First Post

[hoisinsauce]

A space to chat fandom! Anon!

Got a WIP you're excited about? Want to rave about your fave? Or is your fandom absolutely in love with a character who detracts from every scene they bumble into, and you need somewhere to vent? You're in the right place!

(start a comment thread by replying to this post)

Comments

Re: Books - Currently Reading - The Motion of the Body through Space

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks! It's nice having a place I can dump all my stray thoughts. :D The last chapter was basically a rant about the weaknesses, assumptions behind (and hypocrisies of) pop social justice stuff. So in theory I should love it but it's really heavy-handed and I wish she'd made it subtler and made it a bit less 'neat'. Can argue that the close 3rd person means it's supposed to be a bias in the narration, but I don't currently get the impression it's moving in that direction. There's a lot that's implausible because it feels set up just so Shriver can make a point, but then tbf I don't think she'd say "this novel is going for realism" (the main character, who has a nice voice, is called Serenata Terpsichore, for a start). She tries to mock that tumblr/vox tone with some of the side characters, but she can't emulate it that well so that's a little funny. But I'm loving her observations on the fitness industry. And when she wants a character to be unlikeable, she goes all-out, and I'm impressed by her talent for making my skin crawl. I like how her books are always quite odd, and this one is no exception.

Re: Books - Currently Reading - The Motion of the Body through Space

[(Anonymous)]

The fitness instructor is making me lol. She seems to drink a lot and tells the others to push on through their injuries. I assume her seemingly muscular body is the result of plastic surgery and she's faking her credentials, but will see!

Re: Books - Currently Reading - The Motion of the Body through Space

[(Anonymous)]

Finished! The second half is much more about the culty nature of fitness schemes; it's exaggerated but probably an accurate representation of the subtext, and will be funny to anyone else who cannot understand what we're supposed to celebrate about someone being very good at running in circles or swimming fast.

Re: Books - Currently Reading - The Motion of the Body through Space

[(Anonymous)]

Officially requested it from my library!

I personally love watching professional athletes, and I run regularly, but I absolutely DESPISE marathon-obsession among amateur runners. So I'm expecting to get a huge cathartic release out of this book. I've never read anything by her before, but it's good to have a some non-speculative fiction book around for when I'm in the mood.

Re: Books - Currently Reading - The Motion of the Body through Space

[(Anonymous)]

:D The main character does love running, herself, just hates marathons and everything that comes with them, so I suspect you'll find a lot to empathise with! (And I found it got better as it went on as far as the other political rants went, since the characters were positioned as more at fault, and it no longer felt like we were expected to see them as just representatives of 'the reasonable position'.)

Re: Books - Currently Reading - The Motion of the Body through Space

[(Anonymous)]

An observation I like, that's maybe more implicit than explicit: the same people who rage at 'boomers' for not seeming to care about making their lives more comfortable show approximately 0 interest in making life more comfortable for the elderly.