yearofthesnk
m
206 points
yearofthesnk commented on sunbeamkiss's review of Flesh
I am not pleased with the amount of time Istvan spent to rate every breasts of women that he met.
1yearofthesnk commented on a post
"In other words, the fact that he doesn’t particularly want to have sex with her somehow makes the sex more intense and exciting.”
A few days ago, this line would've destroyed me. It still does but right now, I'm more annoyed. I gave this book a lot of goodwill, thinking it's critical of toxic masculinity by the very disturbing patterns and framing of sex. But upon reading this misogynistic article by The Guardian, I'm having doubts. According to the writer of the article, women (namely Rooney and Miranda July) have dominated the litfic genre so he celebrates "finally" having a male-written book reclaiming the male perspective of sex, whatever that is? Is that what book lacks you think? In this day and age, are we lacking a "male voice"?
The line above is said by a character most likely struggling with CPTSD as a result of CSA. To diminish it like this..... If this is what we're going for, I don't think I'm going to enjoy this at all? I'm going to finish this and form my own opinions of it but my taste of it has definitely soured. I'll also watch David Szalay interviews just so I can decide what I really feel about Istvan's journey.
4yearofthesnk commented on a post
yearofthesnk wrote a review...
[DNF'd at 10% so no star rating.]
Yuck.
The narrative keeps us at arm's length from the MC. This works effectively at first, because it echoes his struggle to understand himself and creates the same sense of isolation that made him vulnerable to grooming.
His disengaged vibe might arguably show how minor victims can outwardly "consent" while being unable to process what's being done to them or how to stop it. But that doesn't make it a good read.
The first chapter's events are already disgusting and bleak, and per other reviews, it sounds like the tone doesn't change.
I don't care about a grown MMC with little agency or interest in his own life, I don't enjoy voyeuristic sexual trauma narratives, and I have no patience for masturbatory meditations on the stoic anguish of being a man. Self-reflect or suffer in silence!
0yearofthesnk DNF'd a book
Flesh
David Szalay
0yearofthesnk commented on a post
Struggling with whether or not to DNF...I thought this book would be more engaging based on how long I had to wait for it at my library and it being longlisted for the WPF. I just don't feel anything about any of these characters
1yearofthesnk commented on a post
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Post from the Flesh forum
yearofthesnk commented on a post
Wow, horrible from the start. Once I started thinking about it as "Audition" but written by a man, I couldn't continue. So much navel gazing under the guise of being edgy. Not worth my time.
1yearofthesnk commented on a post
It’s heartbreaking to read such a first person account of something so terrible. I feel really bad for this 15-year-old boy who is so isolated, and such an “easy” victim. As a Hungarian woman, the book is very interesting for me to read. I think the small details of the dessert, food, and the balcony windows make a lot more visual sense to me than maybe to someone who hasn’t grown up in Hungary, especially within this time. Extremely well-written. I can feel my own language despite reading in English. Proud of this award for us! Definitely not a comfortable read, despite the (currently) easy language. I wonder if the vocabulary difficulty will increase as we follow this boy’s growth into a man.
1yearofthesnk started reading...
Flesh
David Szalay
0yearofthesnk commented on israa's review of Strange Houses
1.5
I’m not sure, man… this one just didn’t feel very creative to me. It was flat.
It actually made me think about the effect of translation.. maybe part of why it didn’t land is because something was lost along the way?
I listened to the audiobook in one sitting, and while the narrator made it easy enough to get through, the story itself felt kind of meh. I was just underwhelmed.
1yearofthesnk wrote a review...
Girl ...
I went into this blind, hoping for a House of Leaves flavored experience. This is on the far opposite end of the spectrum and treats the reader like a below-average sixth grader.
It was a breeze to read (simplistic writing and lots of pictures) and twisty enough to keep my interest for a night.
But the writing left a lot to be desired, especially in service of a story as dark as this one. The middle grade prose style paired with stories about child murderers and victims, incest, forced birth in confinement, etc. made those events feel like an 'ooh taboo!' gimmick instead of real horror.
Somehow none of the characters had a personality, an interior life, or any reaction to the heinous events that happened to/around them. The narrator himself is a shell of a person only there to relay other characters' info dumps — mostly via stilted convos in script form. Not one instance of "show, don't tell."
On top of that, the book didn't leave room for us to speculate for ourselves after getting the lay of the land. The random unrelated architect character immediately came up with correct-but-outlandish explanations for everything based on a few clues in whatever floor plan he just glanced at. And we're supposed to believe he wasn't an eyewitness? Didn't design the Strange Houses themselves? By far the most irritating part of the book to me. It defeats the purpose of a mystery/thriller.
In sum: no foreplay = no fireworks.
0yearofthesnk commented on a post
yearofthesnk commented on a post
yearofthesnk finished a book
Strange Houses
Uketsu
0Post from the Strange Houses forum
yearofthesnk commented on a post
