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A review by kitkat962
Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson
3.0
A strangely humane collection of stories about life and death, memories and identity.
I struggle to grasp some of the stories, as they has no distinctive narrative and the character names are hard to remember.
"Nivarna" is set on the future, and at first, I am clueless about the president hologram (I mean, who would ever think that we rely on a hologram for solace?)
I thought of giving up the whole book together after "Hurricane Anonymous", as the questions "Who is who?" and "So is it true or not?" kept rising in my head. Maybe I'm not a native English speaker, so after two confusing stories, I found it frustrating to keep going.
I'm glad to continue with "Interesting Facts" as it is surprisingly personal and touching. The fear and the sarcasm blends exceptionally, and the character resonates deeply with my own psyche.
It gets darker with "George Orwell was a friend of mine" and "Dark Meadow", as the book touches on difficult subject of Nazi prison and child pornography.
The last story depicts a North/South Korean clash, of which I have not much impression. The background and its character don't seem very real to me, and again, I found it hard to follow its line of logic.
After reading others' review here, I think I will probably read it again in the future and perhaps see the first and last stories in the new light.
I struggle to grasp some of the stories, as they has no distinctive narrative and the character names are hard to remember.
"Nivarna" is set on the future, and at first, I am clueless about the president hologram (I mean, who would ever think that we rely on a hologram for solace?)
I thought of giving up the whole book together after "Hurricane Anonymous", as the questions "Who is who?" and "So is it true or not?" kept rising in my head. Maybe I'm not a native English speaker, so after two confusing stories, I found it frustrating to keep going.
I'm glad to continue with "Interesting Facts" as it is surprisingly personal and touching. The fear and the sarcasm blends exceptionally, and the character resonates deeply with my own psyche.
It gets darker with "George Orwell was a friend of mine" and "Dark Meadow", as the book touches on difficult subject of Nazi prison and child pornography.
The last story depicts a North/South Korean clash, of which I have not much impression. The background and its character don't seem very real to me, and again, I found it hard to follow its line of logic.
After reading others' review here, I think I will probably read it again in the future and perhaps see the first and last stories in the new light.