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juushikaTitle: Monstress Volume 3: Haven (Issues 13-18)
Author: Marjorie M. Liu
Artist: Sana Takeda
Published: Image Comics, 2018
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 170
Total Page Count: 277,005
Text Number: 898
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: At this point, I'm content to let the politics flow over me—I read the series too infrequently, the actors and motives are repetitive and indistinct, and I don't feel like I miss much for skimming it. I'm reading, instead, for the central dynamic and surrounding cast, which don't progress in particularly interesting ways here; jerk with a heart of gold has its charm, particularly a well-established and -justified lady jerk, but world and character give way to action in this volume. And I'm reading for the art, and that at least has yet to disappoint, and it will keep me coming back; it's ornate, lavish, and brings to life an otherwise unremarkable installation.
Title: A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Published: Penguin Books, 2010
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 70 of 360
Total Page Count: 277,075
Text Number: 899
Read Because: reviewed bymrissa (iirc), ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: DNF at 20%. I find the premise convincing, compelling, and humbling, particularly in this time of climate change/politics/apocalypse, but: Solnit spills a lot of her argument from the onset, and I find that article-length version adequate; the benefit of a long-form study is evidence, but a person-by-person account is tedious and lacks structure; the idea of ~300 more poorly structured pages to convince me of something I already find credible is exhausting. So I'll pass, but I appreciate Solnit's thesis.
Title: Nijigahara Holograph
Author: Inio Asano
Translator: Matt Thorn
Published: Fantagraphics, 2014 (2006)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 300
Total Page Count: 277,375
Text Number: 900
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A Japanese town; a girl who claims a monster will end the world; a boy with a magic box able to grant a single wish. This is what the show Dark wishes it could be, an ecliptic narrative of human cruelty and beauty, but it succeeds where Dark fails (which is almost everything but its fantastic aesthetic): the small cast of Nijigahara Holograph makes it easier to track the actors through the shifting timeline; the short length means less burnout from awful events and people; the speculative concept is intentionally unexplained and highly metaphorical, which better suits the narrative and prevents the reveals from feeling underwhelming. I'm not entirely convinced by this—in particular, the balance of beautiful to grim never quite hits the mark—but by its second half it develops a hypnotic, intuitive logic. Moderately recommended.
Author: Marjorie M. Liu
Artist: Sana Takeda
Published: Image Comics, 2018
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 170
Total Page Count: 277,005
Text Number: 898
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: At this point, I'm content to let the politics flow over me—I read the series too infrequently, the actors and motives are repetitive and indistinct, and I don't feel like I miss much for skimming it. I'm reading, instead, for the central dynamic and surrounding cast, which don't progress in particularly interesting ways here; jerk with a heart of gold has its charm, particularly a well-established and -justified lady jerk, but world and character give way to action in this volume. And I'm reading for the art, and that at least has yet to disappoint, and it will keep me coming back; it's ornate, lavish, and brings to life an otherwise unremarkable installation.
Title: A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Published: Penguin Books, 2010
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 70 of 360
Total Page Count: 277,075
Text Number: 899
Read Because: reviewed by
mrissa (iirc), ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: DNF at 20%. I find the premise convincing, compelling, and humbling, particularly in this time of climate change/politics/apocalypse, but: Solnit spills a lot of her argument from the onset, and I find that article-length version adequate; the benefit of a long-form study is evidence, but a person-by-person account is tedious and lacks structure; the idea of ~300 more poorly structured pages to convince me of something I already find credible is exhausting. So I'll pass, but I appreciate Solnit's thesis.
Title: Nijigahara Holograph
Author: Inio Asano
Translator: Matt Thorn
Published: Fantagraphics, 2014 (2006)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 300
Total Page Count: 277,375
Text Number: 900
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A Japanese town; a girl who claims a monster will end the world; a boy with a magic box able to grant a single wish. This is what the show Dark wishes it could be, an ecliptic narrative of human cruelty and beauty, but it succeeds where Dark fails (which is almost everything but its fantastic aesthetic): the small cast of Nijigahara Holograph makes it easier to track the actors through the shifting timeline; the short length means less burnout from awful events and people; the speculative concept is intentionally unexplained and highly metaphorical, which better suits the narrative and prevents the reveals from feeling underwhelming. I'm not entirely convinced by this—in particular, the balance of beautiful to grim never quite hits the mark—but by its second half it develops a hypnotic, intuitive logic. Moderately recommended.
