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Shanahan traces the power struggles between municipal authorities, prison guard unions, and inmates in forming the present day iteration of the notorious Riker's Island jail. As is often the case with histories of carceral institutions, the facility was originally proposed as a more humane alternative to the borough-based jails in NYC. As some argue for closing Riker's and replacing it with supposedly more humane jails, Shanahan's meticulous account urges us to not repeat history. In addition to its urgency, the book's prose is gripping, as page-turning narratives of daring prison revolts and escapes are interspersed with detailed political-economic analysis of the evolution of New York's caging apparatus. This book should be mandatory reading for everyone who has ever lived in New York or cared about its future.

a novel for the situationship age

I found this volume to be the weakest of the series so far. Perhaps it was the repeated, gratuitous descriptions of a young Knausgaard shitting with his friends in the woods or just the overall lack of narrative structure for much of the book. Later on we experience more of Knausgaard's self-discovery as an adolescent and also come to understand how his early childhood is so dominated by the menacing figure of his abusive father- which is a reoccuring theme in the series. The strongest parts of the book were his meditations on this childhood trauma and also regarding the often violent imposition of gender norms within Norwegian society in the periphery during the 1970s and how Knausgaard was bullied for his perceived effeminate behavior.

A very intricate and dense meditation on how culture and people adapt to the uncertain present, once the idealized "good life"- whether romantically, economically etc- has dissolved. I admire the ability Berlant had to weave together class analysis, psychoanalysis, affect and queer theory into a seamless whole in addition to their choice of art works to study. Like the best works of cultural criticism, the book feels like hearing the author take you on a tour of the films, books, and performances that captivate them, while witnessing a reading that connects these discrete points into a broader socio-cultural narrative of our present moment.

While I preferred Butler's Talent series in terms of its broad scope and sense of political urgency, I appreciated the intricate world building aspect of the first Patternmaster book. I found it interesting how this novel blurs the categories between human and non human creatures and also explores the power dynamics that emerge when certain characters have unmediated access or control over the others. As always, Butler's prose is punchy and makes for a page turner.