drplantwrench's reviews
129 reviews

Have you ever had a friend tell you that their friend has a great joke? And you listen to it, all excited for the punchline, only to find out that the "hilarious" anecdote is already over? All that weird energy of waiting to laugh, frustrated into nothingness?

That's how this book feels. There's so many reviews that say this book is hilarious, but I was constantly waiting for the punchline. There are moments where I stroked my chin and said to myself, "Ah, yes, very amusing." without laughing, but even those were few and far in between.

Beside the frustration at the lack of humor (or me missing the joke), there's not much else to recommend in this book. The characters are ridiculous and one dimensioned, which at first are mildly amusing, but fails to go anywhere. Unsurprisingly, the ending doesn't pay off, and feels gratuitous.

Overall: 2.5/5

I had a hard time deciding whether this should be 3 or 4 stars. A true rating of 3.5 stars I think is very warranted.

As you can see with other reviews, there are definitely parts of this book that are extremely powerful and educational. I learned a lot about interpersonal relationships, emotions, and how to apply these concepts to my parenting, which was what I was looking for. But there were definitely parts of this book that were lost on me (me being a parent with an interest in neuroscience and wanted a little more depth).

A lot of this book seems to be a debate on how to connect neuroscience to applied psychology, which I didn't really understand the context or importance of. Some times the neuroscience is glossed over assuming you are aware of it already (this may be partially a result of my amateur neuroscience interest and not a fault of the book). Other times it is insanely dense and difficult to read.

But there's also another problem with this book, in my opinion. Every now and then it shifts into non-scientific areas that I do not think add much. Siegel brings up generic notions of love, compassion, interconnectedness, as if to say "wouldn't things be better if we all loved each other?" I would have preferred a deeper dive into the neuroscience behind those concepts.

He also talks a lot about quantum mechanics, but I don't think that really helps his metaphor, and seems like a weird way to try to add credence to his theories. Overall, some really good stuff in here, but a dense, difficult read that meanders between hard science and weird tangents.

When people talk about classics, in my opinion, there are a couple different types that I fear, such as the boring and difficult to read boundary-pusher, the classic enjoyable story without that much depth, the eccentric fascinating mess of a book, etc. Crime and Punishment is none of these, it is so much better. It is deeply philosophical, nail-bitingly thrilling, with fascinating characters. This became my obsession while I was reading, and maybe even still to this day, two years later. This is THE classic novel, and completely understand why so many call this the greatest book of all time.

maybe i'm not smart enough to get it, but i found grace paley to be extremely uncompelling. there were a few stories here and there that captured something, but they were dispersed in meaningless humblebrag stories where nothing happened in stories that were badly structured.

I really enjoyed *The Sound and The Fury*, and thought that this sounds like an even better sophistication of the style Faulkner started in *The Sound and The Fury*. But man, this was a tough read.

There are definitely good parts of this book - Faulkner can make any sentence sprout like a beautiful tree, parts of the plot were compelling, structure is very novel, etc. But there's also plenty of downsides. Personally I found the vague stream-of-consciousness more annoying and hard to follow. Similarly, the pointlessness and brutality of life that was so cogently integrated in *The Sound and The Fury* was just slopped on the plot at every turn of the page in this book. Eventually, I was convinced - this book was pointless and brutal.

seems to me everyone agrees that this is a class 4.0 rating. Ursula Le Guin is just a fantastic writer and she could make any story interesting, but I really preferred *The Left Hand of Darkness*. I'd say the best thing about fantasy novels are rarely the wizards, and if they are, it's because they're the only ones. So this book is chock full of wizards and a somewhat cliche story. But Le Guin is just that good that she makes this a very enjoyable read.

It's hard to summarize my feelings on this book, and I think one reason is that it is such a complex set of emotions and subtext. On its face, this book's premise sounds worse on paper than it actually is - a butler reminiscing about his time spent working for a Lord. But, the subtext of romance, lost opportunities, written in a nostalgic yet humorous style, really made this book enjoyable to read. The allegorical power of the plot, in terms of deciding ones fate, the purpose of your career, ones role in opposing fascism, etc., is likewise fascinating. Having read this and *An Artist of the Floating World* Ishiguro seems to capture the complex depth of a person looking back on their life with both regret and hope.

4.5/5, rounding up

maybe i didn't get it, but very disappointing book. the structure is certainly compelling - it's like Bolano thought of an interesting structure but forgot to write a good story. the first section really is interesting and was ready to love that book, and it took a surprise twist.... that got sidelined for 450 pages??

the middle 450 pages are long and boring, there's little to no coherent plot. bunch of pointless vignettes that when i found out belano is based on bolano, are extremely cringey. none of the other characters are fleshed out into anything interesting. also half the time its just bragging about what poets these guys have read. if i wanted to read boring people talk about how much they love other poets (without actually referencing the poetry in any real way), i'd just go back to tumblr.

the ending section is silly and all the air of the story had been let out, so it landed with a big loud thud for me. (why do i care about cesarea tinajero??? please someone tell me why this person is of interest in any way). overall, started off interesting before losing all its steam and landing in the mud