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rebeccazh's Reviews (2.89k)
ADORABLE. This was adorable. Shill's voice is young, guileless and very child-like. It was so cute reading about her story.
It is such a pleasure to go back into the World of the Five Gods series. I absolutely love this series; my favorite book is [b:Paladin of Souls|61904|Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2)|Lois McMaster Bujold|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388350884l/61904._SY75_.jpg|819610]. Reading this book made me feel like rereading that. But anyway, Penric and Desdemona were so enjoyable to read about. Penric, especially, makes me feel so fond, although the book is a mere 100ish pages. His humility, respect/sensitivity and innocence makes him such a likeable hero.
I happened to be watching the film, The Adjustment Bureau, which prompted me to pick this short story up. And it's a chilling story -- there are times when I've wondered if chance events like spilling your coffee, or missing the bus, or finding 50 cents, are actually not chance encounters, but events that work together to create a ripple-effect to cause certain things to happen -- in other words, every event, from the smallest to the largest, happens according to some unseen plan/structure. A world of determinism where human free-will/autonomy is quite nonexistent, since even our impulses/thoughts/actions are predicted.
The creepiest part for me was that the Adjustment Team (the Clerks, the Summoners, the Old Man) are alluding to angels/God/Heaven. I was once religious, and the thought of a technocratic Heaven/God/angel is kind of chilling, since it seems to be the antithesis of peace/love/warmth, etc.
But anyway, this was such a fantastic read.
The creepiest part for me was that the Adjustment Team (the Clerks, the Summoners, the Old Man) are alluding to angels/God/Heaven. I was once religious, and the thought of a technocratic Heaven/God/angel is kind of chilling, since it seems to be the antithesis of peace/love/warmth, etc.
But anyway, this was such a fantastic read.
i finally finished this.... jesus...
this is a detective bl story and it's very well-loved in mainland china. i really enjoyed it at first but i had a lot of problems with this.
what i liked: this is set in modern times and i actually picked up a lot of chinese internet slang reading this, lol. mutual physical intimacy (a bit less dubcon than usual lol), desire, realistic ages (everyone's 30+) that correspond to their job ranks, the humor and the characterization (I thought Yanxie was going to annoy me but he was quite cute).
what i disliked: instalove (or more like instalust), the imposition of heterosexual dynamics onto an m/m couple so much so that i wonder if this author is fetishizing mlm, casually ignorant jokes and comments, the intense angst and almost excessively emotional scenes...
this is a detective bl story and it's very well-loved in mainland china. i really enjoyed it at first but i had a lot of problems with this.
what i liked: this is set in modern times and i actually picked up a lot of chinese internet slang reading this, lol. mutual physical intimacy (a bit less dubcon than usual lol), desire, realistic ages (everyone's 30+) that correspond to their job ranks, the humor and the characterization (I thought Yanxie was going to annoy me but he was quite cute).
what i disliked: instalove (or more like instalust), the imposition of heterosexual dynamics onto an m/m couple so much so that i wonder if this author is fetishizing mlm, casually ignorant jokes and comments, the intense angst and almost excessively emotional scenes...
EDIT 16/4/20: quarantine gave me time to reread this lol. cs pacat's gratuitous preferences are more clear now - the (overly) 'clever' (sometimes complicated/convoluted) narration, the idealizing of laurent, the preference for kinky stuff (power dynamics disguised as slavery/debauchery)... anyway, i have a much greater appreciation of both laurent and damen as characters, and their relationships. i also came from banana fish.
took me forever to finish this. the good: a lot of useful ideas here, the writing style is simple and explains complicated concepts in a way that is easy to understand, the personal examples from his life were tremendously helpful because they model a different way of behaving, the narration is sometimes very funny and it's easy to read like a blogpost
the bad: way too long (i began skimming at 20%) -- it could have been much more succinct. the writing style grated on me because it was sometimes making generalizations, or superficially touching on topics. i didn't agree with everything, but it does have a lot of good ideas.
the bad: way too long (i began skimming at 20%) -- it could have been much more succinct. the writing style grated on me because it was sometimes making generalizations, or superficially touching on topics. i didn't agree with everything, but it does have a lot of good ideas.
years ago, i tried to read this and i couldn't get through it, then i watched the Becoming documentary on Netflix (which i loved), which gave me the motivation to come back to finish this lol. i had to skim a lot of it, because this writing style was really not my cup of tea, and when Michelle was talking about Barack's political stuff, i really zoned out. but reading this just confirms my belief that Michelle Obama is one of the best people ever. she's a very genuine, hardworking and very kind person. there were a lot of wonderful quotes, and it's amazing to see how her past and her experiences have shaped her to be the kind of person she is.
from young, her family has helped her feel that she matters. she has carried this security into every stage of her life and it's helped her achieve a lot of really big things - going to Princeton and Harvard, her progress in her work life, becoming First Lady. i loved how openly and warmly she talked about the love and support she had received from her family, how they taught her to be resilient, optimistic and hard-working, and how much these values had supported and shaped her whenever she was doing something new and big. it's led her to want to bring up her daughters with the same love and nurturing, and it's the goal of her outreach initiatives with young people and kids. she wants them to feel like they matter.
i loved the inside look into the Obamas and i loved how openly she talks about her relationship with Barack. i love how much she wants to repay the nurturing and support she received from family, friends, colleagues, and all kinds of people by sort of paying it forward into nurturing the younger generation. even despite becoming First Lady, she is down-to-earth and humble, only thinking about how to use her new (and unwanted) influence and platform to do meaningful work. i was telling my therapist how she is honestly a great role model. what an inspiration.
from young, her family has helped her feel that she matters. she has carried this security into every stage of her life and it's helped her achieve a lot of really big things - going to Princeton and Harvard, her progress in her work life, becoming First Lady. i loved how openly and warmly she talked about the love and support she had received from her family, how they taught her to be resilient, optimistic and hard-working, and how much these values had supported and shaped her whenever she was doing something new and big. it's led her to want to bring up her daughters with the same love and nurturing, and it's the goal of her outreach initiatives with young people and kids. she wants them to feel like they matter.
i loved the inside look into the Obamas and i loved how openly she talks about her relationship with Barack. i love how much she wants to repay the nurturing and support she received from family, friends, colleagues, and all kinds of people by sort of paying it forward into nurturing the younger generation. even despite becoming First Lady, she is down-to-earth and humble, only thinking about how to use her new (and unwanted) influence and platform to do meaningful work. i was telling my therapist how she is honestly a great role model. what an inspiration.
i only read song of myself and i sing the body electric but i loved how celebratory they were of life and the human body. he was reveling in the simplest of pleasures, like a blade of grass or a lover's touch, but also so appreciative of the sublime