A necessary & important read about Palestine and Palestinians, from a foreigner's perspective that touches on the dehumanization that Palestinians undergo and the many justifications that Israel and the west propagate. The art style is not my favorite and is a bit chaotic (so it may be hard to follow at times), intentionally so, mimicking the erratic and overwhelming situations Palestinians have to face every day.

As this is from a Maltese American perspective, Sacco does acknowledge the privilege he has. He has sympathy for the Palestinians, and yet he still has room to be numbed and to be mildly annoyed by the same tragedies he keeps on hearing from different Palestinians. Likewise, the Israelis he met at the end are able to "feel tired of hearing about it" and try to assuage their own guilt - all while the Palestinians are in constant survival mode, and can't even grief properly. Joe Sacco also shows their humanity and the small joys that they try to create, from weddings to tea time and the abundance of hospitality they show guests, despite scarce resources.

The graphic novel shows a diverse account of perspectives, like feminists, differing viewpoints of how to free Palestine (e.g. PLO vs Fatah), issues outside of the genocide that persist, the intifada, teenagers who get recruited to fight for their freedom, prisoners who still educate themselves, create art, and simultaneously try to strategize their battles, mothers who grieve. Palestinians are systematically surpressed in terms of jobs, housing, water resources etc - and it's hard to imagine how one continues to be peaceful or hopeful, especially when the violence they face is often legal.

Joe Sacco met so many Palestinian men who went to prison that it's almost suspicious if one didn't, because "why the hell didn't [they]". It's terrifying to read about prisons like Ansar 3, the case with Mustafa Akawi, that would be condemned anywhere else, but is somehow justified or something people simply don't know about. And it's sad that this novel feels like it was just written yesterday with how relevant it is and how the same things keep happening. Heartbreaking & eye-opening.

"Memory tussled us backwards with idiot hands, just the past insisting on its pastness because it didn't know what else to do."

A darker slice-of-life narrative that follows the friendship of Circe and Szu, and the mother of the latter, Amisa, who ends up being an iconic actress of cult horror classic "Ponti." This has pretty refreshing prose with its heavy emphasis on Singaporean culture, sprinkling in Singlish, Mandarin, and Malay/Indonesian vernacular that feels warm and personal to me as a Southeast Asian.

I loved following Amisa's perspective, especially once she embodies Pontianak as a mystical, beautiful but intimidating creature who unfortunately passes on her hollowness to her daughter Szu. Amisa is the most interesting character to me; she unexpectedly gets thrust in the spotlight of the film industry and embodies what she's famous for. And with all the luck she's attained, it doesn't quite feel like it with her jaded aura and indifference. Szu's eventual grief is completely understandable, and with her insecurities about her physical appearance, she starts to be like an actual Pontianak in spirit. It's quite depressing.

I do appreciate Circe and Szu's complex friendship dynamics and the constant back and forth between timelines, but the plot sometimes just feels a bit too haphazard. There are bits and pieces that stand out to me: a certain kind of blandness that dawns on adulthood, Circe realizing her actual tribulations of "marriage" stemming from her friendship with Szu in her childhood.

There is a slight tinge of magical realism as well. But ultimately I think this aspect, along with the three different perspectives feel a bit scrambled. As character driven as this book is, the plot could have aided in letting their characterization shine. There's just a bit too much of everything/trivial moments. That 'everything* doesn't converge into a fulfilling story, and the interesting parts don't last so long. Amisa's career in the film industry and her intrigue are the main highlights of the novel for me.

"The idea seems to be: use an expression as long as it doesn't mean anything to anybody. Exceptional refers to both ends of the spectrum, so all my life I've been exceptional."

Well, if this isn't the most moving report I've ever read. Charlie Gordon is an intellectually disabled 32-year-old who works at a bakery and attends literacy classes for adults, and one day gets an opportunity no one else does: an operation to increase his intelligence. Showing promising results from the experiments on Algernon the mouse, Charlie is the first human who undergoes this kind of experiment. And his thoughts before and after are all documented in the form of "progress reports." Sure enough, his intelligence changes rapidly and is reflected through his thoughtful reports - they are no longer full of typos, contain complex sentences, and show a more nuanced view of society, exhibiting emotions and morals he's never had to grapple with before.

His intelligence however, comes at a cost — with his newfound understanding of prejudices and norms, he's fully aware of the true hurdles the intellectually disabled go through. He knows shame, he knows now how he was at the butt of people's jokes as Old Charlie: “Only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Now I can see that unknowingly I joined them in laughing at myself. That hurts the most.” And even people who didn't actively tread him down, only viewed him as a pitiable creature at best, which leads him down a memory lane further. He finally lets his childhood trauma shape him by processing it. His mom's insistence that he should be "normal" carries a heavy weight on him as New Charlie, and subconsciously as Old Charlie too; it just manifests as extremely submissive and people-pleasing behavior. Yet his growing intelligence isn't welcomed either; it's seen as a threat. Once you're known as someone who's at the bottom of the totem pole, people seem to get comfortable with your stagnancy and use it as a means of either virtue signaling or abuse for a sense of power.

And this is exacerbated further once Charlie passes the threshold of the average Joe, seeing how a lot of intellectuals use their status as a veil for their apathy and flaws: “how foolish I was ever to have thought that professors were intellectual giants. They’re people—and afraid the rest of the world will find out.” Scientists Numer and Strauss, even if well-intentioned, also possess an arrogance (especially Numer) to put Charlie's well-being on the back burner in favor of the advancement of their careers. He's quite literally just a guinea pig to them, and they hold it as leverage that they've "given life" to him, like the intellectually disabled need to justify their existence with perceived productivity.

Knowledge forms a beacon of light, only if it doesn't blind you to the cruel systemic sufferings embedded in institutions, and this is exactly what Charlie has trouble with: "Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis. And I say that the mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can only lead to violence and pain.” The main thing that separates him from other smart scientists is not that he surpasses their wavelengths but rather their empathy. Regardless of this, it doesn't deter Charlie from seeking knowledge as much as he can. Daniel Keyes makes it clear that knowledge is what informs us and guides us on making lives colorful, and I absolutely loved seeing Charlie explore literature, music and even gets a little pretentious in his reports. There's an important part that stuck with me, where Fanny at Donner's Bakery, who's always been kind to him, says that his enhanced mind is the work of the devil. It's a reminder of how narrowminded one can be when entrenched in religion, and more knowledge or intelligence precludes docility — still very much reflected today, especially in the US with all the censorship and book banning under religious tenets. New Charlie understands agency and the scope his mind can expand to, making a lot of people, especially at the Donner's uncomfortable.

He now has the unique experience of having been on the extreme ends of the spectrum, and concludes: “I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone." For all the books he's read, experiments he's done, relationships with people he's had, it seems that he only feels like he's on equal footing with the lab mouse, Algernon. He's gone full circle as New Charlie regarding loneliness, only with a vastly different vocabulary this time. As Strauss claims, language can ironically be a barrier than a pathway. All this confusion and misunderstandings cause Charlie to sometimes dissociate, unable to process his new reality as "he's always looking at life through a window?" He struggles with either identity, longs for an ideal that doesn't exist, always being an "outcast." The last few entries are so heartbreaking. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I'd like to think that Charlie's deliberate choices and acknowledgement of being charity perhaps mean his mind hasn't truly gone down the inevitable path.

This is probably my favorite epistolary novel ever, and just one of my favorites in general. Daniel Keyes specifically wanted to explore the concept of tragedy when one falls from such great heights, and I felt like I fell from one and got crushed too by the end. We've done incredible inventions, treatments and cures in this world, but with human prejudices, they naturally bleed over into the most important disciplines. And medical, legal and social ableism are unfortunately still rampant today. A must read for everyone.

"But, despite the wrongness of it, this was comfortable. This was familiar. And it was as close to safe as either of them were going to get."

Is the heat in the room with us right now

There isn't really much chemistry or tension between Shane & Ilya. This is typical of books that are hyped up as having an "enemies to lovers" trope, where the characters hate each other for a whole of two seconds before they're consumed with lust or love. Their rivalry feels extremely forced, and their lack of connection throughout until the last act doesn't help at all And it gets old quick that they keep hooking up then leaving right after. Almost the same dialogue every time too which is supposed to signify their habitual rendezvous I suppose, but it started being so repetitive. I was completely shocked that 7 years passed since they met at some point, because it really felt like there was 0 progress and they still didn't know anything about each other.

Also find it weird that Ilya's personality is just being a sexy aggressive Russian, while Shane's is being a polite Japanese Canadian? Cringeworthy stereotyping and lazy writing. The smut isn't horrible and takes up most of the book, and I get why, the plot is just so bland. Also idgaf about hockey and this book made me not give af about it even more.