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Reviews: Tomie, Ito; Julius Cesar, Shakespeare; Semiosis, Burke; Her Body and Other Parties, Machado
Title: Tomie
Author: Junji Ito
Translator: Naomi Kokubo
Published: VIZ, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 745
Total Page Count: 266,515
Text Number: 862
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After being murdered and dismembered, Tomie comes back to life—again and again, multiplying each time, repeating a cycle of violence by and towards women. This is a profoundly feminist narrative, in the sense that it's about feminist issues: about the jealousy, necessity, praise and condemnation that surrounds female beauty; about inter-community conflict between women, and the violence inflicted on them by men; about liebestod, the relationship between sex and death. It's also a hot mess. There's an overarching premise and occasional interconnected story, but most are one-off experiments with concept, and the concepts aren't as haunting as in Ito's better work; there's internal inconsistencies, some repetition, and it all runs overlong. And I'm not convinced that the actual execution does good by such prickly and complicated themes; among other flaws, it's objectifying—but that they are there, so complicated and so pointed, intrigues me. Thus I am ambivalent, but I'm glad I read the thing.
Title: Julius Caesar
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 266,615
Text Number: 863
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: To put the iconic murder at the center of the play rather the climax changes everything. Some of the final battle is lost in a script—this would benefit from the energy of production—so the ending somewhat falters. But to explore the absence of Caesar, to shift the focus to Brutus and to consequences, makes for significantly more interesting structure and themes. But I confess this feels something like a dress rehearsal for Othello, insofar as both plays concerns manipulation, motivation, and consequence, and this play can't but pale in comparison. I found it more interesting than personally effecting—but the best of the language is very good.
Title: Semiosis
Author: Sue Burke
Narrator Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2018
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 365
Total Page Count: 266,980
Text Number: 864
Read Because: reviewed by Kalanadi, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Human refugees to an alien planet discovered an unexpected form of sapience. This has a great central concept—alien sapience; consent within symbiotic relationships; the relationship between personhood, body, and community; definitions of first contact and communication—and the extended timescale and diversity of PoVs compliments it well. The secondary thought experiment about community/utopia building is less interesting and compounded by weak dialog (especially glaring in audio). Occasionally, a high concept is sufficiently engaging that the narrative doesn't need to be particularly good—which isn't to say that this is bad (it's fine; overambitious, sometimes, but fine), but I was absolutely here just for the premise and it delivers—it's pulpy, engaging, creative; surprisingly fun, given the political content and darker moments.
Title: Her Body and Other Parties
Author: Carmen Maria Machado
Published: Graywolf Press, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 245
Total Page Count: 267,225
Text Number: 865
Read Because: multiple recommendations, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Eight stories (some longer, perhaps novelettes) about women's bodies, gender, and sex explored via the speculative. Machado makes fantastic use of metaphor—the women who wear colored ribbons, the women who fade into air, are concepts which exist alongside multifaceted and recognizable explorations of prejudice; the fantastic isn't a poor mimic or mere reiteration, but rather adds depth and distinct, evocative imagery to the conversation. Some of these speculative metaphors don't work for me personally, some are too constrained or on the nose; the focus on sex and gender can preclude other issues—this is pointedly intersectional, but sometimes feels too familiar to other feminist works. But one of the middle stories is effectively regional gothic for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit—and that that exists here says more than I can about the tone of this collection, about its thematic focus, its playfulness and strangeness. It's a memorable debut, effective, intelligent, powerfully written; unsettling, confrontational, but addicting.
Author: Junji Ito
Translator: Naomi Kokubo
Published: VIZ, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 745
Total Page Count: 266,515
Text Number: 862
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After being murdered and dismembered, Tomie comes back to life—again and again, multiplying each time, repeating a cycle of violence by and towards women. This is a profoundly feminist narrative, in the sense that it's about feminist issues: about the jealousy, necessity, praise and condemnation that surrounds female beauty; about inter-community conflict between women, and the violence inflicted on them by men; about liebestod, the relationship between sex and death. It's also a hot mess. There's an overarching premise and occasional interconnected story, but most are one-off experiments with concept, and the concepts aren't as haunting as in Ito's better work; there's internal inconsistencies, some repetition, and it all runs overlong. And I'm not convinced that the actual execution does good by such prickly and complicated themes; among other flaws, it's objectifying—but that they are there, so complicated and so pointed, intrigues me. Thus I am ambivalent, but I'm glad I read the thing.
Title: Julius Caesar
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 266,615
Text Number: 863
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: To put the iconic murder at the center of the play rather the climax changes everything. Some of the final battle is lost in a script—this would benefit from the energy of production—so the ending somewhat falters. But to explore the absence of Caesar, to shift the focus to Brutus and to consequences, makes for significantly more interesting structure and themes. But I confess this feels something like a dress rehearsal for Othello, insofar as both plays concerns manipulation, motivation, and consequence, and this play can't but pale in comparison. I found it more interesting than personally effecting—but the best of the language is very good.
Title: Semiosis
Author: Sue Burke
Narrator Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2018
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 365
Total Page Count: 266,980
Text Number: 864
Read Because: reviewed by Kalanadi, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Human refugees to an alien planet discovered an unexpected form of sapience. This has a great central concept—alien sapience; consent within symbiotic relationships; the relationship between personhood, body, and community; definitions of first contact and communication—and the extended timescale and diversity of PoVs compliments it well. The secondary thought experiment about community/utopia building is less interesting and compounded by weak dialog (especially glaring in audio). Occasionally, a high concept is sufficiently engaging that the narrative doesn't need to be particularly good—which isn't to say that this is bad (it's fine; overambitious, sometimes, but fine), but I was absolutely here just for the premise and it delivers—it's pulpy, engaging, creative; surprisingly fun, given the political content and darker moments.
Title: Her Body and Other Parties
Author: Carmen Maria Machado
Published: Graywolf Press, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 245
Total Page Count: 267,225
Text Number: 865
Read Because: multiple recommendations, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Eight stories (some longer, perhaps novelettes) about women's bodies, gender, and sex explored via the speculative. Machado makes fantastic use of metaphor—the women who wear colored ribbons, the women who fade into air, are concepts which exist alongside multifaceted and recognizable explorations of prejudice; the fantastic isn't a poor mimic or mere reiteration, but rather adds depth and distinct, evocative imagery to the conversation. Some of these speculative metaphors don't work for me personally, some are too constrained or on the nose; the focus on sex and gender can preclude other issues—this is pointedly intersectional, but sometimes feels too familiar to other feminist works. But one of the middle stories is effectively regional gothic for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit—and that that exists here says more than I can about the tone of this collection, about its thematic focus, its playfulness and strangeness. It's a memorable debut, effective, intelligent, powerfully written; unsettling, confrontational, but addicting.