kahell's reviews
106 reviews

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

• Loveable characters? No

1.5

While I could sympathize with the narrator more times than I would have liked, I just couldn't find it in me to root for her. She is self-destructive, narcissistic, selfish, shallow. A horrible person. The only reason she is not a complete villain is that she has trauma, but as she herself acknowledged, that doesn't excuse a person from being at least decent.

Half star added because while I don't actively hate this book, I dislike it enough to not give it a properly apathetic 2 star rating.

Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn

4.0

Oh I definitely like some letters more than others but I think they are all important. *coughs* censorship *coughs* Anyway, this was a fun little linguistic experiment. Loved it and enjoyed it.

Red Bird by Mary Oliver

3.5

A little too religious for my taste but oh do I admire Mary Oliver's passion. She is a trailblazer in a calm sort of way. A lover of nature and life. It felt like talking to a very warm and accepting grandmother. 

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

2.0

I think I'm just not a fan of "nature vs man" type stories where character growth can only come from two outcomes: conquering nature and proving the dominance of man; or failing but surviving in the attempt. Hmmm. I don't like it. I see nature not as something to be overcome but to live with. I'm disappointed because reading Hemingway's style was a joy tbh. His short sentences, the clipped rhythm of his prose, the simple language he uses all make a refreshing sound that's uniquely Hemingway. I wish I cared more about his chosen themes. 

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

4.0

A tragedy told from innocent eyes. I keep thinking about the last few entries.

Three months before they're discovered, Peter starts working on upholstering his divan. It's such a simple thing. He got new springs so he invests in making his sleeping space better, not knowing than in a few months' time he wouldn't even use it. When I think about death, I imagine it as more ceremonial - knowing a year in advance when I'm going to die, making the necessary arrangements and focusing on experiencing as much of the world as possible. But that's not true. The life-changing moments happen in between the mundane. That seems so surreal to me. If I knew I will die in three months, will I still be here writing this review?

I first read this when I was about Anne's age, borrowed from the school library, and it quickly became a favorite. One quote in particular stayed in my mind all through the years after I read it: "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart." I thought about it so much that it became a sort of mantra, coming back to me in situations when I need to believe it the most. One particular episode: I rode the bus home not knowing I had been robbed before boarding. My bus seatmate paid my fare and even gave me enough money to go home safely. I don't know if I still believe what Anne and teenager me believed, there are so many atrocities in this world, but maybe there's reason to not let go of hope yet. 

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

3.0

The first chapter was amazing. How it captured the particularities of grief and how it's revived by the most mundane things - the taste of your mom's cooking, an everyday place that reminds you of them, the interaction of strangers. I can see how a book deal came out of that poignant and heartfelt essay, and am glad for Michelle Zauner for whatever catharsis writing the book might have brought her. The rest of the book, though, fails to live up to that first chapter. It's possible I'm just being insensible, as I'm in that camp that, fortunately, has not yet experienced the kind of grief depicted in the book. Still worth a read if you're interested in either the author or the book.

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

2.0

I wanted so much to like this book that I made up a metaphor about it in my head about a subject that I actually care about, but towards the end that strategy became the reason for the book falling short of my expectations. It's not that the metaphor fell apart, rather that the events in the book (particularly towards the latter chapters) implied a philosophy that I very much disagree with -

that is, that only special people (those who have the innate ability to remember things) can survive and ordinary people can't do anything about oppressive, authoritarian rulers. I know dystopian novels aren't supposed to end well, but in other examples of the genre there is at least a genuine attempt at resistance. Here, there's none. They simply sit and wait around til it's all forgotten.

The story within a story, though unconventional and maybe awkward at times, could have saved the book if the two stories ended on different notes. But as it is, they only reinforced each other's passivity and pessimism.

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

4.0

Pleased to discover that there is something more to Ray Bradbury than the stereotypical old man yells at cloud denouncing technology for ruining the traditional human way of life. Some of the stories make no sense to me, but most of them are clever, thought-provoking, or downright sad (in a good way). I never thought I'd feel that way reading Bradbury, I'm not the greatest fan of Fahrenheit 451, but this collection proves he is much more than that. My favorites: The Rocket, Kaleidoscope, The Fire Balloons.

The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch

3.0

In highschool my friends labeled me a "geographical idiot" because I had a tendency to get lost whenever I try to find my own way around the city. I reasoned that I didn't go out much as a kid so naturally I hadn't mastered public transportation. Then I started getting better (thank you, Google Maps) but I still found it hard to make a mental map of places I've been to numerous times. It wasn't until later on that I realized that, although I may be in the lower average on the scale of wayfinding talent, it's not entirely my fault.

Metro Manila is a patchwork at best, a product of implementing a new urban development framework every six years (as a new president gets elected). Private housing intersects business areas intersects public roads intersects other private edifices, and the resulting hodgepodge makes it hard for the average city dweller to find their way around without the aid of external tools or a well-traveled neighbor offering commuting advice. 

I knew this, in an abstract way, before I read this book, but Lynch's terminologies helped me articulate that better. This book was written before urban planning was even a proper field and you can see how his concepts have influenced what came thereafter. 

A further summary with a brief review: https://kahell.notion.site/The-Image-of-the-City-ded7b485039f459f996844bef87f8084

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

3.0

For a long time I wondered why We, widely considered to be the first of the "dystopian" genre, was not as known as its descendants. Now I know why: it's very hard to read. On one hand, maybe it was the translation (I read the out of copyright Zilboorg translation), on the other maybe it's the unusual narrative devices Zamyatin uses. The first-person narration of D-503 is an obstacle to follow, understandably because of the different political and social environment he was supposedly raised in, but compound that with the otherness of his society's philosophy and his practical refusal to explain anything and well, let's say it doesn't make for a very immersive experience. A shame though, because there are many noteworthy elements. Particularly, it paints a criticism of the Soviet Union that can only come from an insider. I'll have to reread this with a different translation.