9-11

by Noam Chomsky

English language

Published Aug. 30, 2011

ISBN:: 978-1-60980-343-8

(232 reviews)

9-11 is a collection of essays by and interviews with Noam Chomsky first published in November 2001 in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The revised edition of 2011, 9-11: Was There an Alternative?, includes the entire text of the original book, together with a new essay by Chomsky, "Was There an Alternative?"

4 editions

WardenRed reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

None

4 stars

It’s the classic story of boy meets boy, boy loves boy, boy leaves boy, boy hates boy, boy comes back and loves boy again. Plus ghosts.

There’s one thing to be sad for S.E. Harmon’s writing: it’s just so immensely readable. I practically inhaled this book, reading most of it in one sitting, and I had so many laughs throughout. Rain never stops delivering as a fantastic narrator with an eye for detail and a knack for self-deprecating snark. I also really liked it that this time, his character growth absolutely stuck. It may have taken him at least one book too many, but the lessons are learned, the trust between him and Danny has leveled up, and generally he feels like an improved (and yet still deliciously flawed) version of himself. I approve.

All the wedding planning with both sides of the family pitching in was endlessly entertaining, and I cackled every time Rain was left alone with Paula, Danny’s mom, or otherwise in the position where she got to get her claws into him. Their relationship is endlessly entertaining, with her now being just so fucking determined to be a great mother in law. And her designs for the wedding are all so hilariously over the top and also come from such a good place, awww.

When it comes to the romance part, my pickiness about series that follow the same couple strikes again, it seems. Last time, I complained Danny and Rain kept walking in circles around the same source of conflict. Now, I intend to complain that they didn’t have enough conflict, even though there were new sources of what could be some pretty cool, low-stakes, character- and relationship-growth inducing conflict. But they were underutilized grossly, to say the least. I did love all the sweet domestic moments of the guys being each other’s ports in a storm, and I have this lingering suspicion that maybe the author loved writing them this way so much after all the past drama they couldn’t bring themself to make these glow sticks shine the way they could. Which is something, to be fair, I totally understand, but I still wish there was just a little more tension in certain parts.

As for the mystery half of the book… sorry, but blah. I think it would have helped if this plot thematically was more connected with the whole wedding planning, getting ready for a future together, watching the two halves of the family blend part of the book, but I couldn’t find enough connection for the love of me. Because of that and because the mystery just wasn’t that interesting this time, it felt like a distraction rather than a valuable part of the story. It was only in the final act that the stakes suddenly raised in a slightly confusing though exciting way. I did really like that part when all the action peaked and the fallout afterward. But it came so late in the story and I’m not sure it made the boring investigations parts worth it. Rain’s narration and humor did really help with getting through them and to the interesting bits, on the other hand!

WardenRed reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

None

4 stars

I hope this ends well, but I don't think it will.

I think this book can be a real treat for readers who are into worldbuilding-heavy, idea-driven fantasy where the characters are mainly used as vehicles to explore the key concepts. The setting here is rich, complex, and quite thoroughly explored. There are a lot of wuxia elements, with plenty of scenes hinging on practicing martial arts and mastering sein, the life force. There’s a clash between two cultures who each have grievous misconceptions about each other, and a lot of discussion about how we tend to dehumanize those who aren’t like us, whether because we see them as weaker or more dangerous, and if we can breach those big gaps. And then there’s the central concept that was the main draw of the book for me: the very cool twist on the Chosen One trope, making those chosen heroes of legend the biggest danger the world has to contend with.

I have personally enjoyed exploring these concepts, but I also felt curiously detached from them throughout. Despite the vast cast of characters who are by no means uninteresting and a plot that’s reasonably twisty, albeit very slow-moving until the final act, I can compare the experience of reading this novel to that of reading an RPG setting book. Like, yay, a cool world! With plenty of interesting challenges and things happening! Now I kind of want to brainstorm what sort of fictional humans may live in it and have personal dramas that aren’t just there to explore the central concepts. Because the characters that are there feel like they exist just for that, and while it’s absolutely a valid approach, it’s not one that resonates with me or pulls me into the story. There were a bunch of more character-focused moments that I did like, such as, for example, Tani’s interactions with Jaer, but overall, I think this just wasn’t really a book for me, in terms of its approach to storytelling. I’m still glad I read it, because I did like the worldbuilding and it gave me a lot of food for thought.

WardenRed reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

None

5 stars

Don’t make tacos sexual for me. Please. You’ve already ruined spaghetti.

So far, this series continues to be super entertaining. I felt like the execution of the mystery aspect was a bit weaker compared to the first book, with that part of the book dragging a bit now and then. But all the other aspects of the story firmly held my interest.

My main reason for picking up the series was the fact it follows the same couple throughout, and so far it delivers exactly what I’ve been looking for. I loved seeing the continued developments in Rain and Danny’s relationship. Their banter got lots of affectionate laughs out of me, just like Rain’s occasionally dramatic personal insights on how he views the whole thing. Ir was fun to see how on one hand, yeah, they’ve sure learned the lessons from the previous book, but on the other hand, they’ve still got trouble when it comes to talking about things in plain words—though now it’s somewhat different trouble with different reasons. The emotional journey they’re on is occasionally frustrating, but ultimately believable and gratifying.

I also really like how the relationship arc is intertwined with Rain’s personal arc. When it comes to the romance, he and Danny have both committed to making it work, but they need to learn to actually operate as a couple. And when it comes to Rain's personal journey of accepting himself as a medium/bridge, it’s much the same: yeah, he’s decided he’s not going to ignore this part of himself any longer, but actually coming to terms with it? Now that’s a whole separate trip. And then there were the moments when these two plot threads didn’t just mirror each other but actively tangled, leading to all those scenes with ghosts interfering with personal moments—often in ways both hilarious and disturbing. I enjoyed reading some of those parts a lot.

Definitely excited to continue further with the series!

Ayxan Solongo reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Der Start in die Geschichte war ganz gut. Ich hab lang nicht mehr ein Buch aus der auktorialen Sicht gelesen (außer Comics, meine jetzt aber speziell Romane), weshalb das auch mal wieder cool war.

Wundervoll ist die Repräsentation an Behinderungen bei den Nebencharakteren und der positive Umgang damit.

Genauso find ich es schön, dass der Autor sich für ein „einfaches“ Cover entschieden und was eigenes seinem eigenen Buch gegeben hat, das zwar nicht das ist, was Fans geil macht (vom künstlerischen Level her), andererseits es von den extrem detaillierten Covern hervorstechen lässt.
Zwar traurig, dass man das heutzutage dazusagen muss, aber die meisten Autoren würden leider nicht mal dran denken, selbst einen Stift in die Hand zu legen, und greifen lieber zu seelenlosen Mashup-Maschinen, die auf Diebstahl basieren… also Pluspunkt dafür.

Wer klassische Shounen-Animes bzw. Light Novels mag, wie zB Naruto, für den ist es absolut was.

Mein AniManga Geschmack ist allerdings schon sehr „anders“, weswegen mich Klassiker wie Naruto und alles ähnliche an Storys nicht besonders anspornen. Ich mochte zwar immer wieder einige Kleinigkeiten, im Großen und Ganzen war es aber leider ein eher langatmiges Leseerlebnis. Wie gesagt mochte ich einzelne Aspekte (zB die Freundschaften, einige Messages bezüglich dem Helfen, behinderte Rep.), aber es gab immer wieder etwas, das mich nervte und einfach zu sehr „klassisch Shounen-Anime“ war (zB immer gewinnender Protagonist, Kampfszenen in gefühlt jedem Kapitel, Frauen sind untergeben).

Ebenfalls sollte am Schreibstil noch geschliffen (manchmal fragliche Begriffe verwendet) und auch die Rechtschreibung sowie Grammatik besser überprüft werden. Hat sich schon immer wieder sehr gehäuft.

Dem Inhalt würd ich nicht mehr als 3 Sterne geben, aber durch das Cover sind es dann 3,5.

Trotzdem werde ich bei den nächsten Teilen noch vorbeischauen.
Vielen Dank für das Reziexemplar.

-27.02.24

WardenRed reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

None

5 stars

“You know if I tell anyone all the sweet shit you say to me, no one’s gonna be scared of you anymore.”
I bared my teeth in a not-quite grin, leaning my head down to graze them over the shell of Danny’s ear. “Then you better not tell anyone.”

I really enjoyed this venture into the monster world and all the details about it. The creatures, the flora, the alien landscapes, all the new information about Wyn's species, getting to meet another representative about said species—all of that was so fascinating and so interestingly done. Honestly, I went in expecting to be hooked by the romance parts, and I ended up way more invested into the worldbuilding instead. Not something I've come to expect from this series, but I'm absolutely digging the change!

It was nice to catch up with the characters who started it all and to have the aspect of age/mortality difference addressed. Feels like by this point Wyn and Danny are out of the acute honeymoon phase and settled into a chronic honeymoon phase, and I love it for them. Danny in particular seems to be in a really good place and far more of a cinnamon roll than he was at the start—or maybe it's just because we're looking at him through Wyn's absolutely infatuated eyes? Nevertheless, the fluff was really nice, and it was great to get Wyn's POV.

I also weirdly liked the fact that Wyn comes across rather villainous at times (that scene where he used a random soldier as a guinea pig to make sure Danny would be all right in the monster world was absolutely hilarious, but also absolutely horrifying when you think about it from the soldier's POV). After Edin and Auri being all nice, sweet, and misunderstood in their books, each in his own way, it was kinda cool to see a monster being, well, monstrous, while also being pathologically sweet and protective within his relationship.

That said, I did have some qualms with that one moment when Wyn led Danny to believe that he did the best he could while actually... not... having done that (even though he did more than he would have otherwise). Danny is already determined to see Wyn as a hero-like, almost martyr-like figure, and there's something toxic about directly feeding into that belief rather than opting for an open compromise: "Yes, I could do more, but I've already done more than I wanted, how about because of these and these rather valid reasons we agree it's enough." I know they're fictional, but I kind of hope that as their relationship evolves they'll move past such moments, because in many other ways, I'm totally rooting for their happy ever after.

WardenRed reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

None

5 stars

You need to run, Temp. You need to run far, fast, and right now.

This was even better than I expected, and I have to say I had some pretty high expectations! The romance was lovely, with all the best parts of enemies to lovers, second chance romance, and reunited childhood friends/sweethearts blended into one, complete with an awesome rendition of the "only one bad" thrown in. Susan is such a genuinely awesome character: strong, smart, stubborn, practical, hiding her vulnerabilities even from herself. I loved getting into her head and being exposed to the way she sees the world. And Templeton/James's journey that was half redemption and half figuring out who he is? Chef's kiss.

It was also awesome to see all the familiar faces, though I regret that while I met both Jerry and Alec again, I never got to see them together. I mean, maybe it's a good thing, because those two would totally steal the show for me and I would probably just focus on a one-paragraph interaction so much that I would forget about the actual novel's plot... but I still regret not getting to see them together, okay. They're my absolute favorite couple, across all K.J. Charles's works and maybe ever.

I also enjoyed how deeply ingrained this book is in the rest of the series. The personal arcs stem straight from Any Old Diamonds, and the external plot is rooted in The Rat-Catcher's Daughter. And let's not forget how this entire series is basically a sequel to that one book from the earlier Sins of the Cities series that I really need to re-read one of these days.

I also just need to scream for a moment about K.J. Charles's writing. The dialogue! The brief description that pain such big pictures! The emotion! The mood-setting! I want to write like that when I grow up. (Yeah, yeah, all grown up already... who cares if I don't feel like it? :D)

WardenRed reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

None

4 stars

“The curse says you must learn to love and be loved, does it not? Those are the only conditions?”
The dragon nodded, his head still buried in his heads.
The parson broke a piece off a roll and buttered it. “Then I suggest you get a puppy,” he said.

I very much enjoyed the way the story was told, in terms of both the style and the structure. Up to a certain point, the two main characters don’t even seem to have names; they’re referred to simply as the parson and the …

“The curse says you must learn to love and be loved, does it not? Those are the only conditions?”
The dragon nodded, his head still buried in his heads.
The parson broke a piece off a roll and buttered it. “Then I suggest you get a puppy,” he said.

I guess the best way to describe this story would be this: it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling where the pairing is Beast/Belle’s Dad, except Belle is named Rose, her father is a parson, the Beast is a dragon, there are invisible people instead of singing furniture, and the story takes place in Britain during WWII.

I very much enjoyed the way the story was told, in terms of both the style and the structure. Up to a certain point, the two main characters don’t even seem to have names; they’re referred to simply as the parson and the dragon, and that, along with Gray’s prose, lends the novella a fairy-tale-like or even fable-like quality. It also enhances the feeling of isolation—how separate the two of them are, in this ancient house with its roses, from the real world and the horrors it’s going through. Gradually, though, the style became, bit by bit, a little more grounded as the two worlds grew closer and eventually collided. I can’t pinpoint all the small shifts, but I thought it was beautifully done.
There were a lot of details I enjoyed about this book, too. The zeitgeist strongly present in every scene that wasn’t focused on the dragon and his house. The crippled dog and her every appearance. The parson’s approach to reconciling his orientation and his faith. His relationship with his daughter. And, above all, the overall vibe of kindness that shines through the darkest of times—I really needed that. In a way, the vibe here is a bit similar to The House in the Cerulean Sea, except with more shadows than sunlight (does that even make sense? It makes sense in my head).
The one part about the story I found lacking was the romance itself. It kind of felt… I don’t know, contrived? I do normally enjoy slow burn, and it’s not that I particularly minded seeing these two characters together. I suppose they did have some chemistry, and their story progresses through all the necessary beats. But somehow, I felt that if there was no big kiss at the end and they just stayed friends, or developed some sort of queerplatonic found family relationship, the story would lose nothing at all and perhaps, in some ways, would become even more poignant. I did enjoy their relationship a lot, just… not the romantic aspect of it when it appeared. And to be clear, I’m saying this as a romance reader who bought this book specifically because of the genre.

DaveNash3 reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

Wow. There's just a lot of stuff in here passed off as fact, that is totally out of line with the teachings of the Church. What makes this book bad, is the author makes sweeping generalizations and crouches them as accepted fact, when in fact, his interpretations do not confirm with the traditional or mainline teaching on the issue or ignore the bigger picture. I don't know if I want to go into detail about every derivation and try to refute in this review. As much as the author claims to be writing to practicing Catholics, he spends a lot of time smoothing the edges that Protestants and non-believers find difficult about our faith. Since he lays his foundation on sand and not solid rock, his projections are difficult to take seriously. He seems more interested in ecumenical work than reviving faith. Although he claims to support the real presences in Eucharist and is alarmed as I am about the decline of its belief, his suggestions will only hasten and not reverse it.

I wanted to like this because his central message is that the Chruch needs to get back to Jesus main teaching which is summarized in the Sermon on the Mount and pursue both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and I agree whole heartedly, but I can't get on board with the rest. Although I did find some of the points he makes like on Human Vitae and Pius XII's pronouncement on the assumption thought provoking. It still doesn't add up.

WardenRed reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

None

No rating

100% going to finish this book at some point in the future. It's just that I belatedly realized that well, I've just finished a worldbuilding-heavy novel with lots of gods in it, and this is also a worldbuilding-heavy novel with lots of gods in it. My brain is trying to confuse the two. Oops.

timthinks reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Sometimes a book feels disconnected, or "lost in translation" if it is a translated work, while I am reading it. But then the end comes and re-frames my entire experience of the book. A Girl on the Shore by Inio Asano kept me lost throughout but by the time I get to its conclusion, it finally connects. The story centers on a 14 or 15 year old girl in Japan and her struggle to find connection in the midst of sexual escapades with a classmate. There are explicitly drawn scenes, which typically I would find off putting but here I found them to be in service of Asano's themes of trying to find connection with others in any way possible. The struggle is how does one navigate discovering who they themselves are, while also wanting to explore others, in a way that doesn't leave casualties? How do you grow up …

timthinks reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Trashed by Derf Backderf is a fictional expose of East Coast garbagemen with a non-fiction overlay of relevant facts about trash and landfills in the US. The book is mostly filled with comical scenes of garbagemen antics with fun characters and an interesting busy art style. In between these scenes Derf elaborates on his message of reducing how much trash we create. I enjoyed my time reading it and I think I learned some good tips along the way.

timthinks reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Wow, I'm stunned by Emily Carroll. I have never read anything quite like Through the Woods, a collection of short horror comics. I shy away from horror in most mediums because I'm not a fan of extreme violence or sex crimes. Through the Woods tells a few creepy stories that are genuinely frightening and fascinating to read; they bring me back to my childhood evenings entranced by reading Goosebumps late at night, steeping myself in that "innocent" fear. Carroll's work combines that experience with excellent storyboarding, using stylized drawings to tell her frightening stories in way different from a horror novel or film. All I can say is, what a gem!

timthinks reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Twentieth Century Eightball is a collection of gag strips from the 1990s written by Daniel Clowes' earlier self. The things I funny in Wilson or interesting in Ice Haven or endearing in Mister Wonderful are altogether absent in this collection. The strips are crass, boring, and mostly not that funny. There are a few gems, especially "Art School Confidential" and "Ugly Girls" where you see maturity peeking out. Beyond that, not much else grabbed me. Maybe it is a symptom of the 1990s you-had-to-of-been-there. Whatever the case, I'm glad the younger Clowes built upon Eightball to make is recent great works.

timthinks reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines burrows into your brain and implants itself, getting us to question our place in the world seen from the perspective of all creatures. Loosely, Hines is telling us a story of several characters in a world where all animals can speak but are still treated as they are now: cows are still slaughtered for food and humans still keep pets. Besides the premise, the most interesting aspect of Hines' work is how he lays a rich groundwork of different scenes in the world from landscapes, to cityscapes, to wild areas, to journal entries, and then places his narrative bits between it all. It seems Hines is telling us there's a wide world out there, and these stories are only one side of the picture. Hines' beautiful black and white art matches the tone of the stories perfectly. The going is slow; it won't …

timthinks reviewed 9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Review of '9-11' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I know this book is not perfect, but it is one of the best examples of storytelling in comics. The main characters are a bit unrealistic, but still stay oddly relatable; you can't help but care for them and feel their pain by the end of it all. The story itself is a bit textbook (probably the biggest knock against the book) but it is incredibly immersive. Everything about it draws the reader in and makes them care. This quality is the book's selling point. Sure the art is gorgeous with both clean lines and a slight cartoony feel, and an impressive amount of detail in each frame. But the reason this is a great book is because it grabs and doesn't let go until the end. However cliche and trite, this book tells us that life itself is beautiful.