A memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. …
Crying in H Mart
5 stars
I really enjoyed this. The interconnectedness that she weaves with her Korean identity, food, and her mother is truly beautiful. When we remember the people who have left us in this way, their memory sticks around with us just a little bit longer.
Two friends struggle against themselves and each other to move past friendship.
Normal People
3 stars
I think I don't like media with people who recognize that they don't feel good, but don't want to try and better their situation. It's hard to watch people make the same mistakes over and over again, to sacrifice their dreams and happiness, to cling to their suffering as if it makes them deeper or more artistically valid, rather than seeking help when it’s available. Maybe this uncomfortableness with this kind of content comes from my own life experiences and it is hard to watch happen again (and again and again throughout this book). As someone who has been to multiple therapists throughout my life, I understand mental health is complicated and just saying "get some help" is significantly harder than it can seem to people on the outside, especially if deep down you don't feel deserving of other people's help and overall attention. With all of that said, I …
I think I don't like media with people who recognize that they don't feel good, but don't want to try and better their situation. It's hard to watch people make the same mistakes over and over again, to sacrifice their dreams and happiness, to cling to their suffering as if it makes them deeper or more artistically valid, rather than seeking help when it’s available. Maybe this uncomfortableness with this kind of content comes from my own life experiences and it is hard to watch happen again (and again and again throughout this book). As someone who has been to multiple therapists throughout my life, I understand mental health is complicated and just saying "get some help" is significantly harder than it can seem to people on the outside, especially if deep down you don't feel deserving of other people's help and overall attention. With all of that said, I think it is fair to say I just don't like this kind of media where these characters are flawed and hurting, but they never seem to get a moment of reprieve from their internal struggles that feels optimistic and the story ends with them still just as flawed and hurting.
Originally published in 1932, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today …
Brave New World
3 stars
I truly struggled with this book and I don’t think it gets anywhere truly interesting until the final 50ish pages. Maybe I went into Brave New World with an expectation of what it should be given it has been sold as the most accurate dystopian novel of the early 1900s rather than taking it for what it is. I agree with its points about life needing its ups and downs to be worth living and that rebellion against the system will be absorbed into the system and exploited, especially under capitalism, but it took the longest path to get to those points. Reading and finishing Brave New World gave me the understanding for why I was unable to read Doors of Perception. I don’t think I care all that much for Huxley’s writing style.
Vonnegut's first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a …
Player Piano
4 stars
Content warning
spoilers for the ending of the book
A pretty good book about machine automation and the class inequality that rises from that. As we have seen so far in the response to Luigi Mangione, the state will do everything in its power to squash class consciousness and actions that movement can take. While some from the class of the powers that be can have the heart to side with the powers that don’t, many want to uphold their status quo. America has been sold the idea that every one is a temporary displaced millionaire, but until the American people realize that we are all in this together and have the numbers against the upper class, movements against the upper class won’t have the juice to make the necessary changes. The Ghost Shirt Society has all the rhetoric, the gumption, and the “messiah” they needed to light the cause, but the American people didn’t show up when needed and all they were left with was a ruined town.
This isn't for the lighthearted and even though it ends in freedom (for some), there is so much pain inflicted to so many parties throughout the journey. Breaking Free really casts a light on how religion can be twisted and used as a human tool for absolute control and submission rather than inspiration and peace. Women were seen as objects and stats for the men and most of the men in here were okay with it because they are the benefactors of this system. Her FLDS husband still is trapped in this religion, serving made-up penances from a man behind bars, refusing to reconnect with the author and their children likely because as a man in an misogynistic religious cult, as long as he puts his head down and obeys, he gets what FLDS promises to their men. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints is one …
This isn't for the lighthearted and even though it ends in freedom (for some), there is so much pain inflicted to so many parties throughout the journey. Breaking Free really casts a light on how religion can be twisted and used as a human tool for absolute control and submission rather than inspiration and peace. Women were seen as objects and stats for the men and most of the men in here were okay with it because they are the benefactors of this system. Her FLDS husband still is trapped in this religion, serving made-up penances from a man behind bars, refusing to reconnect with the author and their children likely because as a man in an misogynistic religious cult, as long as he puts his head down and obeys, he gets what FLDS promises to their men. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints is one of the most egregious examples of an abusive religion, but I don't think one would have to look too deeply at other mainstream religions to find people in power also abusing their people.