🏳️⚧️ (she/her; sie/ihr) english second language student ⁂
i'm interested in: * fantasy/science fiction * queer literature * little dabbles into philosophy/spirituality
i may read books in a different language than i have listed them here, usually i select the prettiest entry
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very depressing in the beginning, as expected of the subject matter
words i had to look up: raillery, caprices, epicureanism, hussy, pinion, hare, ratiocination, genuflections, subduing, catechumen
C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce is a classic Christian allegorical tale about a bus ride …
very neat day-project.
words I had to look up:
vituperation, romp, bishopric, libel, revelry, reconnoitred, cataract, whinneyings, connexion, astringent, bereaved, jeerin, jaundice, midden.
C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce is a classic Christian allegorical tale about a bus ride …
interesting premise
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet …
Content warning discussion of the Circle's technology re: sexual assault (spoilers?)
P.S. This is my first time reading a dystopian novel. As such, I have no comparisons to draw, but it ought to be possible to do it much better.
Am I supposed to believe no one saw this small, inexpensive SeeChange camera and did not immediately think of the great value this would bring to voyeurs? How is anyone supposed to feel safe in bathrooms or locker rooms? It was advertised as a tool that would make life easier, communities safer, but apparently every character is so near-sighted as to not even deem this issue worthy of a single sentence. I find it extremely hard to believe that nobody in the whole research + development + marketing process would have thought of this. The naivety of almost all characters in this novel regarding privacy is utterly infuriating and unrealistic. Why do the characters still stand behind The Circle after so many violations of their privacy which they are described to be disgusted by? Why do they take "I'm sorry, but we cannot help you with this." as an answer?
Apart from the problem I've already talked about, the scenes in which Mae has sex as well as the ones in which she thinks about her lovers seem to me like the very definition of "written by a man", it's just that uncomfortable.
If this weren't required reading for my class I would probably have given up after half of it. It tries to be more than it is.
Nebelschwaden tasten sich durch die Gassen. Schatten lauern hinter den Fenstern. So gruselig hatte sich …
Ja, okay, ich bin durchaus etwas älter als die Zielgruppe dieses Buches, aber Fantasykinderbücher haben auf mich solch eine eindrucksvolle Wirkung, sofern ich mich dazu durchringen kann, mit ihnen anzufangen. Es hat Spaß gemacht, dieses Buch zu lesen, teils saß ich mit breitem, gespanntem Grinsen vor einigen Passagen. Mit acht Kapiteln und einem Kapitel pro Tag habe ich das Buch nach einer Woche durchgelesen.
Sprachlich bemängele ich, dass mir der Name der Protagonistin (Lilith) zu oft hintereinander gebraucht wird. Dadurch, und durch manche Passagen mit, meiner Meinung nach, zu viel wörtlicher Rede erschwert sich das Verständnis. Vielleicht ist das so besser für Kinder zu verstehen, meins ist es allerdings wirklich nicht.
Mit knapp 360 Seiten (220 auf meinem Reader) scheint es eine typische Länge für solche Bücher zu haben, mit Kapiteln, die, sofern mich meine Erinnerung trägt, länger als in anderen Fantasykinderbüchern ist. Mir gefällt das.
Highly interesting thoughts about, among other topics, the cross-sections of Christianity and Anarchism, Peace movements around the world, and the military draft as a symbol of ultimate tyranny.
Written as a sequel to My Religion, though, as I must admit, I did not read that one.
