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flying_monkey's reviews
499 reviews
Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is a satisfying novella in a great series of Japanese novellas. This one concerns a solitary young boy who becomes obsessed with a woman who works behind a sandwich counter in a local shop. The woman appears to be the subject of gossip and nasty comments from local people, but he finds her fascinating and continually works on a drawing of her. It's a simple but profound story of two people who are both outcastes in their own ways.
Retreat: How the Counterculture invented Wellness by Matthew Ingram
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Retreat is an account of the rise of the relationship between the 60s counterculture and wellness, and how this continues to shape social perceptions of health, wellbeing and sprituality. There is a lot of material brought together here and Ingram is a sympathetic but also critical (sometimes, very critical - especially about some of the western Buddhist teachers of the 60s and 70s) observer and participant, but the book isn't quite as good as it could have been because of the sometimes disjointed short chapter format where one thing just follows another.
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I bought this after reading the GQ article by the author, about the Maine hermit, a man who abandoned his life to live in the woods on his own and survived by petty thievery. Frankly, the book doesn't add a whole lot more and the subject isn't really very interesting, although his combination of camouflage and survival not far from civilization was ingenious.
Anno Dracula 1899 and Other Stories by Kim Newman
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Anno Dracula 1899 and Other Stories contains lots of Newman's postmodern monster stories, alternate takes on famous movie monsters, and several of them are very good and quite funny. It also has the opening chapter of One Thousand Monsters, which is the only reason for the title, and is basically marketing.
Hollywood by Charles Bukowski
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Hollywood is easily the worst of the 'Chinaski' novels. It's based on Bukowski's experience writing the screenplay for the film Barfly (staring Mickey Rourke), and while it's full of very thinly disguised celebrity portraits (in many cases, take-downs), Chinaski has by this stage lost much of his fire. He's successful and well, boring - and even though of course, things frequently spiral out of control, it's just not the same. And many of the celebrity pseudonyms are juvenile and the pen portraits are such obvious caricatures, they don't ring true in the way that the parade of grotesques in his earlier novels did. You end up just not caring.
Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Ham on Rye is by far the best of the 'Chinaski' novels. Unlike the rest, it covers Chinaski's childhood, concentrating on his teenage years, and it's eye-openingly brutal and often quite disgusting. I've never read a novel that makes the worst outbreak of acne you have ever heard of the centre of its story, but why not? This is often a traumatic and trasnformative experience for young people. As with Bukowski's other novels, raw honesty, and a complete disregard for civilized norms make for a compulsive read, but Ham on Rye is much more than that. You get a sense of the suffering that made Bukowski what he was. It enables you to empathize with him a great deal more.
Women by Charles Bukowski
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Post Office / Factotum / Women, same review, as they are all pretty much the same sort of thing. Bukowski's alter-ego, Chinaski, drinks, fights, pukes, ogles women, gets a job, does his best to do no work, loses his job, meets a woman (or three), fucks, drinks more, loses his woman etc. etc. They would be unbearably depressing were it not for the fact that Bukowski is such a fluid writer and such a distinctive presence. Not in any way a good or nice person, but raw, emotionally honest (whether or not you believe all the stories, especially when it comes to sex, Bukowski certainly wanted to do all the things described - he's unflinchingly open about straight male sexuality) and unmistakable.
Factotum by Charles Bukowski
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Post Office / Factotum* / Women, same review, as they all pretty much the same sort of thing. Bukowski's alter-ego, Chinaski, drinks, fights, pukes, ogles women, gets a job, does his best to do no work, loses his job, meets a woman (or three), fucks, drinks more, loses his woman etc. etc. They would be unbearably depressing were it not for the fact that Bukowski is such a fluid writer and such a distinctive presence. Not in any way a good or nice person, but raw, emotionally honest (whether or not you believe all the stories, especially when it comes to sex, Bukowski certainly wanted to do all the things described - he's unflinchingly open about straight male sexuality) and unmistakable.
*I would say that Factotum is the best of the three.
*I would say that Factotum is the best of the three.
Post Office by Charles Bukowski
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Post Office / Factotum / Women, same review, as they all pretty much the same sort of thing. Bukowski's alter-ego, Chinaski, drinks, fights, pukes, ogles women, gets a job, does his best to do no work, loses his job, meets a woman (or three), fucks, drinks more, loses his woman etc. etc. They would be unbearably depressing were it not for the fact that Bukowski is such a fluid writer and such a distinctive presence. Not in any way a good or nice person, but raw, emotionally honest (whether or not you believe all the stories, especially when it comes to sex, Bukowski certainly wanted to do all the things described - he's unflinchingly open about straight male sexuality) and unmistakable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Misogyny
Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight by Aliette de Bodard
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
De Bodard is one of the most interesting contemporary SFF writers. Her stories tend to be highly influenced by her part-Vietnamese heritage and are also queer and feminist, although not always in obvious ways. This is a collection of stories, most set in her Xuya universe, which sees a Vietnamese / Chinese civilization which relies on cooperation with intelligent ships that are (literally) born to Xuya women, up against the growing threat of a growing WASPy empire, which disapproves of AI and particularly, these living ships. There are also a couple of stories set in her Fallen Angels universe in which Paris is occupied by warring factions of, well, fallen angels. These ones aren't so much to my taste, but they are still well-written.