gapingvoid's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
--> reading diary
ashleygracew's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
niki_eileen's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
michaelwong's review against another edition
5.0
“Under the arc of the cello”
“I am speaking grammar, pure and universal, but also suggesting a higher form of music...”
“Isabel assigned profound meanings, to my fragmentary speech, intuiting from those fragments depths of insight and latent eloquence, and because she projected what she thought she discovered, she experienced...an intense affinity for my mind”.
“I was at first put off and threatened by the handsome countenances of the other listeners, faces the hat displayed an absorption I refused to believe was felt, each face carefully positioned to imply a lively interior world...”
“...believing the ideological machinery of their grammar was being deconstructed...”
“One cannot overcome the commodification of language by fleeing into an imagined past...by rather one must seek out new forms of language”
“...this strange experience of reading, the sense of harmony between the rhythms of a reproduction and the real, their structural identity, so that the subject of the4 sentence was prcisely the time of its being furthered...”
"'...Why does everything it the apartment, from a pile of books to those papers on your desk, seem so beautifully arranged? How is it that your cat communicates so muc intelligence, that t blinks so significantly?'...'Why are you speaking English?'"
"You can see all of this from a great height and zoom out until it is no longer visible or you can zoom in on the writing hand or the face of the dead, zoom in until it's no longer a face. Or you can click on something and drag it. You can adjust the color or you can make it black and white. You can view any object from any angle or multiple angles simultaneously or you can shut your eyes and listen to the crown in the arena or the sirens slowly approaching the red car or the sound of the pen writing down the years as silver is hammered and shaped."
"...I was nevertheless outside the language I was speaking, building simple sentences with blocks I'd memorized, not communicating through a fluid medium."
"in the last phase of my research fireflies were disapearing. Bats were flying around confused in the middle of the day, colliding wth each other, falling into little heaps...Why not let children touch the paintings?"
I wonder if this is the best novel ever written. Do I always say that? This time I mean it. Maybe.
“I am speaking grammar, pure and universal, but also suggesting a higher form of music...”
“Isabel assigned profound meanings, to my fragmentary speech, intuiting from those fragments depths of insight and latent eloquence, and because she projected what she thought she discovered, she experienced...an intense affinity for my mind”.
“I was at first put off and threatened by the handsome countenances of the other listeners, faces the hat displayed an absorption I refused to believe was felt, each face carefully positioned to imply a lively interior world...”
“...believing the ideological machinery of their grammar was being deconstructed...”
“One cannot overcome the commodification of language by fleeing into an imagined past...by rather one must seek out new forms of language”
“...this strange experience of reading, the sense of harmony between the rhythms of a reproduction and the real, their structural identity, so that the subject of the4 sentence was prcisely the time of its being furthered...”
"'...Why does everything it the apartment, from a pile of books to those papers on your desk, seem so beautifully arranged? How is it that your cat communicates so muc intelligence, that t blinks so significantly?'...'Why are you speaking English?'"
"You can see all of this from a great height and zoom out until it is no longer visible or you can zoom in on the writing hand or the face of the dead, zoom in until it's no longer a face. Or you can click on something and drag it. You can adjust the color or you can make it black and white. You can view any object from any angle or multiple angles simultaneously or you can shut your eyes and listen to the crown in the arena or the sirens slowly approaching the red car or the sound of the pen writing down the years as silver is hammered and shaped."
"...I was nevertheless outside the language I was speaking, building simple sentences with blocks I'd memorized, not communicating through a fluid medium."
"in the last phase of my research fireflies were disapearing. Bats were flying around confused in the middle of the day, colliding wth each other, falling into little heaps...Why not let children touch the paintings?"
I wonder if this is the best novel ever written. Do I always say that? This time I mean it. Maybe.
yossarian_rish's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
neemzilla's review against another edition
5.0
Truly a remarkable and understated book. Freakin’ phenomenal.
lukija's review against another edition
5.0
Keikkui neljässä tähdessä pitkään mutta yksi lause nosti kirjan lopulta viiden tähden lukukokemukseksi: ”Miksi olin syntynyt peilien väliin?”
Kirjoitin tästä blogiin. Ajatuslainoja pääosin lingvistisestä semiotiikasta, päähenkilön Adam Gordonin mielenmaiseman pohdintaa ja sillä viissiin.
kosminenk.wordpress.com
Kirjoitin tästä blogiin. Ajatuslainoja pääosin lingvistisestä semiotiikasta, päähenkilön Adam Gordonin mielenmaiseman pohdintaa ja sillä viissiin.
kosminenk.wordpress.com
jtbone's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
smilingeyebrow's review against another edition
3.0
I can see how people could like this book but I just couldn't get into it. While it was a short read I struggled to want to pick it up and so I read it over a course of two months. It probably would have been better if I just read it straight through in one day. Apparently the author, who was a professor of my good friend, is a brilliant man with great restaurant recommendations. If anything, I'd suggest reading it because of this.
0liviar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75