Reviews and Comments

Johnny

johnny@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 5 months ago

I'm mostly a sporadic reader but I felt like I needed a place to talk about what I read.

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commented on Why We're Getting Poorer by Cahal Moran

Cahal Moran: Why We're Getting Poorer (2025, HarperCollins Publishers Limited) No rating

Did you know that while we think of money as notes issued by the government, …

Germany is portrayed as an example for how an economy can be organised completely differently from classic anglo-american capitalism, alleging that our economy is much more focused on the common good. Very strange.

Han Kang: Menschenwerk (German language, 2019, Aufbau Verlag GmbH & Company KG)

Grausamkeit und Trauer

Jedes Kapitel tat auf seine ganz eigene Weise weh, dennoch habe ich alle von ihnen regelrecht verschlungen. Han Kangs Umgang mit den realen Personen, um die es geht, ist so liebevoll poetisch im Kontrast zu dem, was ihnen widerfahren ist. Große Leseempfehlung, wenn man mit dem Thema umgehen kann und gerade dann, wenn man (wie ich vorher) nur wenig über diese Zeit in der koreanischen Geschichte weiß.

commented on Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Ted Chiang: Exhalation (Paperback, 2019, Yilin Press)

Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these …

Okay, here's a short take on each story in this book, roughly ordered by how much I liked the story (best to worst).

Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom

Every aspect of this story worked for me. The setup for the technology, the characters, the central question around responsibility. Caveat: the physical explanation wasn't entirely coherent, but it was easy to look past. The subject of this story reminded me very strongly of what I read 6 or so years ago on "trans-world identity", a topic that fascinated me back then. Apparently it still does today.

Exhalation

An allegory about entropy, built in such a clean and beautiful scenario that it could almost be used as educational material. This one had the perfect length for a short story too, I think.

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

I really liked the writing style and the setting of this one. Also …

commented on Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Ted Chiang: Exhalation (Paperback, 2019, Yilin Press)

Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these …

Just finished the fourth story, "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", and I'm not sure how to feel about it. It reframes the age-old questions around "human-like" AI as questions about emotional connections between humans and "digients", which are somewhat akin to purpose-built pets. It manages to put a fresh spin on the subject and feels very believable in its technological and economical details. However, I think the story fails on a narrative level. It's too long, first of all, and it only clumsily ties together the different directions it explores. Unfortunately I couldn't really relate to the characters either, which were too bland considering how long we followed them and their relationships for.

I wouldn't say it was bad, but I liked the previous stories much better.

Jeff VanderMeer: Acceptance (2015, HarperCollins Publishers Australia)

A synthesis of mysteries

A worthy conclusion to the trilogy. It ties together the mysteries of the previous two books, but leaves open the meaning of the big picture. While there were some pointers as to what Area X actuallly is, I was longing for a bit more material to make sense of it. It makes sense that we can never fully understand it, but I will admit it leaves me slightly unsatisfied.

I wasn't a huge fan of the changing perspectives, although I saw their benefit for the narrative.

In general, a bit of the spark of the first two entries was lost for me here – not because Acceptance was worse, but because of the immense increase in available context from the other books to guide you through what's happening, reducing the unsettling nature somewhat. Which isn't to say Acceptance doesn't make you feel uneasy. It certainly does.

reviewed Machtübernahme by Arne Semsrott (Serie Piper, 811)

Arne Semsrott: Machtübernahme (Hardcover, Deutsch language, 2024, Droemer)

Das Buch der Stunde: Der bekannte Politikaktivist Arne Semsrott zeigt, was passiert, wenn Rechtsextremisten an …

Nüchtern und pointiert

"Buch der Stunde" trifft es sehr gut. Sehr viel relevante Analyse über die konkrete politische Situation in der wir uns derzeit befinden, mit einigen interessanten Ansätzen. Viele Appelle in dem Buch sind den meisten politisch besorgten Menschen vermutlich schon bekannt – trotzdem ist es gut, eine so umfangreiche Übersicht zu haben.

Jeff VanderMeer: Authority (The Southern Reach Trilogy) (2001, Fourth Estate Ltd)

For thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored expeditions into Area …

A perfectly executed change of scenery

Despite being completely different from the first entry in terms of setting and protagonist, this worked perfectly as the continuation of the story. It was a contrast to other aspects of the first book, too: whereas Annihilation was intentionally built to be impersonal, distant from the characters (except the protagonist), Authority is the exact opposite in being all about the relationships between the protagonist and other characters. Inside of Area X vs. outside of Area X.

Again, this was excellently written, and, despite (or maybe because of) being outside of Area X this time, it was just as eerie as the first one!

Saša Stanišić: Möchte die Witwe angesprochen werden, platziert sie auf dem Grab die Gießkanne mit dem Ausguss nach vorne (German language, 2024, Luchterhand Literaturverlag)

Was wäre, wenn man nicht diese eine Entscheidung getroffen hätte, sondern jene andere? Was wäre, …

Liebs

Bei dem Titel weiß man ja zunächst mal nicht, was einen erwartet. Aber wo ich mir mittlerweile bei @sasastanisic@chaos.social zumindest sicher bin: mich erwartet keine Enttäuschung.

Die Geschichten in dem Buch sind durchmischt, haben unterschiedliche, allesamt sehr liebenswürdige Protagonist:innen und erzählen aus ihrem Alltag oder von ihren Entscheidungen im Leben. Dabei sind sie alle auf clevere Weise durch das Motiv am Anfang und am Ende miteinander verbunden.

Herzergreifend, melancholisch, lustig, alles davon ist dieses Buch. Und natürlich fantastisch geschrieben!