Books

A Botanical Daughter - Noah Medlock (2024)

rating

Review to come!

The Eyes Are the Best Part - Monika Kim (2024)

3.25/5 - 24/4/25

18 year old Ji-won is starting her first year in college. Her Appa has just left his family suddenly. Her Umma is struggling to cope with the loss. Eating fish eyes is supposed to bring you good luck, and so it becomes one of the many questionable things that Umma uses to cope with her loss. Another thing she uses to cope is getting a new boyfriend, George, a 50-something bright-blue eyed man with a fascination with east Asian culture, and its women.

Ji-won’s new personal life includes making new friends, reminiscing on old ones, escaping a stalker, enduring her own fetishisation, and protecting her family from George, whose eyes are truly the most beautifully radiant blue. Distractingly blue. Enticingly blue.

Throughout the story, Ji-won reflects on her life as an eldest sister, her appa and umma’s upbringing and how they shape the people they became, and her position in society as a Korean-American woman.

I… don’t have much to say for this one?

The writing style felt largely YA-ish, which is not inherently a problem, but it was unexpected for me. The majority of the writing felt flat, although quite easy to follow. For this reason, the dream sequences and Ji-won’s bouts of paranoia never took me out of the story or confound the plot in any way.

Some modern books fall into the trap of being overly PC, presumably in an attempt to not get the author in trouble on social media. I was scared that Geoffrey would be the vessel of this for The Eyes Are the Best Part, but thankfully this was addressed. He instead became a commentary on performative activism and one of its many purposes with the reveal of his intentions towards Ji-won.

And the character that calls this out… I couldn’t help but feel that some stronger character development was being teased for Alexis? This didn’t subtract from the story overall, but I was disappointed when I realised we wouldn’t get to see more of her, even though this isn’t her story.

The title does spoil everything, as you probably would’ve guessed. George’s death was in one way underwhelming - I wanted him to suffer much more. It worked well to wrap up each storyline, however, soI have no room to complain there.

Ji-won’s perception of her parents shifted as time went by; while her Umma changed from a sympathetic character, to the person who inflicted George onto her children, and back to being sympathetic, her Appa went through the opposite development. It almost sounds like Ji-won devolved back to her original self, nulling her development, but I can assure that this is not the case. The character development being a huge strength amongst other elements also gives this book its YA feel, in a sense.

Not the most in depth review, sure, but I truly can't think of much else to put here. I did enjoy reading this overall, though.

Earthlings - Sayaka Murata (2018)

very confused 4.75/5 - 15/4/25

Young Natsuki Sasamoto is leading a difficult life - abuse from her parents who strongly favour her older sister, predation from her young and popular X teacher, and a crippling inability to connect with her peers no matter how hard she tries. She is also an alien from the planet Popinpobopia, which she learned from Piyyut, an agent sent from her own planet that has taken the form of a stuffed hedgehog. Her only salvation is her cousin, and boyfriend, and fellow alien, Yuu, who she gets to see once a year for Obon. They promise each other in their improvised wedding to survive long enough to find the spaceship that will surely take them back home.

At 34, Natsuki has now perfected the illusion of a normal life. She’s taken up the work expected of her, married a likewise man who does not care for sex or affection, and successfully blended in with the other earthlings. She often wonders if there’s any hope of escaping the Factory - dozens of rows of nests in each city, each with a woman and a man whose sole purpose is to breed and work, an obligation which has been drilled into the earthlings’ brains.

Earthlings takes a unique approach to the common story of someone dissatisfied with their life and the expectations forced onto them from birth. This just might be the single weirdest book I’ve read in a long time. I could not have guessed the ending with a £50,000 prize and a week to do it.

Soon my entire body, not just my mouth, would be killed, and I would become a tool for grown-ups. I had decided some time ago that I would die before I let that happen.

Like most people, I burned through this in only 3 days. Unlike most people, I have not yet read Convenience Store Woman, so I can’t draw any comparisons, although the fact that both seem to tackle almost the exact same subjects is making me consider reading the latter.

Earthlings was easier to digest than what would be thought, both for its overall writing style and because a lot of the traumatic events are glossed over. This can be seen as both part of Natsuki’s perspective and her repression of these events, or as a flaw in the writing. I took it as the former, and found her dissociative way of describing her traumas as part of her characterisation.

The suspension of disbelief is vital to get through Earthlings, with events like young Natsuki getting away with murdering Mr X in such a dissociative state, or Yuu agreeing to her and Ta(name)’s whole alien-rationality thing. While I suppose it would be in character of Yuu to agree to anything… this still felt far fetched.

I admit that the final chapters were perhaps a little too disconnected from reality, even for my tastes, but this wouldn’t be the same story if they were more down to earth. Natsuki’s bizarre breakdown from her emotional abuse and isolation catching up to her right when she reunites with the one person she can trust is the point. If you want a story that deals with its characters’ trauma in a healthy productive way, just skip this. Maybe read Convenience Store Woman instead. Apparently they’re similar.

The ending… that ending. It’s been over two weeks and I still don’t know what to make of it. It’s both crushing and heartwarming that our Natsuki managed to find comfort in such a situation. This is the most perplexing ‘good for her’ I’ve ever felt. The last few pages are even more perplexing, and as much as I’ve defended all the weirdness packed into so few pages, I can’t make out those final pages. Pregnant? All three of them? Is it something about conformity? Hypocritically conforming to a set standard once you feel more comfortable in a society? How you can’t truly escape what the Factory has planned for you no matter how far you remove yourself from it? Whatever it is, I’ll still be thinking about it two weeks from now.

This is both the tragic recount of an alienated young woman whose dissatisfaction with her own life and pressure from the world around her pushed her down a spiral of psychosis, and a mad journey into her delirium which can only be experienced, not described. I need to reread this at some point.

It was weird.

Dracula - Bram Stoker (1897)

...5? - 7/4/25

Solicitor Johnathan Harker sets off on a trip to Transylvania to meet up with his newest client, the mysterious and often eccentric Count Dracula, a man of grand wealth and corpse-like appearance who wishes to purchase property in England. Failing to heed the warnings of superstitious townsfolk, he finds himself a prisoner of the Count, and determines himself to look for escape by any means. His attempts reveal dark secrets that lie in Castle Dracula, alluding to the truth of the Count himself.

Back in England, Lucy Westenra chooses her lover-to-be out of three men who delivered their confessions to her all on the same day, unbeknownst of what will become of her and lengths these men will got to protect her soul; Dr Seward keeps a close log of his most fascinating asylum patient to date, who has a keen interest in consuming the lives of beings smaller than him; and the soon-to-be wife of Mr Harker, Miss Mina Murray, frets on his sudden silence and longs for his safe return.

I can’t remember the last time I was so elated to pick up a book. Despite having been rewritten, parodied, and turned into a whole new legend dozens of times, this still felt timelessly original. Each subplot added to the story rather than draw the spotlight away from what truly mattered. Each character had their own voice, their perspective, their sense of humour (particularly Johnathan), and it shone through every one of their journals - even down to the medium in which they were kept.

Well, the men at least had their own voices. The two women who we got to know, Lucy and Mina, didn’t feel distinct from one another. I wonder if this is what made me notice the mens’ strong characterisation, by comparing it to that of the women; or if I’d simply found a selection of engaging (male) characters after not having done so for a while.

Even Dracula himself was a rather enjoyable character, surprisingly, and I found myself drawn to him almost instantly.

By far, the best scene is the confrontation with Lucy, now turned and luring in children to drink their blood. There’s nothing I can write here that does its atmosphere justice.

Van Helsing’s knowledge on vampires wasn’t explained much beyond having studied the works of other, much older researchers. At times his knowledge felt too convenient, which broke the immersion slightly for me. How he knew that garlic flowers can deter vampires - or even why they do - is never elaborated on. I can only imagine there’s more cultural context (that certainly wasn’t in the appendix of my copy) that would make things like this obvious to readers of its time, but alas. Perhaps I’ll go search for it myself.

While I am aware of the themes of Victorian repression and sexuality… I don’t think I picked up on any while reading. I was looking, promise. What did occur me was the idea of an allegory for rape. Dracula’s main targets throughout the book were young women, and Mina’s turning was particularly grim, having her penetrated and bent down to drink the Count’s bodily fluids. Her cries of being ‘unclean,’ while certainly pertaining to religion, could be interpreted as sexual trauma. I thankfully have no experience with sexual assault of any kind, so I’m not exactly the best person to give an opinion on this. It’s just an idea.

…or I could be taking the meaning of sexuality too literally, and this is in fact the commonly agreed interpretation. I’m choosing not to read any analysis before writing all this.

I’d say that this is one of my new favourite books of all time, and definitely my favourite classic (although I have no idea what worth this would have to anyone else reading). Each chapter was thrilling and left me aching to know what happens next. This helped to rekindle my love for reading more than anything else I’ve picked up lately.

Our Wives Under the Sea/Nuestras Esposas Bajo del Mar - Julia Armfield (2022)

3/5 - 10/3/25

Atención - Este libro lo leí en inglés y no tengo ni idea si hay diferencias entre las versiones de inglés y español. Esta reseña se publicó originalmente aquí en el Pillowfort, hace 2 meses hasta ahora. Disfrútanlo! Mi español no es tan bueno ahora.

Yo leí este libro en 5 días más o menos, no cuento el tiempo que me toma terminar los libros. Solo tiene 229 páginas, lo debería haber completado en menos tiempo si no estuviera un poco cansada esos días.

Pues, la historia trata de una pareja casada de lo que una, Leah, recién salida de una excursión en el mar de 6 meses y la otra, Miri, ve cómo su esposa cambia poco a poco en una manera muy rara. Miri describe los cambios físicos de Leah, y los efectos que tienen en su estado mental y las memorias siguientes que irrumpen, en una prosa llena de metáforas. Mientras eso, Leah reflexiona en su viaje debajo del mar, cuando ella y su equipo estaban atrapados en un submarino rota y sin comunicación con el mundo atrás. El libro se escribe en primera persona, y salta entre Leah y Miri y sus historias.

Se describe como un libro de horror, y mientras veo el porqué, no se convirtió en todo lo que yo pensaba. El horror era mínimo en comparación con todo lo que pasa; de verdad, esta es una historia de la pena de una pareja perdida más que un horror. Desafortunadamente me decepcionó un poco, debería haber tomado las revistas en serio. Sin embargo, me gustó los escenarios que tuvieron esos pedazos de body horror, incluso si eran pocos.

Lo que me sorprendió más que hubiera es que Leah y Miri me parezcan una pareja muy realista y emocionada, cuando normalmente no me gustan las parejas ficcionales. Nada grandioso, solamente que son dulces.

En mi opinión, se trata de la muerte, no exactamente del matrimonio fracasado como piensan los demás que había visto revisar. A veces la trama de Leah era difícil de entender, especialmente el capítulo final. No quiero echar a perder nunca más, ni sé cómo describir todos mis pensamientos, así que no voy a escribir más de lo que pasa a Leah, pero saben que se convierte más confundible hacia el fin.

Por resumen, disfruté leer este libro de Julia Armfield, pero… no sea lo que busque. No voy a leer otros libros de ella, aunque estoy gracioso de leer y experimentar con este. Ojalá que tuviera más que quería decir de eso, pero esta tipa de historia simplemente no es algo que me afecte mucho.

Kafka on The Shore - Haruki Murakami (2002)

3/5 - 8/3/25

Kafka on The Shore is a 2002 novel by Japanese magical realism author Haruki Murakami, one of his more popular works as far as Im aware. It follows 15 year old Kafka Tamura, an alias he chose for himself as he runs away from home in order to avoid his eccentric father’s prophecy, which we learn is that of Oedipus - kill the father, bed the mother. On this journey, he sets out to learn the identity and whereabouts of his mother and adoptive sister, who ran away together from home when he was only 4 years old. His already difficult task is interrupted by him one day waking up on the side of the road, covered in someone else’s blood, and the police on the search for a murderer. He ends up crashing in the apartment of 21 year old Sakura, and then the Komura Memorial Library, making acquaintances with Oshima, the desk clerk, and the library’s current owner, Miss Seiki.

When not with Kafka, we follow the journey of 60-something year old Satoru Nakata, currently residing in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, living off a government subsidy and those who pay him to search for lost cats. A mysterious childhood event in the countryside, while affecting numerous children, left only him comatose, and subsequently with the inability to read or write, and the ability to talk to cats.

I finished Kafka on The Shore about a week ago now - the last 150 pages I got through in a day! - and I still can’t decide whether or not I really like it. I know for a fact I won’t be rereading it, although I tend not to reread books anyway, so Im unsure how much of a factor that is. the surrealness that was plastered all over the blurb finally shone towards the end, and you know what, I enjoyed getting wrapped up in the atmosphere, happy to coast along the soft dreamscape of Kafka’s travels and his last encounter with Miss Seiki.

While I did expect Nakata to die eventually, I didn't anticipate it being so sudden. Having it occur just after he finally decides to take his life into his own hands makes it hit just a little harder... upon writing this, I apparently don't have much more to say here.

Maybe I just expected to be left with morequestions that I was, but I feel most people overstated how confusing the book would be? Or maybe Id just long accepted that not everything would be explained. The only thing that really got me was the white snake that came out of Nakata’s body after he died. Perhaps it’s based on a Greek myth or something. Im not well versed in mythology

Sakura didn’t end up being very plot relevant. She was sort of just there, for the most part. All of the women in this book had Murakami-typical 'odd' characterisation, mainly being present as sex objects for the main character to ogle. Even Oshima wasn't fully immune to this in the end.

…3 stars? Even though Im generally satisfied with the ending, I can’t see myself recommending this to anyone.

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Halfway review

Im currently around 60% into Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore and it’s getting harder to trudge through it. I very rarely decide to put down books half way through, but I might have to make an exception here. I already know this will be my last Murakami book for a while.

The main draw-ins for this novel were Nakata’s ability to talk to cats (which he inexplicably lost at least a hundred pages ago, and Im finding it hard to care how), and the central story of Kafka being a sort of retelling of the myth of Oedipus. If you, like me, have no interest in Greek mythology, this is meaningless. While I do know the basic outline of the myth (kill the father, bed the mother), without having read reviews pointing this out, I would’ve only assumed that, what, the author is fucking weird? We so get a short scene between Kafka and Oshima pointing out the similarities between Kafka’s and Oedipus’ lives, but long before that point we’d already gotten a scene where a woman named Sakura, who Kafka believes could be his sister, decided to jerk him off in her bed as one of the most awkward sex scenes I may have ever read. This is the second woman who is presented as a sex object by Kafka only afterthe suggestion that she may be his sister. Conveniently, the sister that went missing when Kafka was 4 is not related to him by blood! Any mention of Oedipus comes after all of these scenes, by the way.

The direction that the story is moving now puts much more focus on Miss Saeki, and to be frank, this is the only reason Im willing to read on. I think the idea of Kafka suddenly falling in love with her is much more intriguing now that we have his eccentric father’s prophecy laid out. I have an idea where this will go, but I can’t say anything for certain yet.

Pop culture references always irked me in books, although I may be the odd one here for that opinion. Murakami books are chocked full of them, it’s rare to find a chapter that doesn’t mention The Beatles, or American sports teams, or classic novels forcefully brought up in unnatural conversations. And sure, heavy Western music references are sorta common in Japanese books, but… it still irks me. Just a little.

It’s been nearly 2 months since I picked up this books because I simply haven’t wanted to read it most days. Maybe I can power through the last couple hundred pages and see what happens. I am a little curious.