Jyvur Entropy's Blog, page 13
July 21, 2021
I’m Trying to Learn Afrikaans because Die Antwoord
So of course I know all of the curse words already, because Die Antwoord 
I’ve been literally obsessed with everything South Africa ever since discovering this rap/rave duo. Their music is amazing. Their energy and both of their personalities are just endlessly entertaining (I am aware of the Zheanni situation and rather than become an actual rape apologist like basically all of r/dieantwoord, I’ll just say ‘the author is dead’ and keep on bopping to Evil Boy, knowing that Ninja and Yolandi might be really shit people).
By the way, this song is condemning the practice of ceremonial tribal circumcision of teenage boys. The male genital mutilation done in the South African tribes leads to infections and even death. Boys who protest the ceremony are told they must be homosexual and that they will not become a man. This is why the black guy rapping in a tribal language (subtitled) says that he is not gay and he doesn’t care about becoming a man.Anyway, if I could travel anywhere in the world it would be either Capetown or Johannesburg. I want to see Table Mountain. I want to see the beach with the penguins. I want to to taste South African barbecue. Like…ah! South Africa 
Anyway, sporadically over the past few years, I’ve tried to learn Afrikaans. I am very very bad with languages, so it’s a struggle and I keep giving up.
I saw this audiobook in audible and decided (since none of these youtube channels I’ve tried have been helpful) to give it a try.
This was one of the easier Afrikaans learning tools I’ve tried out. The book doesn’t introduce too much. If too much information gets thrown at me at once, I find I don’t retain anything. This book covers some of the basic stuff, like everyday phrases and greetings. Also the vowel and letter sounds are covered in a lot of detail.
I like that this book uses two characters who talk to each other: one is an Afrikaans teacher and one is an Afrikaans student. By using this cheesy device, a lot of important concepts are explained, and it was easy to stay focused, since there are two people talking to each other (just not as easy to zone out if there is just one narrator).
In this audiobook, I learned that Afrikaans uses a double negative, that there aren’t very many tense changes so conjugation isn’t an issue, that Afrikaans uses the same subject verb object grammar as English (yay! No new grammar structures!), to make a word plural you add an E 9instead of an S in English, and to change a sentence to a question you just reorder the words.
Honestly, I retained way more with this audiobook than with any of the other Afrikaans learning tools I’ve used so far.
There are also breaks in the language lessons to teach listeners about South African culture. I learned a ton about SA that I didn’t know. Like that in SA the day after Christmas is also a holiday (I an’t remember the name of the holiday) so everybody gets both days off. I learned that before slavery was abolished, slaves used to get the second of January off (it was their only day off), so today the second of January is still an important holiday. I learned gay marriage has been legal in SA since the early 2000s. SA has over 900 species of bird. Barbeque (brai) is very important in SA cuisine. South Africans are very blunt and direct.
One piece of SA trivia they covered, I obviously already knew. They explained who Anri du Toit is when they talked about world famous South Africans.
Duh, Yolandi Visser.
I wouldn’t even be trying to learn Afrikaans if i didn’t have a burning desire to rap the lyrics to Da Godz Mus B Krazy. And I can already rap Cookie Thumper because I can never get that shit out of my head.
Holy fuck why does this song slap so fucking hard?? No other song makes me want to jump out of my own skin like this one does. Everybody I play it for IRL says it gives them a headache. I swear I can’t even play it without needing to get up and pace around and dance. The energy is so fucking high. Never found a song that makes me need to get up and move like this one.All in all, this audiobook is a great intro for anybody who struggles with new languages.
Okay then!
Goeie Nag!
WWW Weds: So MUCH Reading this Week XD
This is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.
I read SO MUCH this week.
But I didn’t even just spend the whole week reading. I worked more on my academic piece comparing the works of Achebe to Dinesen.
I did a livestream covering the evolution of literary criticism from classic criticism to today’s postmodernist reader response/the author is dead way of looking at books.
And I trad-wifed like a boss. Seriously, my husband loves my zucchini bread (and the various other breakfast breads I make) and I cooked him three loaves of different sweet breads. Also cleaned the fuck out of my house.
My legs are even shaved.
Just who the fuck am I right now? XD
For real, all of my worst periods of depression are followed by these massive bursts of productivity, creativity, and all-around just re-evaluation of my life and who I am. (So with all the depressive episodes I’ve had, I should be the best version of myself by now, but what can you do?).
If my pattern remains consistent, I won’t have another really awful emotional episode for at least another 3-4 years, but whenever that happens, if y’all could just remind me that on the other side of depression is like a whole year of incredible productivity and creativity, that would be awesome.
I’m really not sure why anybody puts up with me with all the mental health issues I have. And with just how obnoxious I am. That’s not a mental health issue, that’s just how I am. If it wasn’t obvious (but of course it’s obvious, I’m a super basic bitch and I think everybody can read me) I am this obnoxious because it’s like a security blanket or something. I’m bombastic and loud and opinionated and (a lot of the time) mean and self-absorbed. I literally always feel like I’m pasting this fake version of myself on. It’s my game face. And sometimes in the middle of an interaction, one where I’m being smooth and doing all the “right” things, laughing in the right places, mirroring body language, nodding to show interest, remembering small details to make people feel seen, using the person’s name a lot…it’s like, I know I’m blending in and doing fine, and out of nowhere I get hit with this horrible panicked feeling like “They can see you. They can see you hiding in there. Your acting isn’t working and they can see you aren’t a real person.”
Well…I dunno, man.
All I can say is I’m in a really good moment right now and I’ll try to make the most of it while it lasts.
Okay, onto the books.
What Did I Recently Finish Reading?I finished 6 books this week, one short story on furaffinity, and got all caught up on two Vella serials.
Out of all those books, the best one was Guardian’s Mate by Jennifer Ashley. Such incredible worldbuilding, so immersive. Super steamy and magical. I’ve already bought two more books in Ashley’s Shifter’s Unbound series.
The worst of those books is The Tiger Next Door by Zoe Chant. So look, obviously I like Chant’s books a little. I keep reading them. Hell, I read three in one week. I even signed up for Chant’s newsletter just so I could get Ranger Griffin for free. I’m now in Chant’s VIP Facebook group. So look, I’m not hiding it, I kind of like Zoe Chant books.
But…the misogyny. The fucking not-like-the-other-girls misogyny. The ‘men can do no wrong, but any woman who isn’t the epitome of virtue is an evil cunt’ misogyny. One example of exactly what I mean is in this novella. So the hero has not seen his kid in years. He is painted as sympathetic. His ex-wife abandons their kid, leaving him with the hero. She is painted as an evil selfish cunt.
Now, not that anybody should abandon their kid or go years without seeing them (really both characters here are fucking evil), but how do a man and woman do the same exact thing and the narrative paints them so differently?
Man abandons son=poor widdle man! He didn’t think he’d be a good parent! He was afwaid of his meanie ex-wife!
Woman abandons son=evil fucking vile CUNNTTTT!!!
Really Zoe Chant? The hell is wrong with you? Sort that shit out, girl.
Although Zoe Chant isn’t even a singular woman. The plot thickens. I read on Shifter’s Haven that Zoe Chant is a freaking collective of authors. Here is a snippet of the post from Shifter’s Haven, naming a few of the Zoe Chant authors.
So ‘Prickly but Cute’ is literally the only Chant book I’ve read so far that didn’t have some gross misogyny in it. Whoever wrote that gets a pass. Unless they also wrote one of the other books I’m ranting about.
Ladies, go sort out your Madonna-Whore complexes. Go work that pick-me shit out. Oh fuck, I’m mad enough to use my least favorite insult; the pick me insult. In all seriousness, I don’t know if that’s done for male validation or what. But crucifying female characters for doing the exact same thing as male characters who get a total pass…it doesn’t say great things about how those ladies feel about women. It just doesn’t.
And as cute and wonderfully wacky as the books are, as a woman, all the woman-hating does ruin the books a bit. It’s fucking distracting.
Okay, moving on…
I also read this erotic short on furaffinity. I had the chance to beta read portions of it while the author was working on it. It’s very steamy and sweet M/M erotica. Real soft dom energy that I’m totally living for.
You can check out Fire on the Clouds for free on furaffinity.Then with the launch of Kindle Vella, I’ve been checking out all the different serials that have been released. Here are two serials I binged all available episodes of.
This is an office fling-to-lovers contemporary romance. It has a great set-up, but there are only two episodes available so far. The good news is that means the entire serial is free right now lol
But really, with the 200 free tokens amazon is giving out to let people test Vella, right now you can read a LOT of free content on Vella.
Like the next serial I’ll include has 8 episodes up and with the free tokens, I’ve read all of them and still have over a hundred tokens left.
This serial is sooo tense and exciting! It’s a zombie story. Honestly, there’s nothing very unique about the premise, but the writing is incredible, so it makes the story so sooo bingeable. And I just love zombie stories anyway, so you don’t really need much of a hook to get me XDAnyway, shameless plug. I also have two stories up on Vella. If you check them out, I’d be forever grateful With the free tokens, I won’t make any royalties, but it will boost my stories in the algorithm and get more eyeballs on my work.
What Am I Currently Reading?
In addition to the Vella serial, I’m also reading this zombie novel by my absolute favorite author of all time, Paul Tremblay. Everything Tremblay writes is absolutely brilliant. I can not put this book down. It’s so exciting and tense.
Oh boy…yeah, I’m reading another Zoe Chant book. someone fucking help me. This author is giving me some kind of an identity crisis.
I took a break from the Bloodlines series for a minute, but now I’m back into it. This is the 4th book in the 5 book series. It’s really fun. There’s a definite Walking Dead influence. Which makes a lot of sense, since Emily Hurricane is a big Walking Dead fan. Picture the Walking Dead, but like every character is a werewolf, and that’s Bloodlines XD
This is a really sweet and fun rom-com. The energy between Makeda and Bez is so fun. I absolutely love Bez. She is a riot. But then Makeda’s story is so sympathetic and I want to see her find some happiness for herself so much
I’m reading another Emily Hurricane book, but this one is SUPER different from Bloodlines. It’s a choose your own adventure book, but with smut. It’s so fun. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I’d read Goosebumps Choose Your Own Scare books.
The first love interest I chose was the butch lesbian mechanic. Jordan was just such a gentleman. I loved it XD
And lastly, I’m still reading The Muse’s Touch on the Galatea app. Galatea is an interesting serial site. It’s different than any of the others I’ve tried out before, but I’m getting used to it. I sort of love that they text me when a new chapter is available for free (with Galatea you can pay to unlock chapters or just wait) and when the text pops up my phone plays a jaunty little tune. It definitely confused a couple of my customers at my part-time retail job when I said “Excuse me, my book is texting me” XD
What Will I Read Next?
As always, I have Pixie Stormcrow on my TBR. Also I’ll be continuing my kick of reading about the problems in the mental health field. I think it’s a really important subject and more people should be concerned about how patient care is compromised by the biomedical model and the conflicts of interest between doctors and the pharmaceutical companies.
And yes…I’m going to read more Zoe Chant books. God help me.
Lastly, I have an arc of a book that has been highly recommended to me. L.P Tvorick started on wattpad with her infamously angsty romance. I got myself a free copy of book one (which she just self-published) and I plan to read and review it soon.
That’s it for me! What did you read this week? Let me know in the comments below
July 20, 2021
Research (research not funded by pharma) indicates that anti-depressants produce a placebo effect
Continuing my new obsession of mental health reform, I read this book detailing research done on anti-depressants, specifically SSRIs.
The first thing I have to say about this book is…man oh man does this guy have a boner for CBT therapy.
I have no personal experience with CBT therapy. I’ve only done DBT.
I just didn’t like how the solution to all the conflicts of interest and pharma influence on doctors and mental health treatment as a whole was “let’s do psychotherapy instead!” He didn’t delve into how even the basis of most therapy today is a model that greatly benefits pharma: the biomedical model.
He did explain a bit about the history of the biomedical model and why the biomedical theory doesn’t make sense. He actually got pretty deep into the scientific nitty gritty-explaining neuroplasticity theory and neurotransmitters. That part was really good, but I don’t see how he can be so pro-therapy when the basis of therapy is the biomedical model. The “brain disease” model, as Ethan Watters calls it. How can therapists truly treat the root of a patient’s negative mindset or self-destructive behavior, if the theory behind all mental illness is that it’s nothing more than a chemical imbalance?
That would be my biggest criticism of that book: that he didn’t get into how drug influence may affect patient treatment, even when it is treatment of psychotherapy without drugs. Therapy and drug treatment go hand in hand today, so to criticize SSRIs without shedding any critical light or therapy, or at least looking into how patient care may be compromised in psychotherapy due to the insidious influence of pharmaceutical companies, it feels incomplete. He didn’t go far enough with his criticism. I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: you can be pro-therapy and also pro-make therapy better.
All of that being said, it was still a very strong book. This is a doctor who has done a good deal of research into SSRIs and other psychiatric drugs. Through his research (which he does a wonderful job of explaining in the book) he found that the positive effects of SSRIs may be nothing more than a placebo effect-and holistic treatments such as exercise or even taking St. John’s Wort may be safer and more effective.
He addressed some of the most common criticisms of his work; one of them being the argument that even if patient recovery on SSRIs IS a placebo effect, shouldn’t doctors keep prescribing them? If they work, they work, right?
Kirsh explains that this is not an acceptable answer to the question of whether or not SSRIs are effective, because these drugs come with terrible side effects. These side effects can include PSYCHOSIS. Drugs like Prozac can actually cause hallucinations and delusions in people. Several heartbreaking stories were recounted, including a teenage boy who shot and killed his grandparents after Prozac induced psychosis in him, and a woman who shot her own jaw off.
If anyone is interested in reading more stories of violent psychosis induced by SSRIs, I highly recommend checking out the advocacy site psychrights.org.
These drugs can cause people to become violent or suicidal. They can cause a lifelong condition known as Akathisia (to learn more about this, I highly recommend the Russia Today documentary ‘Overpill.’ It is available for free on youtube).
In short, these drugs HARM people. So if, as Kirsch’s research indicates, the positive effects of SSRIs are a placebo effect, and they come with so many horrible negative effects, then no, continuing to prescribe them because “they work for some people” is not acceptable. All of that “working” is a mental illusion. As Kirsch explains, these patients get better only because they expect to get better, and if you gave them a sugar pill, they will still get better.
Kirsch also explains many of the terrible conflicts of interest in the mental health field, and how his fellow researchers and doctors are bullied into silence by those in power. Doctors who start to talk about the negative effects of psych drugs are told “be quiet if you ever want funding for a clinical drug trial again” and when they are not tenured professors, but independent researchers whose livelihood depends on funding, it’s true that they can’t “bite the hand that feeds them.”
Despite the flaws in this book, it is an incredibly in-depth look at the myriad of problems with SSRI research and a scathing commentary on why more doctors aren’t talking about this. Kirsch takes shots at everyone from pharma to the FDA and I’m so here for it.
July 19, 2021
This Made My Day
Stumble into one of the writer discords I’m in to see that a writer friend has posted pictures displaying my books!
There is my book ‘Combustion’ on the right and my book merch on the left! The pillow I had made for ‘Desire and Destruction.’
Oh my gosh, it amazes me anybody would want to display my books. And my stuff shares a shelf with the amazing gothic vampire romance ‘My Lord’ by Shimaira and the apocalyptic werewolf series ‘Bloodlines’ by Emily Hurricane.
Gah! This made me so happy!
My writer friends are the best
I Could Use Some Input…
My discord is planning a digital book convention. We have a whole little team working to plan events, including panels and keynote speakers, digital booths and swag bags. Basically, we want a book con in the digital space. It is tentatively projected for the fall.
As we plan, we’re hoping to poll readers who might attend for interest and ideas.
If you have a few minutes to complete this poll, we’d be super grateful.
And if you aren’t already in my writing/reading discord, you can join here!
We do webinars and classes, watchalongs, giveaways, themed event days, livestreams for worldbuilding and graphic design, and so much more. I’m very lucky to have found lightening in a bottle and gotten together the awesome group of creatives who spend time there.
Photo by SHVETS production on Pexels.com
July 18, 2021
Is Girl-Hate Always a Problem in Curvy Girl Romance?
There was a lot to like about this book. This book was silly, whimsical, didn’t take itself too seriously, and had a beautiful setting, heartwarming instalove, and a very cozy family-centered HEA. It’s really just everything that I like about Zoe Chant books.
And don’t get me wrong: I DO like Zoe Chant books. I wouldn’t keep reading them if there wasn’t something there.
Yet there is one aspect of Chant’s books that drives me crazy every single time: the misogyny. It wasn’t too egregious this time (not like in Dancing Bearfoot), so I only took off one star.
But it was still pretty gross.
Chant always has some r/notliketheothergirls shit in her books. But really? We our here implying that conventionally attractive blondes are stupid? Most of us grew out of that in 8th grade when we realized how icky and sexist that is. Most of us realize that constantly putting down other women for being prettier or skinnier, and then implying LOOKS have a direct correlation to intelligence, doesn’t make us look better: it’s just veiled misogyny.
On page 32, Emily ponders that Gabriel must have a girlfriend. The following is a bit of text that Chant wrote into her book on purpose. And freaking criminey, Chant, could you just not? Stop slipping sexism and girl-hate into your books, because it always ruins the wholesome and quirky charm of the books for me.
This isn’t just an issue of the character being a jerk. Because all of Chant’s main characters are identical (not inherently a problem with fluffy books like these). The fact that every single one of Chant’s female leads is catty and bitchy, slut-shaming other women, judging their clothing choices and how much make-up they wear, calling them “vultures” if they flirt with men, and now implying a woman can be hot or smart, but not both: the fact that this is every single one of Chant’s main characters tells me this isn’t a problem of the characters being flawed (and I wouldn’t expect complexity like that in a fluffy book like this anyway-nor does it make any kind of sense without an arc), it is a Chant problem. This is how Chant herself feels about other women. She hates them and likely hates herself too. But if she can put other women down and raise herself up, she alleviates just a tiny bit of that self-hatred just for a moment.
Nearly all of Chant’s leads are “curvy” leading me to believe that Chant herself is overweight. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Be whatever size you want to be. But I want to toss some of my own lived experience out there; the few times in my life I have been friends with heavy women, it did not last very long. The fat women I’ve been friends with constantly judge me, make snide remarks about how much I eat, what I wear, how I interact with men, etc. I am a very skinny person who can eat whatever I want and stay skinny. I’m a butterface, but my body is pretty conventionally attractive. Aside from a couple of black heavy women (because heavy white women seem to be most insecure around thin women), I’ve never had many fat female friends because they are incredibly mean and rude to me and treat me like competition constantly.
To summarize, I’d say there is a correlation between girl on girl hate and insecurity/body issues.
But big women, you gotta sort that out without being damn misogynists. You just have to. If you’re insecure about your weight, that’s a you issue. There are way better things for me to be fucked about than the size of another woman’s waist.
Chant uses her characters to take digs at other women, women who are conventionally attractive and feminine and assertive, I believe because she is insecure in her ability to be any of those things.
I suppose my long-winded rant is over, and for as long as I just carried on, yes, I did give the book 4 stars. This book had one egregious paragraph and that was it. At this point I’m more outraged over the THEME of the misogyny in Chant’s oeuvre, but I judge every book individually, so while I may be heated over this consistent denigrating of other women, this book standing on its own merit wasn’t too bad. (If you want to see Chant at her misogynist best, Dancing Bearfoot is the book to read).
While Chant’s misogyny did rear its ugly head in this book, all of Chant’s best qualities were also showcased. The premise is weird as hell. There’s a cozy, yet quirky tone. The setting is beautiful. I mean, fuck we get some weird ass griffin lore where suddenly griffins can bite people to turn them into griffin shifters, and no, none of the characters knew that until the moment right when they needed to know it to fight off the dragon shifters. It was an ex machina, but since the book doesn’t take itself seriously, you can just sort of go with it and enjoy it.
Photo by Roman Ska on Pexels.comThe sex scenes were okay. To be honest, I never get much out of a Zoe Chant sex scene. I don’t read her books for that. I read for the cutesy romance and the weird premises. The sex scenes are always just sort of eh…I guess they’re fucking now. I can’t imagine ever banging out a lady-fap to a Zoe Chant book. The sex scenes are fine, but nothing to get excited over.
Is everybody ready for some TMI? Because I’m going to give you some.
Something that kind of weirds me out about sex scenes, not just in Chant’s books, but in a lot of other romance novels and eroticas, is how the dude always goes straight for the clit and the woman likes it.
Does my vagina not operate properly? If anybody directly touches the clit, I mean, it’s a lot of sensation. Not good sensation. It feels sort of like trying to pee with a bad UTI. It’s very intense and sharp and literally makes me feel like I have to pee.
Yet all these romance novels, guys just go direct for the clit and jam on it like a doorbell.
Yes, stimulate the clit, but you don’t directly touch the thing. Damn. Press into the spot below it. Gently graze your hand over the clitoral hood and then move on to other spots. Do other women not need the entire exterior of the vagina stimulated? It seems like dudes in romance novels only touch the clit and never the rest of the labia. It’s just super duper weird to me.
I’m told all women are different with what they need sexually. But in romance novels, it’s all a lot of the same.
Is it weird if I say the clit is over-hyped? I’m saying it. The clit is overhyped. Everybody get over the clit. I’m sick of it in romance novels.
Okay, I’m good with that tangent for now.
Anyway…
One of the elements of Zoe Chant’s novels that I can praise is the sweet, sensitive, romantic male leads, and Gabriel was no exception. We got the same “It’s my mate!” instalove that we always get with her books. I am not mad at the instalove. I actually find it really cute and refreshing. Gabriel rescues Emily from a snowstorm and carries her to safety. He is protective, nurturing, sweet, playful, and just everything you could want a man to be.
All in all, this was one of Chant’s books that I enjoyed the most out of all her works I’ve read. The only one I liked even better was “Cute but Prickly.”
‘Ranger Griffin’ was sweet and cozy and all the weird twists with vampire griffins, battling dragons in the sky, and then the appearance of dragon cops?? It was delightful. Perfectly zany, unapologetically weird Zoe Chant book.
Now please please please, Zoe Chant, for the love of god, just stop hating your own gender in your books, stop taking your insecurities out on other women, and your books would be so much more enjoyable.
July 17, 2021
Trigger Warning: Trigger Warnings | Why I Don’t Use Trigger Warnings In My Reviews — Frappes and Fiction
In the relatively brief time I’ve been a part of the book hemisphere of the Internet, I’ve noticed a trend gaining traction among book reviewers: trigger warnings. From the Trigger Warning Database to the Book Trigger Warnings website and Storygraph’s trigger warning section, trigger warnings have become ubiquitous in book reviewing circles.But, while I understand the intent behind these warnings, I have several problems with them.
Trigger Warning: Trigger Warnings | Why I Don’t Use Trigger Warnings In My Reviews — Frappes and Fiction
What Do We Do With Classics That Are Racist?
Well, Peter Kuper decided to adapt one.
I can’t remember the last time I sat down and read an entire book in one sitting. This graphic novel had me enthralled from start to finish. Kuper keeps everything valuable about Conrad’s original work, but doesn’t provide a platform for Conrad’s racism.
I loved that Kuper covered criticisms of Heart of Darkness in the intro, even mentioning an African post-colonial writer who may have been Conrad’s greatest critic-Chinua Achebe. In fact, Achebe’s final paragraph in Things Fall Apart might be read as a sassy little zing at Conrad, who he believed to be an irredeemable racist.
I first read Heart of Darkness years ago when I started my M.A program in English Literature. Weirdly enough, I took several post-colonial courses, and never once had to read this for a post-colonial course. Instead this was assigned to me in one of my first literary criticism courses. In that class we also read Beloved (amazing book) and one of my favorite gothic short stories The Yellow Wallpaper. It was an eclectic course. I had never heard of Joseph Conrad or Heart of Darkness and like the broke bitch I was, I didn’t buy the textbook. I read the book on wattpad. (A good deal of classic public domain works can be found on wattpad or project gutenburg. Work smarter, not harder, kids. Don’t buy textbooks
Also my comments from 2017 are still on the wattpad version of this story XD
And yes, I did employ a Marxist criticism of the story. The assignment actually called for the thesis to be a combination fo two literary theories, so I did Marxist and deconstructionist.
Also like…I was legitimately a Marxist in 2017. *cringe!* I knowwwww….Had a copy of The Communist Manifesto and everything. So now, when my edgy liberal friends try to bring back over to the red side, y’all have really got to bring a persuasive argument. Because “capitalism exploits people” is a song and dance I used to perform myself. What I need at this point is some explanation of why socialism wouldn’t be exploitative. How you gonna convince me with a bunch of arguments I used to make myself? I need your socialist A-game to even entertain that discussion.
But like, moving on..
Is Heart of Darkness racist? Well, yeah, yes it is. It was written by a white conolozier in the 19th century. Dude was racist.
Does that make the book not worthy of reading? That’s a complicated question.
Because (as Kuper points out in his introduction) while Heart of Darkness was racist, it also brought attention to the absolute atrocities being committed in the Congo in a way that hadn’t been done before. He writes in gruesome and vivd detail about the violence done to the native people and sums it up in two words, delivered by Kurtz on his deathbed. “The horror! The horror!”
In Conrad’s original work, the African people become part of that horror. Africa itself is the “heart of darkness”-a primordial setting of savagery and brutality. The colonists are presented as the brutal and evil ones, but the African people are still dehumanized. Conrad writes about them as if they are wild animals. They gnash their teeth and their limbs reach out from tangled vines, like ethereal monsters crawling out of the night. And he calls one of the native Africans who works with him “an improved specimen” and then compares him to a dog in breeches walking on his hind-legs. It’s really egregious.
All of this mystery and menace around the African people adds a layer of atmosphere, but at what cost? The African people are so completely otherized that the meat of Conrad’s anti-colonial (or at least anti-colonization-in-its-most-brutal-forms) message may be lost, especially to modern audiences.
What Kuper has done is reimagined Conrad’s classic work, minus the racism, dehumanization, and otherization.
Some might call this sanitizing a racist text for modern consumption. But I’d argue that since Kuper fully admits the problems with the original text in the intro, he is preserving that history, and not absolving Conrad of any of his sins. He reimagines this classic text in a way that is more respectful of the African people. And hey, now we have an anti-colonial text that is far more respectful of the victims of imperialism. I think that’s a little better than just reprinting the original text so that a new generation could be influenced by Conrad’s racism. Does that mean nobody should ever read Conrad’s original text? Of course not. But there is value in reconsidering classic texts, and this graphic novel adaptation of ‘Heart of Darkness’ is more than an adaptation: it is a reconsideration of the text. It is an active grappling with the most problematic aspects of Heart of Darkness.
We can appreciate the vivid depiction of the brutality-because it was important for European audiences to know exactly what was happening in Africa. It was important to remove that distance from the supposed “savages”-to make audiences see all of the evil being committed by their own supposedly “civilized” society. Because what kind of civilized person allows men to starve while working his ship? What kind of civilized person puts the heads of native “rebels” on spikes outside his door? What sort of civilized person uses human bodies up like factory parts, leaving them to languish and die, sprawled on the grass alongside broken and rusting machines.
There was no “civilizing” aspect of colonialism. Only abject violence.
“The horror! The horror!”
European audiences needed to see that horror and Conrad, as someone who had traveled to the Congo and seen all of this horror firsthand, was the perfect person to make them see it. He was a flawed man living in the 1800s. He did not write respectfully about the native people. That is not okay. But to act like there’s no value in a text that so radically condemned the evil being committed in the name of capitalism, the human lives being used up like springs in a machine, it simply makes no sense. It’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The metaphor of the decaying machinery in the grass alongside the sick and starving African people was the one that I found most impactful in Conrad’s original text. It was what I based the bulk of my thesis on. Kuper adapts this portion of the text by using only drawing. There is none of Conrad’s original text regarding this scene.
Let’s compare the original with the adaptation.
Here is Conrad’s original work:
Then there is a scene of the narrator stumbling upon a chain gang. Then some description as Marlow continues walking, a description of a big hole that has been dug and the surrounding area, and then the following paragraph.
So we have here a powerful comparison of the discarded boiler and the discarded, dying human beings.
Kuper handles this portion of the text in a different way. Here is his adaptation:
He opts to use all visuals for this section and it’s a choice that emphasizes the absolute horror of it, horror that no words could ever truly describe. My only criticism would be that there is a cartoonish element that at times underscores the seriousness of the content. Some drawings are incredibly bleak, but others have cartoonish over-the-top facial expressions and classic comic strip style that feel out of place. It doesn’t ruin the effect entirely, but it does undermine it enough so that it is noticeable.
Pages like the one above use visuals to truly evoke an emotional response and underscore the macabre and disturbing reality of colonialism.
This graphic novel illuminated the most fundamental aspects of Conrad’s work without bringing Conrad’s racism to life in a new form. Yet by addressing the problematic aspects in the intro, he also doesn’t sanitize the text or excuse Conrad.
And wow, the artwork on the page with the novel’s most iconic line: “The horror! The horror!”
What I believe Kurtz is referring to is horror at his own cruelty and debased actions. He has a heart of darkness and on his deathbed, be must come to terms with the evil that he has committed.
Are adaptations the answer to classic works with problematic elements that, although rightfully odious to a modern audience, were the norm for their time?
I’d say it could be one of many answers. I don’t think we can read Heart of Darkness without addressing the text’s most problematic elements. But we can see the historical and cultural value in such a work, while also admitting its failings.
Then again, for those who find the book unreadable, I don’t blame you.
I think the answer of what to do with problematic classics is something that every reader must answer for themselves. Is Heart of Darkness worth reading or adapting?
I’m gonna go full post-modernism and say, it’s subjective. There is no right answer. I find value in a work that was fundamental in beginning the outrage against colonialism, and I believe I can admit that value while also condemning the racist and sexist portions of the text.
Then again, if you can’t be fucked to pick up a book that relies on racist caricatures to defend the African people, that makes sense too.
July 16, 2021
Deadbeat Dad…UwU??
This book was a marked improvement over ‘Dancing Bearfoot.’ It still wasn’t great though.
We still have a lot of girl hate, slut-shaming, and the denigrating of femininity “performed wrong” that feminists are usually guilty of. I’d put money on it that Zoe Chant is a feminist. This is not true across the board for ALL feminists. But a good deal of feminists are the worst fucking misogynists I’ve ever met. They’re just really sneaky about it.
In Chant’s stories, we see the Madonna-Whore complex struggled with right there on the page. Women can be horny, but not TOO forward. God forbid a woman make the first move. A woman should always look good on accident. Any woman who likes expensive clothes or accessories is to be laughed at. Any woman who puts on “too much” makeup is a thirsty old clown.
Just look at the way the sexually-assertive conventionally feminine women are described in Chant’s novel’s. On page 38, “He realized belatedly that there was a woman trying to make conversation with him, batting mascara-crusted eyelashes at him.”
Chant literally out here calling sexually-assertive feminine women crusty.
It’s not as bad in this book as it was in ‘Dancing Bearfoot,’ where we got to see flirtatious women called “vultures” and Harriet was supposed to be the villain, even though she did literally nothing wrong.
At least in this book, Harriet finally comes across as the villain we’re supposed to see her as. She abandons her son. It doesn’t get more villainous than that.
Then again, didn’t Shaun do exactly the same thing?
The choice to use a deadbeat dad in a single dad romance is a strange one. The man’s responsibility and nurturing personality is the appeal for this subgenre.
But Shaun is not responsible or nurturing. Like every other deadbeat dad, he blames the fact that he hasn’t seen his own kid in years on his “bitch ex-wife.” My dude, STFU. If you wanted to, you would have.
This was the factor that made Shaun absolutely irredeemable in my eyes. I never grew to like him over the course of the entire book.
He used his ex-wife as an excuse to not be a father. Throw the whole fucking man away.
And even after he becomes the sole caretaker of his young son, he still really fucking sucks as a father. A good parent does not denigrate their child’s mother in front of them. He literally says to his preschool-aged child, “Mommy did a lot of things I don’t agree with.”
Having one parent openly disparage the other is the sort of thing that really fucks a kid up. Shaun is a shit father. I didn’t like anything about him.
Now, there were a few redeeming things about this book. I like Andrea a lot (just wish she had better taste in men.) I liked all of the sweet interactions between Andrea and Trevor.
All the chaos at Patricia’s wedding was really fun, but I liked how it all mostly ended up resolved. Trevor’s little spat with Clara was adorable. I’d actually kind of die for a spin-off years in the future where Trevor and Clara end up as a couple. That would be super sweet.
As always, Chant’s stories are cute and quirky and full of humor.
She’s just always gotta throw in some problematic shit to spoil all the fun.
July 15, 2021
Zoe Chant’s Books Are Weird as Hell
Zoe Chant has finally won me over. Then again, this is the first book of hers I’ve read that didn’t have some disgusting underhanded misogynistic message and some r/notliketheothergirls shit.
Maybe it was just too short for that.
Either way, I judge every book independently. I might believe Zoe Chant hates all other women and hates being a woman herself and tries to work through that self-hatred right there on the page in front of god and everyone, but since she didn’t do it in THIS book, I’m not gonna hold it against her.
This book was incredibly cute. I really loved the main character Hester. Her relationship with her mom was so sweet. She was adorably prickly and this was very fitting for a porcupine shifter.
Then there was Mauro. He’s an Argentinian guy who turns into an Argentinian weasel! I couldn’t stand how cute that was.
The setting was great and really made the story for me. They get to insta-love in a remote, yet luxurious cabin. The WW1 plane hanging from wires in the lobby was an interesting detail that I appreciated.
No smut in this story, but I actually didn’t think the story called for it. Clean fits the vibe more. As prickly as Hester is, she and Mauro had a very wholesome energy together.
They truly insta-loved, but screw it, I can take some insta-love. We don’t always need everything to be angsty. Sometimes a book can just be gooey and cute, and oh boy, is this gooey and cute.
The scene where both Hester and Mauro shift and then play in the snow was absolutely adorable. I loved watching them frolic in the snow as their animal selves.
All in all, this was an incredibly cute and sweet story. The premise is super weird (who does a super weird premise like Zoe Chant?) but Chant pulls it off.
All of Chant’s books have an add contemporary/cozy vibe, which is a strange tonal choice for the shifter subgenre, but somehow Chant makes it work.
Really, if the lady would stop calling women who flirt with men “vultures” and slut-shaming and doing so much not-the-other-girls cringey shit in her books, I’d have no complaints at all. Her books are weird as hell and I’m living for it.
Next up on my Zoe Chant TBR…
This is a Christmas romance….where the man shifts into a reindeer XD I fucking can’t. Chant is just fucking hilarious
My favorite thing about this cover is how mildly confused that cat looks XD Okay, okay, this guy is a firefighter and a dragon. Why do all Zoe Chant heroes sound like something a five-year-old boy would say if you asked him what he wants to be when he grows up?
See what I mean? “Timmy what do you want to be when you grow up?” “A unicorn veterinarian!”
Well, here are some links if you want to read some weird shit
