[Book Reviews] Chinese cryptography and ungrateful children
Translated from Chinese, Mai Jia's "Decoded" is a pretty good novel from an author who doesn't know a whole lot about cryptography. [rueful grin] That's okay. It's in that class of "just treat this as cryptofantasy and not so much how it actually works"... if you read it as a kinda lyrical novel about anything else, it's pretty good. I appreciated the historical context of starting several generations back in the protagonist's family and discussing geniuses in the context of their families and culture. Some of the other reviews complained that the book was a disjointed read, particularly towards the end. I didn't think so... either that, or I'm reading REALLY different books than the rest of these reviewers, heh. (Or people are only used to American literature that lays everything out for you super clearly and holds your hand, rather than leaving anything about mood or characterization for the reader to infer.) So, the appendix at the end is a little disjointed, but don't let that put you off the whole book. Said appendix is six pages out of 300, and it's not even that hard to get through. If you've read Pascal, you'll be fine. I particularly appreciated the setting -- I learned a little bit about Chinese storytelling through reading this. I was also interested in the themes of passing the educational torch from teacher to student, and how those relationships supported or interfered with each person's work. Good researchers can become good teachers, but sometimes leave their research behind to do so. (Maybe that happens in academia everywhere, heh.) That in-the-world/back-from-the-world tension that allows the brain to grapple with heavy ideological loads is something I can relate to. I'm not sure that framing Rong Jinzhen as autistic was particularly accurate in characterization -- we see so much more of his actions than of his internal world or way of thinking. I'd be interested to see what my friends on the spectrum thought; I don't read a lot of books with autistic heroes that aren't American or British. So, a well written fictional novel that has only a loose association with how any of the parts I know about actually work, heh. Three and a half familial shifts of fortune out of five.
I just love Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, and whoever titles her collections in English is a genius. "There Once Lived A Mother Who Loved Her Children, Until They Moved Back In: Three Novellas About Family" is super grim and blackly hilarious. Even the introduction casually smacks you with some truly awful happenings that actually happened. And yet, people soldier on anyways. If you want to see why her work was banned in Russia, this is the collection for you. It requires a morbid sense of humor and the ability to see horror and familial affection in the same sets of actions; her characters coexist with themselves in a complexity not often seen. For people who do trigger warnings, trigger warnings for everything. Domestic violence, rape, murder, graft, poisoning, graft, violence, ruining good chocolate, and that's just one novella of the three. Literary-minded first responders will probably like it. Most other people probably will not. Five family relationships more challenging than anything I've got out of five and the best-worst of this batch.
Daniel Abraham is currently getting a fair bit of attention for his "Expanse" series which has been made into a show, but I ended up reading his "The Dagger and the Coin" fantasy series instead. (I might go back and read his space series later.) Starting with "The Dragon's Path" and proceeding through four more books, "The Dagger and the Coin" is substantially a long fantasy series about moving off the gold standard. Only a New Mexican would write this! [grin] (I exaggerate for humor, but not much. That is a major plot arc.) I enjoyed the read, though he does get pretty grim after a while. I'd read more of his work. But I doubt I'll ever go back and reread these books again... they kinda fit my "airplane book" criteria there in that they didn't teach me anything, make me think, or give me any new ideas. I did love Marcus Wester as a character, he and I totally could have been friends, and his interplay with his stalwart lieutenant and their long-practiced laconic exchanges were the highlight of the characters for me. (Particularly good: the "this magic sword will kill you fast or slow"/"yeah, they all do that" scene.) Enough unpredictability to be interesting without undermining your notion of who the characters are. Three and a half sleeping dragons lying out of five.
"This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society" is not a good book to read when you're about to deal with a large amount of feline bodily excretions. (I had *just* read the toxoplasmosis chapter. Seriously!) I had high hopes for this book, and it did reference a bunch of interesting research, but I wanted the book to be less sensationalistically written and more scientifically rigorous. It was like reading a serious book on science authored by someone who mostly writes clickbait. Everything was BIG and AMAZING and TECHNICOLOR and... can't we just have a parasitic ant fungus or some creepy parasites that change the fear reactions of mice? That's interesting enough in and of itself, we don't need to have a thematic guitar riff for how super weird that is and every time, heh. So, five stars for interesting science, one black hole for aggravating delivery, we'll call it three secret protozoans out of five overall. Worth it, but auggh.
Eavan Boland continues to write poetry I like... her "A Woman Without A Country" is thoughtful, topical, understated and lyrical, with a good grasp of history and how one walks across it without always being defined by it. I particularly appreciated her view of her ancestors' interaction with the complexity of Irish history, and how individual choices can make one's life about something else even as the background doesn't change. Four generations out of five.
This entry was originally posted at http://ivy.dreamwidth.org/1568921.html and has
comments there. Please feel free to comment on either site; comments rock.
I just love Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, and whoever titles her collections in English is a genius. "There Once Lived A Mother Who Loved Her Children, Until They Moved Back In: Three Novellas About Family" is super grim and blackly hilarious. Even the introduction casually smacks you with some truly awful happenings that actually happened. And yet, people soldier on anyways. If you want to see why her work was banned in Russia, this is the collection for you. It requires a morbid sense of humor and the ability to see horror and familial affection in the same sets of actions; her characters coexist with themselves in a complexity not often seen. For people who do trigger warnings, trigger warnings for everything. Domestic violence, rape, murder, graft, poisoning, graft, violence, ruining good chocolate, and that's just one novella of the three. Literary-minded first responders will probably like it. Most other people probably will not. Five family relationships more challenging than anything I've got out of five and the best-worst of this batch.
Daniel Abraham is currently getting a fair bit of attention for his "Expanse" series which has been made into a show, but I ended up reading his "The Dagger and the Coin" fantasy series instead. (I might go back and read his space series later.) Starting with "The Dragon's Path" and proceeding through four more books, "The Dagger and the Coin" is substantially a long fantasy series about moving off the gold standard. Only a New Mexican would write this! [grin] (I exaggerate for humor, but not much. That is a major plot arc.) I enjoyed the read, though he does get pretty grim after a while. I'd read more of his work. But I doubt I'll ever go back and reread these books again... they kinda fit my "airplane book" criteria there in that they didn't teach me anything, make me think, or give me any new ideas. I did love Marcus Wester as a character, he and I totally could have been friends, and his interplay with his stalwart lieutenant and their long-practiced laconic exchanges were the highlight of the characters for me. (Particularly good: the "this magic sword will kill you fast or slow"/"yeah, they all do that" scene.) Enough unpredictability to be interesting without undermining your notion of who the characters are. Three and a half sleeping dragons lying out of five.
"This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society" is not a good book to read when you're about to deal with a large amount of feline bodily excretions. (I had *just* read the toxoplasmosis chapter. Seriously!) I had high hopes for this book, and it did reference a bunch of interesting research, but I wanted the book to be less sensationalistically written and more scientifically rigorous. It was like reading a serious book on science authored by someone who mostly writes clickbait. Everything was BIG and AMAZING and TECHNICOLOR and... can't we just have a parasitic ant fungus or some creepy parasites that change the fear reactions of mice? That's interesting enough in and of itself, we don't need to have a thematic guitar riff for how super weird that is and every time, heh. So, five stars for interesting science, one black hole for aggravating delivery, we'll call it three secret protozoans out of five overall. Worth it, but auggh.
Eavan Boland continues to write poetry I like... her "A Woman Without A Country" is thoughtful, topical, understated and lyrical, with a good grasp of history and how one walks across it without always being defined by it. I particularly appreciated her view of her ancestors' interaction with the complexity of Irish history, and how individual choices can make one's life about something else even as the background doesn't change. Four generations out of five.
This entry was originally posted at http://ivy.dreamwidth.org/1568921.html and has
comments there. Please feel free to comment on either site; comments rock.