Ivy G.’s Reviews > Katabasis > Status Update

This book has such a way of depriving Alice’s human side of sensation and emotions. It was interesting to read about the effects of lack of not only human connection but a living one. I guess that’s part of what makes hell so unbearable, there’s a dreadful lifeless repetition and decay in the background.

It has at least gotten interesting going through the City of Dis. I supposed the author reserved the world building and literary references around this part. I actually like the interpretation of the city as just a place to reduce the Shades into sensations and complicity to boredom. I can’t imagine spending eternity just unsure of whether your dissertation means anything or not.

Peter really seems to be dead. I just couldn’t believe it. Although his sacrifice was definitely significant, it didn’t feel big in writing. Maybe it’s because I’ve read Babel first wherein each sacrifice felt dramatic and powerful. But this felt flat in comparison. I didn’t feel an impact enough to cry when I should have since I liked Peter as a character.

Reading through Peter’s POV is a different tragedy. I can see now why he keeps people at arm’s length, he’d rather develop any reputation than be seen for the truth because otherwise he’d be pitied. Although I find it mine boggling that both of them blame themselves for what happened to Grimes. It could be, but not entirely. The context definitely matters.

It really takes the extreme before they start becoming honest with each other. I shouldn’t be surprised by Alice’s real motives but I am. Which is good because I was led astray that she genuinely wants him back. Nwo, Peter is being confessional and I can’t wait read what he has to say.

Holy shit, this chapter. Alice didn’t think that what happened to the other female scholars could happen to her because Grimes thought her to be brilliant. She’s no different from the others because she’s still a woman and she couldn’t accept that Grimes is still a man, that she’s a victim at all. I’m in shock. Especially when Peter has witnessed this, not the struggle but what the rumors entailed.

It really took being trapped by the Kripkes for them to be honest with each other. I can see why Peter hysterically believes that Alice is in love with Grimes, she would clam up and has been defending him from any form of criticism from the start. They’re both idiots, Elspeth was right.

I’m not even mad at Elspeth. If anything, from her perspective, Alice and Peter are both villains. Peter agreeing to Alice’s plan, makes him no different from her, even when he said he expected her to be different from him. It’s hypocritical. I suppose that’s what makes them very human, they’re partly greedy, serving only their self-interest of bringing Grimes back.