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Scott Lougheed

scottisloud@bookwyrm.social

Joined 3 months, 2 weeks ago

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Scott Lougheed's books

2024 Reading Goal

Scott Lougheed has read 0 of 8 books.

reviewed Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (London Below, #1)

Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere (Paperback, 2003, Perennial) 4 stars

Richard Mayhew is an ordinary young man with an ordinary life and a good heart. …

Review of 'Neverwhere' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A fun read. Somehow both lighthearted and dark, easy but deep, sophisticated but straightforward. I think perhaps I’d rate this 4.5 stars if possible but hey, it’s market day and I’m feeling generous.

Haruki Murakami: 1Q84 (2011, Alfred A. Knopf) 4 stars

The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows …

Review of '1Q84' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I have adored Murakami’s work immensely in the past but 1Q84 was a bit of a meandering slog. A bit clumsy, repetitive, and perhaps needlessly drawn out. I’m beginning to believe that Murakami is at his best when his writing is short.

This is a classic conundrum I sometimes find myself in. Is my distaste by design? Were the aspects of the book I dislike deliberately put there to antagonize me, or perhaps to immerse me in the feelings and experience of the characters? Or was it just an oddly self-indulgent piece of writing with no regard for its reader? I love the often-surreal and slightly mystical stream of consciousness narrative Murakami tends toward. However, to the extent that was present here, it was overwrought and overshadowed by so many problems that begin to take hold in the second book.

The portrayal of women, for example, is profoundly unflattering and …