up, then all of a sudden you get plunged into the Jerusalem dimension, where his prose style changes dramatically.
You see, Bulgakov's mastery of descriptive language in the Jerusalem chapters is why I kept on reading this book instead of burying it deep into the 'never-touch-again' pile. His prose style turns into something more comprehensible and picturesque in the sense that you know what is happening, but then he scented with a very faint hint of modernism, by not telling you why it happened. He tends not to dive too deep into the psychological world of any main character, and so the ambiguity lays in the fact that you don't fully understand the character's motives. I found myself deciding if someone is lying and if something is being said between the lines. I even wondered what is reality and what is a reconstructed version of a person's memory. I love how Richard Pope phrased the genius of this book: 'But why should we reduce the number of signifiers when Bulgakov has so carefully and deliberately multiplied them? Why should we try to reduce to one fabula what appears to be a clearly ambiguous syuzhet admitting of multiple reconstructed fabulae, thereby forcing a unity when there is none?'
3.8 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
You see, Bulgakov's mastery of descriptive language in the Jerusalem chapters is why I kept on reading this book instead of burying it deep into the 'never-touch-again' pile. His prose style turns into something more comprehensible and picturesque in the sense that you know what is happening, but then he scented with a very faint hint of modernism, by not telling you why it happened. He tends not to dive too deep into the psychological world of any main character, and so the ambiguity lays in the fact that you don't fully understand the character's motives. I found myself deciding if someone is lying and if something is being said between the lines. I even wondered what is reality and what is a reconstructed version of a person's memory. I love how Richard Pope phrased the genius of this book: 'But why should we reduce the number of signifiers when Bulgakov has so carefully and deliberately multiplied them? Why should we try to reduce to one fabula what appears to be a clearly ambiguous syuzhet admitting of multiple reconstructed fabulae, thereby forcing a unity when there is none?'
3.8 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
sarahoodles's review against another edition
5.0
I'm so glad I came back to this book after so many years. It's so beautifully written; I understand that I couldn't enjoy it so soon after finishing college. I saw it as five or six books in a series, and felt much better about the length.
montanalikethestate's review against another edition
4.0
Emily Henry is one of those rare authors who has yet to write a book I didn't thoroughly enjoy. This read changed nothing about that. Can't wait for whatever comes next, as always.
ettegoom's review against another edition
3.0
I expected this to be a relatively light read. The first and last chapters were. But the middle chapter was definitely intense. A pretty technical journey thrifty the work that Ben and his lab have done on glial cells. It was interesting, but definitely hard work.
3genres's review against another edition
5.0
Not my favorite of his - that would be [b:Ivanhoe|6440|Ivanhoe|Walter Scott|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51OWUZu%2Br9L._SL75_.jpg|1039021], which comes next and is one of my all-time favorites - but a nice suspenseful light-hearted romp none the less. Though a little windy at times. One wishes, like the jousters, that he would just get to the point!
cawilmoth's review against another edition
3.0
Gave up. Too stressful and depressing for me right now.