notes from (the) underground - fyodor dostoevsky
date started: apr 03, 2024
date completed: DNF
before reading
honestly i don't really understand the synopsis on storygraph (and i'm too scared of spoilers to look elsewhere online). i wonder if the narrator will be telling a story about himself, or if he's making his own story? or some combination, or maybe it's less of a story and more of like... just his thoughts (since the description references him writing a "narrative" and i'm not really sure what that entails)
looks like an intruiging book, i think it'll be interesting to see how this pans out since the narrator is isolated and so the book will probably be less about his interactions and experiences (?) and more about what's going on in his head
comments
so i was... barely able to start this book honestly. the writing wasn't as wordy as TLHoD, but it still had huge text blocks that were difficult to read, and the premise just wasn't super interesting to me, unfortunately.
the left hand of darkness - ursula k. le guin
date started: march 05, 2024
date completed: march 31, 2024
before reading
i haven't actually heard of this book before (the books for this book club seem quite different from what i generally read, which is one of the reasons i joined), but i have enjoyed science fiction before, so hopefully i'll enjoy this as well
during reading
chapter 1 (9%)
it's a bit hard to follow so far, especially since the author just throws a bunch of proper nouns at you – but it should make sense in due time. the plot seems a bit interesting, but the book hasn't really captivated me yet. it feels kind of dense, which impacts readability a little for me.
chapter 9 (41%)
this book hasn't really been able to captivate me – i don't really feel strongly about it one way or another at the moment. i'm not sure if i'll be able to finish this book by the end of the month, which is a shame because it really does seem interesting. i've had to look at litcharts to be able to follow the story – i did hear that this book is a hard read, and i'm inexperienced with this sort of writing, so i guess it's to be expected.
in terms of my actual thoughts on the story, i do like genly's interactions with other characters. his thoughts on gethen as an outsider are interesting, and i do like the worldbuilding even if i can't understand it all.
i'm hoping to be able to finish the rest of the book this month, but i won't push myself if i can't. if i'm still interested in it, maybe i'll continue reading next month?
after reading
finished this book on the last day of the month aw yeah !!!
i wasn't super into this book at the start but i got really invested around halfway through.
i really liked genly's relationship with estraven and their interactions. estraven was cheering genly on from the start but he didn't trust him until the end. and then he loses him. auhg. auhgshg
i liked the worldbuilding, some stuff was confusing but the author really does well in making us feel like we're reading a story from another planet because. we are
genly's changing attitude and understanding towards the people of gethen throughout the book was interesting; i personally didn't really get most of the politics stuff (which i KNOW i'm missing out on but i've never had a good understanding of politics) but genly's changing thoughts on gethenian gender i especially liked. i heard ursula k. le guin talked about regretting the use of he/him for gethenians, but i think it makes sense since genly comes from a world with binary genders so it'd feel more natural for him to do that. also love the part where he finally gets a good understanding of gethenian gender and then turns around and describes women in the most misogynistic way
the ending. holy fuck the ending. tragic. i don't have the words to describe how i feel but auhghg
quotes
all of these are from the second half
“Yet you are. It is strange. I am the only man in all Gethen that has trusted you entirely, and I am the only man in Gethen that you have refused to trust.”
“The fact is,” I said, “that you’re unable, or unwilling, to I believe in the fact that I believe in you.”
Warm through, benevolent, I said, “The best food I’ve eaten on Gethen has always been in your company, Estraven.”
“Good night, Ai,” said the alien, and the other alien said, “Good night, Harth.