Stephen Dau's The Book of Jonas is a marvelous, lyrical debut that examines the effects of war on everyone involved. Dau weaves together the stories...
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I love scifi, I love alternate histories, I love steam punk. None of that excuses the execrable writing in this book. There's no world building; I suppose Green thinks we must have read the first in his series. Characterizations are so thin as to be transparent. He over-adjectives - never use one adjective where three or four in the same sentence will do. And he seems to have some obsession with the 'shadow of cleavage' in women, given the number of times it was mentioned.
It's worth reading only if you can skim really fast and don't care about inhabiting the world you are reading about.
Very beautifully observed and told, Yang has a unique and perceptive voice quite unlike any other memoirist I've read. She's taken the story and poetry traditions of her people, especially her family, and translated it into English. By this I don't just mean the act of changing words from one language to another, but the act of bridging across cultures, cosmographies, and ways of being. Aside from the incredible writing, it's just plain a good story!
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kagillogly has commented on (2) products.
Pax Britannia: Leviathan Rising by Jonathan Green
kagillogly, June 26, 2011
I love scifi, I love alternate histories, I love steam punk. None of that excuses the execrable writing in this book. There's no world building; I suppose Green thinks we must have read the first in his series. Characterizations are so thin as to be transparent. He over-adjectives - never use one adjective where three or four in the same sentence will do. And he seems to have some obsession with the 'shadow of cleavage' in women, given the number of times it was mentioned.It's worth reading only if you can skim really fast and don't care about inhabiting the world you are reading about.
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang
kagillogly, April 16, 2009
Very beautifully observed and told, Yang has a unique and perceptive voice quite unlike any other memoirist I've read. She's taken the story and poetry traditions of her people, especially her family, and translated it into English. By this I don't just mean the act of changing words from one language to another, but the act of bridging across cultures, cosmographies, and ways of being. Aside from the incredible writing, it's just plain a good story!(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)