Nope I also didn’t rate it! I want to try Babel but the reviews here are mostly bad. Yet so many people online seem to love it.. and a lot like Yellowface!
Books #38
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Thanks for saving me from this.
I had a great weekend reading as we spent a couple of nights near the coast in south Wales so had some long car journeys and time to read in the sunshine. I enjoyed Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell, although found it a little strange so 3*s, Keep It In the Family by John Marrs was very messed up, but really hooked me in 4*, and What If I Never Get Over You by Paige Toon was just great, I love her books and this was no exception 5*.
Reading My Dark Vanessa for bookclub this month, and as I've already read it before I thought I might give Lolita a go. Has anyone read Lolita?
same! i didn’t mind yellowface (though she had no clue how to end it and the final 100 pages were just nonsense) but gosh i hated babel
there’s a real air of superiority to how she writes, like she’s smarter than you and she wants you to know it. i’m still mad about the footnotes 🥲
I feel like that could have been my review for Keep it in the Family. I prefer his ones that are based in the near future (The One, The Minders etc) but he knows how to hook you in.
I read Lolita but years ago. I found it hard reading, but I wonder now if that’s the point.
I will never get over the footnotes!!same! i didn’t mind yellowface (though she had no clue how to end it and the final 100 pages were just nonsense) but gosh i hated babel
Yes to the smart superiority… I assume a decent number of people who claim to love Babel want some secondhand social media smart clout. *prepares to be cancelled 🫣
Some of the over annotations I’ve seen on bookstagram are wild.. the themes bash the reader over the head so blatantly there’s not really any space for analysis.
Speaking of footnotes. I’m reading Nevernight by Jay Kristoff for book club and I want to love it. The story is something I would normally enjoy but there are oh so many footnotes. It was putting me off reading, I’ve just started ignoring those. Some of them take up half the page. Why do this?!
they’re so irritating. i find footnotes so distracting (even if they’re one or two sentences) but once they’re half a page (like they were in babel) then just Stop. i don’t really think they have any real place in fiction tbh, if i want to research or look up historical context/meaning then i’ll do it myself! not to mention the author just using them to look smarter (again looking at you babel
)I 100% agree. No need for them in fiction. Just makes the author look like a pretentious twit.they’re so irritating. i find footnotes so distracting (even if they’re one or two sentences) but once they’re half a page (like they were in babel) then just Stop. i don’t really think they have any real place in fiction tbh, if i want to research or look up historical context/meaning then i’ll do it myself! not to mention the author just using them to look smarter (again looking at you babel
The only acceptable footnotes are in Discworld.
Actually I don't mind them too much if they are actually interesting but if it's a case of an author just trying to justify the research they did then nah, get in the bin.
Actually I don't mind them too much if they are actually interesting but if it's a case of an author just trying to justify the research they did then nah, get in the bin.
I’ve not minded this so far! Definitely a smug intellectual tone that makes me roll my eyes & I’m also only 1/4 of the way through.
It’s my first of Kuang’s books. I didn’t go near Babel and Yellowface after reading some of the reviews here
I’m still on one about footnotes. Here’s an example of a particularly bad one. Like if you want to give us a backstory of Mia’s time with the old man then write a flaming prequel novella. You’ll get more money too.
or just INCLUDE THIS IN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER?!! why is it a footnote?!? i hate this
Haha Yeah! The next chapter begins with her back with the old man.or just INCLUDE THIS IN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER?!! why is it a footnote?!? i hate this
I've seen too many academic youtuber influenzas posing with RFKuang's books too much, it's put me off trying her works myself
I’m probably old and so out of touch but can someone explain to me the annotating thing? I see books online with highlighting and notes and sticky notes and I don’t get it? Not in a judgy way I just don’t get what’s going on there?
Totally agree!!!
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