Pleasurable read, beginning to end. Not necessarily challenging, but entertaining most definitely. Love Kingsolver's prowess with description of place...morePleasurable read, beginning to end. Not necessarily challenging, but entertaining most definitely. Love Kingsolver's prowess with description of places. Her sensory illustrations wrap around you -- in this case, make you feel like you're in the midst of steamy, humid, bright, morbid, jungly Mexico. Twas also a particularly fun read with the connections to Asheville, given my recent first visit to the town, and to Rivera and Kahlo given their connection with Detroit. (less)
Bought this book yesterday at the second-hand shop in Phnom Penh as a personal treat and devoured it today in my tiny room in my hostel as I recovered...moreBought this book yesterday at the second-hand shop in Phnom Penh as a personal treat and devoured it today in my tiny room in my hostel as I recovered from a late night out.
This is my first Murakami, and it definitely left me wanting more. The style is descriptively dreamlike, so that the entire time, you're left feeling like he's taken you somewhere separate from the physical and actual to wherever thoughts and feelings and personal yearnings all reside.
Descriptions of place and character seem symbolic, delicately constructed, carefully placed.
Borrowed this book from the library on Tuesday morning, started it on the bicycle at the gym around 2, took it back up after dinner and finished readi...moreBorrowed this book from the library on Tuesday morning, started it on the bicycle at the gym around 2, took it back up after dinner and finished reading it by 10pm that night.
A quick, entertaining, exhilarating read that dusted off thoughts of adventure and made me dream about what it would be like to come from more exciting roots than the suburbs of Southern California.
Something that struck me, having been so recently in Cambodia: Fuller makes a distinction between 1) the missionary, 2) the naive traveler, 3) the aid worker, 4) the savvy adventurer, 5) and the true expat -- these are the same stereotypes that come up again and again in literature set in developing countries and for the most part, in my very limited experience (in areas 3/4), they're based on some real truth.
Her run in with the missionaries reminded me of the teenage "Elders" from the LDS church in Kampong Cham who ran around in their jaunty clothes and nametags and also of a sign in a bar in Kampot town in Cambodia:
I finished this book while waiting for the ferry to take me from Anacortes to Friday Harbor to embark on my farming adventure.
This book was lovely and...moreI finished this book while waiting for the ferry to take me from Anacortes to Friday Harbor to embark on my farming adventure.
This book was lovely and gave me the impression of a river o'ershaded by trees -- tranquil and soft, but with dark shadows unknown depths beyond the dappled surface.
The tone is light, and it plays against the theme of death to make for a very poignant reminder of what it means for us to be human, mortal, and how much this has to do with being connected to others.(less)
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