worm_food's reviews
169 reviews

I found this well written easy to follow, most of this high ranking is attributed to how much it made me think and wanna talk about its contents in so many different ways. People say that classic novels where all you have to say is "I think it's important" are dogshit - I see the point but I do disagree with the dogshit part for this book. Stephen's relationship with her parents and the conversations and dynamics w Angela especially are endlessly intriguing to me and as the introduction of this edition states the book itself is outdated by its own existence - progress made BECAUSE of it that makes its contents feel old, and of course, that is important. I enjoyed it overall but its ending and final thesis pissed me off so much my vision went completely black for a sec and I lost my hearing for 3 days. 

This book is less devastating if you see Stephen's "self sacrifice" and aversion to community as the internalised homophobia that it is, and I AM cutting her some slack but you have Brockett you have Valerie you can't show me people who revel in the company of others' queerness, who tried for YEARS to get Stephen to do the same and her rejecting any and all olive branches. Stop pursuing straight women and go to a butch centered event find a hot dyke n fuck them is advice that has been and is still relevant for the past, present, and I am sure will also be for the future eternal. 
It's interesting to me how this book also sees Puddle as the voice of reason, an understanding voice that never condemns Stephen's nature, but the book also sees her as something holding Stephen back - it was only after her departure that Stephen could allow herself to be happy. Self policing WITHIN "inversion" is seen as a noble act (being one of the good gays etc) for the biggest chunk of this book, it's interesting how Stephen is so resentful of her mother for hating her for doing femininity wrong, but she herself is very much a cop about it still in the way Brockett is always described as effeminate n slimy, how he does feminity wrong. Femininity is only noble when it's 'right' and when it fits: Anna, Mary, Angela. With Brockett and Valerie she fucking hates so much oughhh how dare you not suffer! Radclyffe put the Catholicism DOWN I beg. 
Speaking of, I believe the real sin here isn't lesbianism but completely removing any and all personal agency from Mary and have the narrative JUSTIFY that as a noble act. Who was introduced mid-war as a confident and self assured young woman who we are then forced to accept that should not have any say on her fate because she's too young and naive I am SICK OF IT. God.

Anyway. Go to a gay club and understand even the most obnoxious of queers are your real ride or dies, not French countryside hags who think are arbiters of what is and isn't socially acceptable. Fuck

Very good!!!! The worldbuilding was absolutely stunning and the writing so easy to follow and enjoyable, it finds a very good balance between the flowering poetic and the practical, the descriptions of everything made the book feel so alive. The magic system was also made so intuitively easy to understand and each character stood out beautifully with each their own internal narrative. 

I really liked so many of the choices made for all the characters too - making someone so complex but also not all powerful can have the risk of the audience not fully following their logic or interests within the plot but it is just so much more realistic to have people's alliances shift without a whole paragraph dedicated to how groundbreaking of an event that is. It made the characters feel a lot more realistic in how they reacted to sit ations but within that bargain some character intensity (that can make for more memorable personalities n moments) is lost - in the beginning I wasn't sure about it but now I am really fond of it as a choice.

I think I set the bar quite high for this one because of the lesbian fantasy trifecta memes, and unfo tunately so far Shannon's and to me especially Shelley Parker Chan's works are a lot better at building themes from the get go - but ADOFN and HWDTW were much much better than their predecessors so I have a LOT of hope for this one's sequels!! It didn't make me go absolutely batshit insane but I can see that happening w this series very soon. 

Eliza please return my many calls the children are asking where you are, please baby just go for the science fiction novel for your next one. You got this one in the bag in such a serious way I know contemporary fiction is the name of the game but the name of the game can change. I think this is a very cohesive collection as far as theme goes and her writing style is very undeniable, w a very few "misses" here and there - mostly the ones that you could tell were written before boy parts and penance, having read her other work and having watched her style evolve they become hard to ignore but definitely still enjoyable. Genre writing is dead, long live the genre? Actually quite insane thematically, Hollow Bones and Extinction Event were a delightful departure from not just her genre of choice but also writing style in a very satisfying way. 

Didn't expect to enjoy the back half of this book as much as I did - people do it a disservice when they compress its plot to the point of short story. I remember reading parts as a teenager but I think as an adult I understand Charlie's anger more. The story builds and builds and I kept thinking about that Ursula K Le Guin quote about SF being a circumstance mutated, what ifs taken to extremes but the point being not the result but rather the process. Sickening! 

Having read and listened to the play earlier this year makes finishing this one unrealistic at least for 2024 and that's fine!!! I really really enjoyed the introduction and the information it contained though so it's definitely one to revisit

I am finding Margery very hard to review but Glück's prose was so undeniable.... I might return to it and to this review in the future but 5 stars is a rating that feels very right at the moment. A book that passed over me like water 

I want to write something here because I know future me would appreciate it but honestly there isn't much of anything to put here for me really. It was fine! It certainly was a book that I listened to. I think the author's willingness to be vulnerable is very impressive and very important for the many many people that have resonated with her writing, but unfortunately I wasn't one of those people - for me it felt quite surface level in its revelations and I found myself just not very compelled.

Man I was fucking bored. How did the writing get worse I don't care for navel gazing man just tell me the fucking STORY

I've talked to 4 different people about pick up truck sex. Who watches who? Seasons and their cycles, a documentation or time lapse of a plant as it grows through the months. Yeah

The Mephistophelian deal Julia has struck with entities beyond our reach to achieve this level of penmanship truly makes one wonder. What the fuck was that. I need to bite someone's head off. I need to love in a way that gets dirt under my fingernails the way this shit spoke to me. None of this makes sense and yet fuck you entirely