floatinthevoid's reviews
229 reviews

At least one good thing pls

This feels so much like satire. I'll take it as satire because it's funnier that way.

Here's two guys who are friends. They hang out regularly. Besties dates. One of the guy, the main character, has a habit of reconstructing every conversation he had with his friends before he sleeps (or does he?). In one of their date, they talk about a newly released Hollywood movie. A classic crime mystery movie with romance subplot. The mc pointed out that despite it being a big Hollywood movie, there was an anomaly in the movie that may have been an oversight by the film makers. A character from an isolated area in the middle of the mountain was seen using a Rolex watch.

The whole book this is what they're arguing. A freaking Rolex.

In my humblest opinion, the two should just kiss. The conversation would end quicker with less words.

Because why does he say things like "Due to extremely long concatenations of happenstance, one might never come across certain subjects, even when in possession of an alert mind and universal curiosity."??? he's just saying words, that Mr. High Quality Taste Intellectual. Also what does he man by "I refused to defame reality."????? Guy so sleep deprived he made up sentences.

In retrospect, I deeply appreciate the discussion about fiction vs reality. Though very muddled because of the nature of conversation between the characters, I find that topic particularly interesting.

Okay but seriously, over a Rolex in an irrelevant scene from a whole movie??? Yeah back to my initial point, they should just kiss.

So much lore!! Things are getting interesting. Shiva my dear daughter must be protected at all cost.

This is a strange one.
I came in with little to no expectation. I heard about Tokarczuk a lot, but i don't want to read Flights yet, because it seems like a challenging read so i chose this one.

This book is surprisingly quirky? But from my experience it's not the insufferable quirky type. Philosophical musings inside the head of the main character happens a lot. Although i'm a bit wary at the beginning, it doesn't really bother me that much later on.

Janina Duszejko is one of a kind main character. So authentic yet realistic. Almost like an amalgamation of mad woman and witches archetypes. She is a middle aged woman, living in a barely isolated area in the forest, near the poland-czech border. She does a lot of things: an english teacher, a (sort of) housekeeper, a translator, an ex engineer. She has a strong fixation with astrology to the point that it drives her to do definitely very bad things. As a character, she's fascinating to observe. It's very clear that beneath her odd layers, she's a lonely and depressed old woman.

Despite that, i found that a big chunk in the middle part is so mind-numbingly dull. I know the mystery aspect is not meant to be a whodunit as the main focus, but maybe it should be shorter and weirder. The few murders that happened in this book feels like forever to read. What pushed me to keep reading forward is unrelated to the book itself (if i see my reading progress is already more than 70%, it's very likely i'll finish the book).

The writing style is beautiful, though a bit dense if i may be honest.

My favorite part of the book is the quote below. Despite Janina's offputting aura, the things that she did in her elementary classroom? I respect that.

'Rumours have reached me before now of your unconventional teaching methods. Apparently you burn candles, some sort of fireworks during lessons, then other teachers complain about a smell of smoke in the classroom. The parents are afraid it’s something satanic, Satanism. Perhaps they’re just simple people… And you give the children strange things to eat. Durian-flavoured sweets, for instance. What on earth is that? If any of them were poisoned, who’d be responsible? Have you ever stopped to think?'

Powerful, brilliant, well-researched, big brain 5head logic, persuasive, radical, moving, watered my plants, cured my depression, wrote my thesis, solved my mommy issues, overall a mind-blowing  read.

I love the creative family friendly  insults thrown in this volume. 

Meanwhile i'll pretend i understand the worldbuilding... 

"I want my rage to elicit love and more love. I want people to stop asking if I love this country. No. Ask if it loves me."

I hear you, I hear you. Your grief, your anguish, your hope, your resistance, your frustation, and most of all, your anger.