I would have to echo what some of my friends have said before me: as a debut from Reeves, this is a fantastic piece. However,*possible spoilers ahead*
I would have to echo what some of my friends have said before me: as a debut from Reeves, this is a fantastic piece. However, as a part of Mieville's oeuvre, it's mediocre at best (maybe on par with Iron Council, full acknowledging that this comparison might upset some fans). Don't get me wrong, the premise is pretty decent and Unute ('B') is clearly a complex, fully-formed and mesmerizing character. Which is maybe why the other ones seem to pale in comparison and come across as a wee bit flat. I should point out at this stage that I have not read the graphic novel.
I also felt the pacing had issues, which might explain why it took me just over 3 months to finish it. Would probably say that one could feel when Mieville's signature ornate prose took over, as the discrepancies between more simplistic dialogue and complex narration occasionally clash, in a slightly jarring way. And I feel that I'm missing out on quite a bit of the symbolism here, so would be really grateful if somebody could explain to me, in a 'what did the author want to say' style, what the hell was the deal with the pig. ...more
'Ambition is nothing without execution.' - Nina Bo'nina Brown
*likely spoilers ahead*
Man, it's so disappointing to see a good idea take off with a lot 'Ambition is nothing without execution.' - Nina Bo'nina Brown
*likely spoilers ahead*
Man, it's so disappointing to see a good idea take off with a lot of promise and then fizzle (or, even more appropriate, short-circuit). Probably the best way to summarize this, and also provide a tongue-in-cheek 1* review is as follows: Womankind short-circuits itself into Armageddon and then we restart society as a matriarchy.
The fake set-up of this book is a role reversal between a male author who pens this story of the 'before times' (the lead up to 'The Day of The Girls') and an accomplished female author, Naomi. The guy's name is Neil, and the whole name is an anagram of 'Naomi Alderman' anyway, so we're invited to read it from the perspective of now the 'weak' gender. The TL;DR is that teenage women learn they have the power to channel electricity and all chaos breaks loose: wars, cults and a thriving drug trade set in Moldova/Bessapara (a women-only separatist state). I could go on. I'm not going to. And the Cockney accent that Roxy and her family have is a bit overdome....more
(this would probably be a 3.5* stars rating, but I'm round it up as per usual - possible spoilers ahead)
Am I a glutton for a bit of emotional torment?(this would probably be a 3.5* stars rating, but I'm round it up as per usual - possible spoilers ahead)
Am I a glutton for a bit of emotional torment? Definitely so. I hadn't finished 'Tales from the Cafe' that long ago and this third instalment in the 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' series was available at the local library, so I thought 'why not?'.
We all know the premise by now: there is a special cafe in Japan where you can time-travel, but only under a set of very strict rules. In the first book, we are told that Nagare Tokita is not in Tokyo when *his dead wife* Kei visits from the past, and now we finally find out why: him, Kazu and Sachi (Kazu's 7 year-old daughter) have relocated to Hakodate at relatively short notice to provide time-travelling services for Cafe Donna Donna, typically run by Nagare's mother, Yukari. It turns out that all of the Tokita women have the gift of facilitating time-travel, and Sachi's services are needed to cover when Yukari decides to travel to America to try and help out a customer.
We're faced with an entire new host of characters and scenarios, most of them exploring time-travel in the context of a loved one having passed away. And while I do love the idea of discussing these hypothetical scenarios, I wish that some of them were centred on the living, hence the slight drop in stars on this occasion. My curiosity is still piqued enough to get the next book out of the library later today, because: A. I hope we find out a bit more about what happened to Kaname B. The ghost in this cafe is a historically-dressed elderly gentleman, so that hints at the fact this time-travelling business has been going on for quite some time and I'd like to know more :)...more
This delightful little book (clocking in at just under 200 pages) is the follow-up to 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold', which emotionally*spoilers ahead*
This delightful little book (clocking in at just under 200 pages) is the follow-up to 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold', which emotionally destroyed me just after Christmas. Same premise, almost the same recurring characters, but even more emotional devastation.
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