AnthonyandJessica

Disappointing

Revisado: 05-03-25

I’m relatively new to Octavia Butler, but I’ve read and appreciated a number of her stories. I appreciate the nuances of her weird fiction— but this isn’t just clunky and disappointing in terms of the story itself. But as another reviewer said there’s a level of gratuitous sexuality that is uncomfortable and crosses into pedophilia. There are also a number of clumsy procedural descriptions that interrupt the flow of the story. And there are some serious inconsistencies in the vampire lore that Butler builds in this story. On the one hand the main character is a 53-year old vampire “girl” who looks like a 10-year old child. Ok. She has her human harem of symbionts. Fine. In this mythology vampires breed and make babies but there is specific mention that they do this not as human vampire lore claims but more like the way humans breed and make babies. Fine. So how do new baby vampires feed? Do they have their own harems to feed and have sexual relations with? It’s just weird and uncomfortable. And the performance, the storytelling is laughable especially when the narrator tries to do different voices. There’s a truly annoying sing-song quality that really just added to an all around bad experience. Would not recommend.

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You’ll never look at period drama the same way…perhaps a cure for binge watching?

Revisado: 09-23-24

This was such an engaging audio that I had to get a copy of the book. Only be sure to listen on an empty stomach. I often had to take breaks from the details. They’re so disturbing and disgusting. But still it was an unimaginably fascinating read. However it will perhaps ruin you if you adore period shows. To imagine that the color green so popular in the 19th century was contaminating everyone and everything (even the air) with arsenic? Or that every time you see a royal court in whatever drama you’re watching go to the country or travel to a different vassal’s estate it easily because the palace had to be decontaminated since it was full of sh$!! And forget about time travel. If it was possible you’d come back with something horrible. I was midway through watching The Serpent Queen and really had to pause. In fact I can’t binge watch my favorite dramas anymore because I can’t stop thinking about the real stories. So many were explored in this book. Highly recommended.

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Stories that give Earthsea the change it needed

Revisado: 08-13-24

I confess 30 years have lapsed since I last read any Earthsea book, Tehanu being the last just after it was published. But the last volumes sat on my shelf unread until now. There wasn’t any particular reason for my not having read them. I know there were rumblings about how they didn’t really mesh with the previous books. Even though LeGuin addressed the complaints in her afterword to Tehanu. But those complaints were barely in my peripheral and I lump them with complaints about any fandom adopted by white, cis-gender men. For me, these tales filled in all the gaps that I always wanted to know about Earthsea. For those unsettled keep in mind what the author herself said: “All times are changing times, but ours is one of massive rapid moral and mental transformation. Archetypes turn into millstones. Large simplicities get complicated. Chaos becomes elegant and what everybody knows is true turns out to be what some people used to think. It’s unsettling.” She points to how people often turn to fantasy for stability and I think that inclination might be what some people might find troubling about the stories here— as with those in Tehanu. But that’s what I found so compelling and comforting about book 4 and 5 of Earthsea. LeGuin says it best “Enchantment alters with age and with the age.” These stories are the grounding dose of reality that I very much needed and they update problems that I had as a kid reading the original trilogy. I highly recommend them.

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Where was a book like this when I was in school?

Revisado: 06-17-24

I think of myself like most progressive whites do— fairly knowledgeable about our rights….but there were always things that, honestly confused me about the ways the Constitution has been interpreted. There were always things that I learned in school that struck me as deeply flawed, inconsistent and just wrong. But I also thought that the flaws were in my understanding. I also have to say that I was raised in a Conservative Republican neighborhood and family —and considered myself one (until the second presidential election I was eligible to vote in…which was more than 30 years ago).

Mystal shows me that the only flaws in my understanding stem from the gaps in my knowledge—which are vast seeing how I didn’t study law or the judiciary while in school. I remember asking teachers why this violation of rights or that wasn’t protected under the 14th amendment (or the 1st) and I was always made to feel like an utter moron for asking. I wish more Americans (particularly those in office and those teaching our children) would voice the same sentiments that Mystal does. And I wish more teachers could have the freedom to teach our nation’s history in such an unfettered and honest way. Highly recommend. And the geek references are an added bonus.

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Entertaining and scary but not for the reason you think

Revisado: 04-21-24

As a native Staten Islander I grew up with stories of “Polly” Bodine. (As Islanders say it, it rhymes with keen and not wine as the narrator says). I used to frequent the Perkins diner that stood on the ground of the burned house of the murdered sister-in-law and infant niece. That said I knew maybe a slivers of the story and found this richly told, well- researched and captivating. I listened to it in less than a week. But the narration was a little stumbling block. I thought it was Siri at first or an AI simulation. But I got used to it. What was frightening wasn’t the story but the way the “entertainment“ media started. This is a very relevant discussion and one that I have always wondered about. Well done and highly recommended.

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It grew on me

Revisado: 04-03-24

I’m not sure if I liked this. The narrator was wonderful and there are some moments that the description is breathtaking— particularly when Brontë delves anxiety and the inner workings of her “professor’s” mind. BUT I kept wondering why this guy was such an a**hat. He was annoying and ungrateful and misogynistic. The female lead was insignificant and really trite. I am happy I read it but it was as disappointing as Vilette.

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Enlightening but not everything can be blamed on the DSM…

Revisado: 02-27-24

I love the way Fay weaves her experience with the chicanery and over reliance on the DSM— until she talks about autism. She isn’t as well versed in the history of autism and needs to investigate it more. For a better understanding of autism and why there was an “autism epidemic “ after the DSM III-R and the DSMIV look at Steve Silberman’s Neurotribes. Autism was “considered rare” for a few reasons— none of which was because it is rare. It was considered rare because in the early days of Kanner— it was purely ego driven because he arbitrarily decided on what would constitute an autism diagnosis. He also did not consider people of certain social, economic or racial demographics . He wanted autism to be a super rare infant diagnosis. Meaning it was there since birth, because he felt he was in competition with Asperger the autism diagnosis expanded with the DSM IIIR and the DSM IV in order to account for adults on the spectrum who aren’t as impaired as those who were diagnosed by Kanner. It’s all in Silberman.
Everything else is really enlightening and engaging. I’m just stumbling through the autism discussion.

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This history needs to be taught to every American

Revisado: 02-26-24

As a Gen Xer I remember the Before Times when the cause of the Civil War was “states rights” I also remember being taught that World War II happened because of how badly Germany had been treated at the end World War I. And I went to school in New York city. I have to wonder how many of my early history teachers had been on the mailing list of those Nazi propagandists that Maddow talks about. And I also have to wonder how influenced my own family had been by these lies. Had the US government pursued these people at the time perhaps we wouldn’t be in the situation we are now. I only wish I had known this when I was younger. Thank you to Rachel Maddow for shining a light on our sorted, and disturbing past which has far reach into our present. Highly recommended.

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Can’t finish because of the narration and piercing background noises

Revisado: 02-21-24

I’m disappointed in this recording. It’s got nothing to do with the content. At first the narration was distracting and reminded me of the Book in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. After a few minutes I got used to it and thought it was cute. But there were some weird pauses and dramatic intonation of words like “dark” so every time he said dark matter, I expected a maniacal laugh. But then at exactly 90 minutes in a piercing high pitched noise started. I thought at first it was an alarm in my house. Then I realized it was the recording. I don’t think I can finish this because of that. Really disappointing.

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Can’t finish because of the narration and piercing background noises

Revisado: 02-21-24

I’m disappointed in this recording. It’s got nothing to do with the content. At first the narration was distracting and reminded me of the Book in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. After a few minutes I got used to it and thought it was cute. But there were some weird pauses and dramatic intonation of words like “dark” so every time he said dark matter, I expected a maniacal laugh. But then at exactly 90 minutes in a piercing high pitched noise started. I thought at first it was an alarm in my house. Then I realized it was the recording. I don’t think I can finish this because of that. Really disappointing.

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