nadir's reviews
588 reviews

challenging funny mysterious reflective tense

4.25

i haven't been this confused by a book since i tried to read YA in russian in 4th grade? kafka would be kinder on the brain. fascinating/disturbing/disorienting/funny/gross/constrictive/freeing/need to reread this in 3-5 business years

some highlights:

in seeing there is love, in being seen there is abhorrence. one grins, trying to bear the pain of being seen. but not just anyone can be someone who only looks. if the one who is looked at looks back, then the person who was looking becomes the one who is looked at. (73);

the entire rumination on news (pp 66-68);

instead of leaving the box, i shall enclose the world within it. (153)

[coincidentally the perfect follow-up to natsume soseki's the miner]

The Miner by Natsume Sōseki

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lighthearted reflective

4.0

Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari

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informative mysterious reflective

a surprisingly pleasant read! definitely enjoyed chambers' translation more than a couple others, and the introduction n footnotes helped put the stories (and the collection as a whole) in a new light without detracting or distracting from the stories themselves.

ps to anyone (read: my jp lit professor) going on about how these stories "aren't really horror or scary" - yeah they were never meant to be? x

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i liked the premise n plot, and it was overall an enjoyable read, especially the dialogue. sex scenes were fine too, but im glad they werent the entire focus & instead (mostly) moved the plot forward. ch 44-47(?) thank u for the food

but! the characterization of gean choo and miss verity was so inconsistent for me. gean choo came off as having little agency or motives of her own (imo even if u take the manipulation/abuse into consideration) and her growing fondness for po lam wasnt developed enough :(
ms verity was a really good villain/love interest/antihero/etc, as a reader u could def feel conflicted like gean choo did! but again she was too inconsistent, w some verity-pov chapters just leaving me ???ing.

very fun to read toxic yuri w a genuinely awful relationship tho! in my mind there’s a 4th ending with poly gean choo/verity/po lam xx

Greek Lessons by Han Kang

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