Amelia Halgren > Recent Status Updates

I may give up on this one. I love the subject matter, but I’m struggling with the format.

The structure is almost academic, yet the language is very accessible as work of popular nonfiction. But for nonfiction audiobooks I really want there to be a narrative —and there just isn’t one, yet there could have been.

I think I’d rather see much of this information in a timeline. We are essentially being given a bunch of dates for different events anyway.

I’m going to stick it out, but the history of language evolution study is getting tedious. I understand that the author is trying to provide justification for the conclusions he’s going to present (which definitely makes sense for academics). But for a popular work, I’d rather just have a summary of the current state of the art and get to the history of the steppe peoples that much faster.

In contemplating all the death resulting from the Trojan war, I’m reminded of the Bronze Age Collapse.

The sack of Troy has been calculated to 1184 BC and the Bronze Age and Collapse supposedly occurred with a few decades of that date. Is that a coincidence?

Apparently others have wondered to:

https://www.commonwealthclub.org/even...

I don’t think I ever knew that Helen was a daughter of Zeus but it makes sense…

I’d forgotten about the pact between Helen’s suitors that caused so many to go to war with Troy.

That reminds me somewhat of how so many countries got drawn into WWI.

It has just occurred to me that the whole Trojan war might never have happened, except that a wife was considered a husband’s property.

Everyone seems to acknowledge that Helen left of her own will. (The women seem to blame and resent her even more than they resent Paris.) But she can’t be allowed to leave of her own free will.

“Ready for depress?” Dale asked via the radio.
“Pretty depressed, yeah,” I said.
“Don’t joke around. Not with airlock procedures.”
“Sheesh, you really suck the air out of the room, you know that?”
🤣

Loan expired before I finished.

So she can garden? I already wondered why she couldn’t earn some of her own money by busking but now I wonder why she couldn’t work as a day laborer, or acquired some land and farmed? Even if it wasn’t initially possible it seems like it could have been eventually... I mean there was a point in American history where they were literally giving away land to anyone who would homestead it.

And it must happen ALL the time in public places that one person forgets her while another still looking at her remembers her. That could cause all sorts of difficulties for the person who did the forgetting.

The logical difficulties bother me but what might keep me going is that I like this whole idea of her as a muse... she can’t leave a mark herself but she can inspire others...

Really struggling with the whole premise... the moment anyone ever needs to use the bathroom she’s lost her entire relationship. Not sure how she could even manage a one night stand... 🤨

Kinda thinking I might bail. I was in it for the mystery of why the new guy *can* remember her, but we are nearly 30% into the book and haven’t yet really touched on this.

“Wizards control their power, they don’t let it control them... They use it to discover, to protect, to mend, to help, not to destroy.”

Where exactly do “love” potions fall into this???

“...Murphy had delicate little lady’s hands— except where practice where practice with her gun and martial arts staff had left callouses. If she heard me thinking that and had been conscious she would have punched me in the mouth for being a chauvinist pig.”

Definition of male chauvinist pig: a man who thinks women are not equal to men

What on earth does this have to do with comparing hand size???

Hmm... is Bob (a formless non-physical “air spirit”) identifying as masculine a fun play on gender identity? ... or another example of male as being the “default”? (think about it— why ARE transformers male by default???)

...then Bob goes and demands a “love potion” to “lower her inhibitions.” 🤨

But I must admit against my better judgment that their banter is a little amusing. 🤷‍♀️

Possibly my new favorite character: Bob is a skull... that talks... and hates puns... and grumbles in old French...

Now that’s my kind of absurdity.
🤣🤣🤣

“...you can’t do something like that without a whole lot of hate... women are better at hating than men... hell witches are just plain meaner than wizards. This feels like a feminine vengeance of some kind to me.”

This book mimics the noir style. But comments like the above, and introducing EVERY female character with a detailed explanation of their physical attractiveness... is a little off putting.

“We argue a lot about politics... we have very different opinions, but you can always— I think you can understand someone without necessarily agreeing with them.... I know people sometimes think Roger’s a bit of an idiot but he isn’t always an idiot in the way people assume.” 🤣🤣🤣

🤯

“...ask yourself three questions before you flare up:
1. Are the actions of the person in question intended to harm you personally?
2. Do you possess all the information about the situation?
3. Do you have anything to gain from a conflict?”

“...Why would I need help to stop getting into conflicts? Conflicts are good. Only weak people believe in harmony... while the rest of us get on with... winning.”