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nozoing's reviews
22 reviews
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
5.0
Honestly feels like a must-read for decolonization, but I don’t really know much. The public perception of Ireland’s struggle for liberation is very different from others.
Sinn Fein is really interesting, the idea of “Liquidating otherwise unrecoverable political capital amassed by the IRA gunmen.” Decades of militancy, violence, and death is effectively cashed out for less-than-satisfactory political gains. Northern Ireland is still a colony.
Brendan Hughes, an ex-IRA official, said “The boat [Sinn Fein] is sailing on the high seas, with all the luxuries that it brings, and the poor people that launched the boat are left sitting in the muck.” Maybe the worst part of Sinn Fein’s political success was that it required complete denunciation of the IRA’s militant actions and those involved.
Have to think about this book for a while, but I’m really inspired to read more about other liberation movements. RIP Bobby Sands.
Sinn Fein is really interesting, the idea of “Liquidating otherwise unrecoverable political capital amassed by the IRA gunmen.” Decades of militancy, violence, and death is effectively cashed out for less-than-satisfactory political gains. Northern Ireland is still a colony.
Brendan Hughes, an ex-IRA official, said “The boat [Sinn Fein] is sailing on the high seas, with all the luxuries that it brings, and the poor people that launched the boat are left sitting in the muck.” Maybe the worst part of Sinn Fein’s political success was that it required complete denunciation of the IRA’s militant actions and those involved.
Have to think about this book for a while, but I’m really inspired to read more about other liberation movements. RIP Bobby Sands.
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
Made me want to learn so much more. Whole book is incredible and not super dense - last couple of sections really stuck with me
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
2.0
Dawg, WHAT. I don’t know why this is so highly rated. The one thing this book really did for me was make we want to write letters. I like the writing, but the plot is soooo wack. Unless I have some insane misunderstanding of Tokyo culture or this book was really poorly translated, Murakami is WAY too horny. The way he writes women is super weird and almost always focused on sex. Also, I think the protagonist is an asshole, but that doesn’t seem intended.
Talked to a friend last night and apparently Murakami has a reputation for this kind of stuff, but who actually enjoys this book?? I felt bad reading the sex parts…there are three detailed female characters in the whole book and he sleeps with ALL of them???? So many problems. Idk, this is not for me.
Talked to a friend last night and apparently Murakami has a reputation for this kind of stuff, but who actually enjoys this book?? I felt bad reading the sex parts…there are three detailed female characters in the whole book and he sleeps with ALL of them???? So many problems. Idk, this is not for me.
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Shelley
I, too, love to behold the beauty of the natural world. This book made me want to go on a hike.
Mary Shelley cool. The narrator (Frankenstein) is absolutely the villain of the story.
“How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!”
Mary Shelley cool. The narrator (Frankenstein) is absolutely the villain of the story.
“How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!”
About Love by Anton Chekhov
I really liked these short stories a lot more than I thought I would. Think I gotta read some more Chekhov
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Yesss Jane subtly critique the gentry!!!
Actually this book was so boring I can’t believe I read it. Learned not to waste my time on something I don’t like.
So many times I wanted to stop and just read Zinn instead, but I didn’t listen to myself. I have a problem fr. Wish I didn’t spend money on this.
Actually this book was so boring I can’t believe I read it. Learned not to waste my time on something I don’t like.
So many times I wanted to stop and just read Zinn instead, but I didn’t listen to myself. I have a problem fr. Wish I didn’t spend money on this.
Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore John Kaczynski
I don’t know why I read this, really. It was short.
TK has a lot of broad critiques and makes some really interesting points, but they are often interrupted by strange rants about leftism (some of them are interesting and valid but as a whole they are unhinged). His take on “power process” and “surrogate activities”?? Idk, things besides physical survival can be incredibly fulfilling - seems like one of his main premises is just super subjective.
I’m specifically interested in his theory that technological advancement is completely inevitable under capitalism, and that every advancement will eventually boomerang towards civilian/worker control. Also, that reform of technology or “progress” is doomed to fail & people opposed to it must be revolutionaries - to TK, even reforms such as environmental protections are useless without revolution. I ultimately think he’s right that without serious revolt, humanity is cooked in the long (short) run.
There are a lot of reviews of this book on Goodreads that summarize his views towards revolution and inevitable societal collapse much better, but a lot of what he says is interesting and almost surely true. There are absolutely better sources and analyses of a lot of the topics that TK talks about, which I think I’ll seek out.
At the end of the day it’s very obvious that this dude was quite lonely and isolated, to the point that he couldn’t believe that there is anyone in modern society who feels truly content and happy with their lives. After learning about his history as a Harvard “genius” and a person with intense unrealized gender dysphoria (he was very close to exploring being a woman), this manifesto feels tragic and sad.
Edit: It’s capitalism. The problem is capitalism, not technology or leftism. He missed the point and his killings were misguided at best.
TK has a lot of broad critiques and makes some really interesting points, but they are often interrupted by strange rants about leftism (some of them are interesting and valid but as a whole they are unhinged). His take on “power process” and “surrogate activities”?? Idk, things besides physical survival can be incredibly fulfilling - seems like one of his main premises is just super subjective.
I’m specifically interested in his theory that technological advancement is completely inevitable under capitalism, and that every advancement will eventually boomerang towards civilian/worker control. Also, that reform of technology or “progress” is doomed to fail & people opposed to it must be revolutionaries - to TK, even reforms such as environmental protections are useless without revolution. I ultimately think he’s right that without serious revolt, humanity is cooked in the long (short) run.
There are a lot of reviews of this book on Goodreads that summarize his views towards revolution and inevitable societal collapse much better, but a lot of what he says is interesting and almost surely true. There are absolutely better sources and analyses of a lot of the topics that TK talks about, which I think I’ll seek out.
At the end of the day it’s very obvious that this dude was quite lonely and isolated, to the point that he couldn’t believe that there is anyone in modern society who feels truly content and happy with their lives. After learning about his history as a Harvard “genius” and a person with intense unrealized gender dysphoria (he was very close to exploring being a woman), this manifesto feels tragic and sad.
Edit: It’s capitalism. The problem is capitalism, not technology or leftism. He missed the point and his killings were misguided at best.