Daniel > Recent Status Updates

still going on this. i get very reluctant to pick it up whenever the next letter is one of merteuil or esp valmont's long ass ramblings. the writing is excellent on a sentence level, but i hate these people.

i have no clear idea of the setting for this story. it's distant future, i know that, but it's mostly had a pre-industrial revolution venice sort of vibe for me. i don't generally consider vagueness of setting a problem, but the last little section dropped a few references that suddenly upended my model of their world, which i don't love happening at over a third of the way in.

plot seems more implied or hinted at, all squeezed into the gaps of the story, but somehow, at least so far, that's working for me. quite likely i am missing all sorts of trans and gender related stuff, but there's enough else here that it doesn't matter

started this yest, but wasn't sure it would stick. still can't promise i'll get to the end. something very appealing about the voice/writing in the beginning, but there have been some murky passages, (like switching subjects (and characters' pronouns) multiple times in a paragraph to the point it's unclear who something applies to.) just have to let it wash over me and hope things will make sense eventually

idk why exactly, but this one feels denser? more focused? less digressive than other entries in the series. or something. i love these so much

so good 👍

only read this one once so far, which is a crime. need something fun after tin man

ok, was i supposed to know that was coming? i feel like i should have known that going in. course i might not have then... wtf

maybe don't personify a month that happens to also be a common name, especially if it starts with the same letter and is about the same length as the name of an actual character

the vibe of this book is film with no dialogue, shot thru a diffuser, with only a barely audible voiceover. it's a mood, but not one I'd vote for. still, I wanna know what happens

started this last night and then forgot i had this morning. not that i'm disliking it, but i'm not sure the writing style is doing it any favors. just now got the scene/memory of the boys meeting.

hmmm

Oh, the famous Dodge Camaro. Well, maybe that makes sense in a world where you can shove your hand through a window pane without injury or breaking any glass. Am I being bitchy? Yes. The magic label that unlocks self understanding scene has set me off.

honestly, at this point I'm more invested in the old lady than the mc and his love interest. as the writing seems surprisingly good otherwise (for some reason I'd expected it to suck, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) it kind of feels like it might be worth dissecting at some point to see if I can figure out exactly why I'm not connecting with the pov char, but that's probably not in the cards in the near future.

so far feeling more amused than engaged. not bad at all, just, idk, a little detached? the references do seem very dated for a 22yro even if he is a gay movie buff

at 71% i have finally realized "to use the stage" refers to the public stagecoach and is not some weird metaphor for some social thing. :(

this is benefiting greatly from the alternating povs

tried this yest after bouncing even harder off something else and thought the opening was quite weak. surprising for kjc. figured perhaps i was just in a mood tho and started over tonight. liking it better, but it does feel a bit rushed both in terms of events and the conveying of their emotional impacts

starting to kind of understand his hangup maybe, though how you can take something for granted and also have it be a core part of your self-image/ego... huh? also wondering when french is gonna throw suspicion on someone besides leon or the mc.

the mystery has begun! aka the body has finally dropped. no idea if we'll be getting a whodunnit for either of the crimes thus far. we shall see. enjoying it though

i dont understand why this dude is so hung up on trying to hide his condition. like i get he's the sort who's always taken his privilege for granted, and he's been rocked by what happened to him, but these 2 things don't connect for me.

my god, why even have chapters if you're going to make them 60 pages long. would it kill you to give a guy a break once in a while?

i don't think i'd like this guy in normal circumstances, but the situation makes him sympathetic. this is french's lowest rated novel, but so far no complaints from me.

sounds :)

well, so far it's nothing like the blurb