Lisa Eckstein > Recent Status Updates

I heard the author read a chapter during an online event, and now that I've read the beginning of the story, I'm even more intrigued by the characters and the world!

A powerful, satisfying, perfect ending to this story!

So great! Excited to see how the rest will turn out!

I'd been wondering how the story would progress past a certain already-established development, and this is a fantastic escalation.

The way the story is building is so good!

Short book, so I'm already halfway through and curious to see how everything being set up is going to be resolved!

Enjoying the growing tension and mystery of this story about a mechanic whose starship captain partner has been accused of unbelievable war crimes, complicating their already complicated familial relationships.

Really enjoying how this novel is developing, with the mix of oral history told by the characters involved and editor's notes from the narrator who is assembling the story, and references to real musical and cultural history throughout.

Oh, wow, I love the setup of this "true story" of a famous musical duo, written by a character with a difficult connection to their fame.

"And even after slapping yourself on both sides of your face, and with your cheeks stinging, you could hear yourself continuing to laugh hysterically, although it might also be possible that you were just laughing historically. The joke, after all, was timeless."

"Did the people who did not see race even as they saw race actually have a point? Perhaps, for example, I had underestimated the worst Asian restaurant in Paris. It could be so much more than the worst *Asian* restaurant--it might very well be the worst restaurant in Paris, period. Why insult ourselves even in denigrating ourselves?"

Nice descriptions in all these stories. Of a runner: "He reached the street and looked down as though through a movie lens, watching the feet enter the bottom of the frame, white blurred shoes stabbing the street left and right and left and right and left."

Like the first book, this is an intense mix of wild adventures, philosophy, and very dark humor.

"I was not a boat person unless the English Pilgrims who fled religious persecution to come to America on the Mayflower were also boat people. Those refugees just happened to be fortunate that the soon-to-be-hapless natives did not have a camera to record them as the foul-smelling, half-starved, unshaven, and lice-ridden lot that they were."

In "Pro Wrestling", a couple at a crossroads attend a wrestling match gone wrong in a story full of great details and tension.

"If you live in Southeast L.A., you contribute least to creating the messes. You benefit least from how we change environments to create stuff and wealth. You suffer the worst of the ultra-toxic consequences where you live, work, and play. You generally benefit least from the solutions. And you're castigated for not being virtuous enough.
And environmentalists wonder why you might find environmentalism infuriating."

An opinionated call for systemic change. Instead of pressuring individuals to put plastics in the right bin, "What we really, desperately need is ... policies, laws, and regulations--to require all cars to be low-emission, all paints and carpets to be non-toxic, and all waste to be reduced (mostly), reused, and/or recyclable."

I'm remembering just how darkly funny The Sympathizer was as I get into the great, clever sentences of this story. For example, "We wanted to live in a society of equality, although if we had to settle for owning more than our neighbor, that would be fine."

Enjoying these small stories of nice character moments and observations. I just finished the title story, and it's a good portrayal of how hard the smallest things can be when depressed.

Though the sentences are pleasant to read and many events that should be interesting are being recounted, I'm unfortunately rather bored by this book.

The book opens with the great line "It was her idea to tie up the nun." After that intriguing scene plays out, the story jumps back to relate years of migrant experience. It's all well written but didn't grab me as much as the opening.

I'll see if reading other reviews gives me more insight into this, but I found the story underwhelming by the end.

"I was shocked by their reaction. As a convenience store worker, I couldn't believe they were putting gossip about store workers before a promotion in which chicken skewers that usually sold at 130 yen were to be put on sale at the special price of 110 yen. What on earth had happened to the pair of them?"

Wow, this is so good, in the most excruciating way. Nonstop tension!

This is mainly a character piece, with not a lot happening, but now that there's been a plot development, I'm curious to see how it will play out.

I blogged about the new books I'm looking forward to seeing released this spring. Take a look and see if there's anything you want to add to your to-read shelf!

https://www.lisaeckstein.com/2021/02/...

Enjoying the narrator, who has kept her first job in a convenience store for 18 years because she understands it: "When I first started here, there was a detailed manual that taught me how to be a store worker, and I still don't have a clue how to be a normal person outside that manual."

So much dread building about the fates of these characters!

The story has now inserted some images into my head that I'd rather not have there (and I appreciate how that phenomenon is one the character contemplated earlier), but if it remains this good, I'll forgive it.

I like the way the story is unfolding, and I'm very nervous about what's going to happen!