Author: Taryn

Existence runs on energy, a fluid movement forward, yet we never stop seeking the point of origin, the Big Bang that set us upon our inevitable course.

Jakub Procházka, the first Czech in space, is sent on a solo mission to collect dust from the mysterious Chopra cloud. The long journey through the cosmos gives him plenty of time to ponder the state of his marriage. His wife Lenka is getting increasingly distant during their chats. One day, Lenka goes into hiding and doesn’t show up for their weekly call. Devastated by her disappearance, he sinks into a deep depression. That’s when a Nutella-loving alien spider appears. Jakub names him Hanuš, after a Czech clockmaster. Is Hanuš real or a figment of his imagination, perhaps a “personification of [his] fears”? Jakub’s conversations with Hanuš help him assess his life and determine what drove him to this point. Can this expedition into the unknown help him overcome his father’s sins? Will he survive the dangerous journey and return home? Even if he finds his way back to Earth, will Lenka remain permanently out of reach?

Wasn’t all life a form of phantom being, given its involuntary origin in the womb? No one could guarantee a happy life, a safe life, a life free of violations, external or eternal. Yet we exited birth canals at unsustainable speeds, eager to live, floating away to Mars at the mercy of Spartan technology or living simpler lives on Earth at the mercy of chance. We lived regardless of who observed us, who recorded us, who cared where we went.

Spaceman of Bohemia is a mix of science, history, politics and philosophy. Sometimes I saw shades of Kurt Vonnegut (Hanuš) and Anthony Marra (Jakub’s childhood). The story takes a messier path than I usually prefer, but it actually worked for me here. It fits with the way Hanuš interacts with Jakub’s memories and mirrors the tangled web of human history. Jakub’s journey shifts halfway through. I preferred the first half. There was less room for humor in the second half. I also missed some of the characters from the beginning! The writing was always gorgeous, but sometimes too ornate for me. I’d get lost in a sentence and have to start over or I’d lose sight of Jakub during the philosophical ruminations. I started to see the author’s hand in the second half, but it was still a pleasure to read.

“You know that the world is always trying to take us. This country, that country. We can’t fight the whole world, the ten million of us, so we pick the people we think should be punished, and we make them suffer the best we can. In one book, your father is a hero. In another book, he is a monster. The men who don’t have books written about them have it easier.”

Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, the bloodless overthrow of the authoritarian Communist government in 1989, marks a turning point in Jakub’s life. Jakub’s father was a member of the secret police; he informed on his neighbors and participated in torture. Once the Communists lose power, the man who was feared becomes a target. After his death, Jakub and his grandparents face the full brunt of the community’s resentment. Jakub considers himself “the biological carrier of [his] father’s curse.” Every step he takes is intended to overcome his father’s mistakes. Are our parents’ flaws embedded in our DNA, destining us to repeat their mistakes? One character notices that Jakub and his father share the same “terminal decision to serve.” Would Jakub’s father have always been attracted to brutality, or could his worst impulses be harnessed for good in the right conditions? Is Jakub proof that his father’s actions were borne out of circumstance?

“Love could turn us all into war criminals.”

One of Jakub’s biggest fears is being a “nobody.” It’s part of why he’s so intent on having children. Jakub sees firsthand how the things that drive us can also destroy us. As good as Jakub tries to be, he isn’t perfect. He’s willing to trample over other people to survive (and I can’t say I blamed him!). He imagines a man tortured for selfish means. He even has Lenka followed, despite feeling guilty about it. Jakub was completely blindsided by Lenka’s disappearance. His travels caused some strain on their relationship, but he thought that their love was enough to hold them together. He was too caught up in his own goals to notice that his marriage might not be going as well as he thought. “People become abstractions. And the things weighing on you become clear. That’s why people are so afraid to be away from each other, I think. The truth begins to creep in.” The physical distance between Jakub and Lenka deepens cracks in a marriage already on a shaky foundation. How could he have been so distant from the person he thought he was closest to? How could he have been so unaware of what was going on right in front of him? 

It was exhilarating, all of it—was existence alone not revolution? Our efforts to establish routines in the nature that forbade them, to understand depths we could never reach, to declare truths even as we collectively snicker at the word’s virginal piousness. What a mess of contradictions the gods created when they graced us with self-awareness.

Why are we here? Is a life made most meaningful by a person’s achievements or the intimate relationships they make along the way? Who has it better in life: those who live simple lives or those whose names are still uttered because of their contributions to society? Is living a quiet life enough? Jakub expresses wonderment at humanity’s unstoppable march forward. When he looks at Old Town Square in Prague, he sees all of its iterations through the decades: the things that change for the good, the things that change for the worse, and the things that only change on the surface. Life is messy, but alway moving. He feels an overwhelming love of humanity and a sense of pride to be a part of it all. He sees the value in people who propel us forward without any thought to self-preservation, but also in those who keep moving forward with their day-to-day lives despite everything going around them. As driven as Jakub was to explore the unknowns of space, he realizes there are many mysteries to explore on the Earth too. In a way, we are all exploring the unknown, feeling our way through the dark.
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How unlikely. Yet here we are.

Isolation makes Jakub see what he values and what he really wants out of his life. Will Jakub get a second chance to live for himself? He’ll have to confront many uncomfortable truths first. Like with many of these stories packed with lots of big ideas, I’m not confident that I absorbed everything. It was a messy, beautiful journey, very much like life.

Another quote that struck me, but I couldn’t work it into my review:

The greatness of a nation is in its symbols, its gestures, in doing things that are unprecedented. It’s why the Americans are falling behind—they built a nation on the idea of doing new things, and now they’d rather sit and pray that the world won’t make them adapt too much.

The most important component of the best critical thinking that is lacking in our society today is humility. It is a simple yet profound notion: If we realize we don’t know everything, we can learn. If we think we know everything, learning is impossible.

Who knew a book about numbers could be so entertaining? Weaponized Lies is written for the average person, those of us who aren’t statisticians or scientists. It introduces fundamental critical thinking skills that will assist the reader in making logical decisions and analyzing claims made in the news. The spread of misinformation is not a new problem, but the internet has made it more pervasive. Some people and publications are more likely to be right than others, but no one is infallible. Bad information can be spread by people with an agenda or people who don’t know any better. Regardless of motive, it’s our job to think critically about information before we spread it or form opinions. By knowing what questions to ask, we can better assess the validity of claims. Levitin reminds us to be critical of information that confirms our biases too. I liked his method of asking the reader to question a previous statement in the book. It reminded me to remain alert and critical, even of Levitin’s claims.

Critical thinking doesn’t mean we disparage everything; it means that we try to distinguish between claims with evidence and those without.

This edition is a repackaging of A Field Guide to Lies (pub. 9/6/16). The biggest (only?) difference is the introduction. In the updated introduction, Levitin argues that euphemisms, such as “fake news” or “extreme views,” are doing a disservice to us all. It makes falsehoods sound less insidious than they are. False statements should be called what they actually are–lies.

EVALUATING NUMBERS

Biases, inaccuracies, and honest mistakes can enter at any stage. Part of evaluating claims includes asking the questions “Can we really know that?” and “How do they know that?”

Numbers seem so objective and definitive, but they shouldn’t be taken at face value. Statistics and infographics can be manipulated to lead you to a conclusion that doesn’t hold up upon closer look. Sometimes our basic knowledge of the world can weed out the bad information immediately, but other times the deception is more obscured. We should always question how the numbers were collected and interpreted. Visual representations of statistics make a powerful impact and most people only give them a passing glance. Levitin explains the methods used to deceive with infographics. He uses real-world examples to reinforce the points. One example shown is the misleading chart shown at the Planned Parenthood hearing in 2015.

What is the likelihood of something occurring or being true? Probability gives us a much broader view than anecdotes and helps us make better decisions. Make sure you understand the “Probabilities” chapter, especially Bayesian probability, because it comes up in other chapters!  I was especially interested in probability in the medical industry, because understanding how probability works can make you a more empowered patient. If you get a positive result on a mammogram, what is the actual chance of having breast cancer? Under 10%, because the disease is relatively rare and the test is not perfect. There are also times when doctors have recommended unnecessary, intrusive operations based on faulty understanding of probability.

EVALUATING WORDS

This section includes tools to evaluate the information we encounter every day. We depend on experts to provide information, but does everything they say hold the same weight? No! For example, just because someone is world-renowned neurosurgeon* doesn’t make them an expert in other fields, even other medical fields. Sometimes experts engage in speculation like the rest of us and it’s important to be able to differentiate between opinions and evidenced-based claims. Levitin also lists the telltale signs of bias or deception. He explains different techniques used to deceive people, such as burying fallacious arguments in a cluster of facts. Does a website’s claims to reveal “truth” actually indicate the opposite? Before we blindly accept a claim, we should also ask if there are any alternative explanations that weren’t considered or revealed.

EVALUATING THE WORLD
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The inner workings of the scientific community are a mystery to many and charlatans take advantage of this. In this section, Levitin explains the scientific method and the rigorous process through which scientists come to a consensus. He addresses the myths about science: (1) scientists never disagree and (2) a single experiment tells us all we need to know. He also explains common logical fallacies, so that we can better evaluate scientific claims. The autism/vaccines controversy is used to illustrate four logical fallacies in action.

The information presented in this book is not just helpful for evaluating the news. Bayesian thinking can help with a legal defense, making an important medical decision, or even evaluating salesperson’s claims. The last chapter includes four case studies that apply the previous lessons in critical thinking to the real world. My favorite of the four was Levitin’s personal story about his dog’s illness. He and his wife were able to logically think through every option and choose the path that was best for their dog. They were able to be a peace knowing they had done everything they could for their dog, while also causing the least harm.

There are not two sides to a story when one side is a lie. …. Two sides to a story exist when evidence exists on both sides of a position. Then, reasonable people may disagree about how to weigh that evidence, and what conclusion to form from it. Everyone, of course, is entitled to their own opinion. But they are not entitled to their own facts. Lies are an absence of facts and, in many cases, a direct contradiction of them.

My only complaint is the “Numbers” chapter felt more fleshed out than the “Words” and “World” chapters. The last two sections went so fast and I was so disappointed when the content ended 2/3s of the way through. I wasn’t ready for it to end yet! Maybe that’s more of a compliment than a complaint! The remainder of the pages are filled with a glossary, supporting documentation, and an index.

We’re far better off knowing a moderate number of things with certainty than a large number of things that might not be so.

Weaponized Lies is about understanding the limits of our knowledge and not being ashamed to admit that we don’t know everything. This book encourages people to think scientifically and suppress the temptation to automatically discount dissenting evidence. It’s easy to submit to lazy thinking when we’re bombarded with so much information and we’re so busy with our everyday lives. None of us are logically perfect human beings, so it’s important to be aware of our flaws.  This book is an excellent refresher course in thinking critically. It’s helped me better articulate why I find some information manipulative or misleading. The best part of the book is that it gave me an upper hand in an ongoing argument with my husband (he was essentially “truncating the y-axis” to make a misleading point). Thanks, Daniel Levitin! ;D

NOTES:
* I used a neurosurgeon as an example because of Ben Carson’s recent claims about memory: Washington Post, Wired.
* I read this book around the same time I watched Denial, a movie about a woman who was sued by a Holocaust denier for libel (a real-life case: Irving v Penguin Books). In the movie, the woman is frustrated with the defense’s refusal to allow witness testimony and the lawyer’s heartless questions. The defense maintains that they need to prove the case more objectively if they’re going to win in a definitive way. Richard Rampton:”They’re a strange thing, consciences. Trouble is, what feels best isn’t necessarily what works best.”
* Purple America Has All But Disappeared: This article on FiveThirtyEight terrified me more than anything else I’ve read recently: “In an increasing number of communities …. an entire generation of youth will grow up without much exposure to alternative political points of view. If you think our political climate is toxic now, think for a moment about how nasty politics could be 20 or 30 years from now.”
* “The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know…Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough.” – John Adams
* Popular comic about the science news cycle.

I was clueless about this book’s subject, so my eyes just about popped out of my head when a character blurts out the scandalous family secret! The Roanoke Girls is exactly the type of twisted tale that I’d sneak into my library book stack when I was a teenager, so it triggered a nostalgic feeling in me. I was completely riveted by the story, but the entertaining quality made me feel like a rubbernecker. One big secret is revealed at 12% and the course of the story felt fairly certain from that point, but I’m spoiler-tagging the important lessons. If you’re sensitive to any type of family secret storyline, you’ll probably want to read this first spoiler: [spoiler]incest.[/spoiler]

“Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.”

Fifteen-year-old Lane was sent to live with her grandparents after her mother committed suicide. It had always been just her and her depressed mother, but now she is surrounded by family. She’s welcomed to the Roanoke estate by her charismatic grandfather, cold grandmother, and “mouthy, willful” cousin Allegra. Allegra and Lane hit it off immediately, becoming as close as sisters. The living arrangement only lasts for one summer, because Lane uncovers a terrible secret. She runs away and never looks back. Eleven years later, Lane’s grandfather asks her to return home. Allegra is missing. Lane becomes the first Roanoke girl to go back to Roanoke and she doesn’t intend to leave until she does right by her cousin. Where is Allegra? Why has so much tragedy befallen the Roanoke girls?

Roanoke always felt slightly alive, especially when I was there alone, as if it could lead me astray down unused corridors, whisk me away into the unknown, never to be seen again.

I was totally sucked into the story from the beginning. The prologue is deliciously creepy! The chapters alternate between Lane’s first summer at Roanoke and her return as an adult, with occasional interludes from the other Roanoke women. The story takes place in rural Kansas, with “wheat fields that melt into the horizon” and the ever-present sounds of cicadas and train whistles. The sticky, oppressive heat is unrelenting. Lane always imagined Roanoke as a majestic estate, but it’s actually a farmhouse augmented by a mishmash of disparate renovations. The entire town of Osage Flats feels like a return to a simpler era, but Roanoke is uniquely stuck in time. Lane’s short time there feels like a lifetime. When she returns to Kansas, she reconnects with friends from her first summer at Roanoke: loyal Tommy and ex-summer-fling Cooper. I actually liked the romantic subplot in this one! Cooper and Lane had an interesting history and I’m a sucker for a “bad boy trying to do better” storyline.

Guilt, I’m discovering, is an emotion that’s almost impossible to kill. It’s like a poisonous weed that keeps on growing, burrowing into every vulnerable spot. Always reminding you of all the ways you’ve failed.

One of the secrets is revealed in the beginning, which allowed me to focus on how everything happened rather than what happened. Every subtle behavior takes on an ominous tint when we discover why Lane fled Roanoke so quickly. We see how a manipulator can muddle issues to the point that a person doesn’t trust their own instincts. [spoiler]The Roanoke Girls addresses the confusing feelings a survivor of sexual abuse may have, the type of feelings that aren’t easy for outsiders to hear. Oprah Winfrey addresses these feelings in her interview with Matthew Sandusky (Washington Post, Ordinary Evil blog):

“This is what people don’t understand about sexual abuse. People think that sexual abuse is somebody throwing you against the wall, and torturing you or raping you…They don’t understand that the aim and the intention of the perpetrator is to make it pleasurable, so you will be confused.”

Allegra was given the illusion of choice, but she’d been carefully groomed from a young age. Roanoke is so isolated from the rest of the community that it’s not hard to see how she came to be so dependent on her abuser for love and affection. I liked that Allegra is not judged for her situation. Lane even admits that different circumstances could’ve led her down the same path. While secrets are a normal part of life inside Roanoke, the horrors are amplified when the victims are exposed to the outside world. The devastating effects of abuse endure long after the abuse has ended. Lane’s mother Camilla could barely function. One of the most heartbreaking moments is when Lane finally understands her mother’s overwhelming despair. Camilla couldn’t love a child they way they should be loved, but she did the best she could.

I knew well the painful futility of reaching for more than you were ever likely to get, how much easier it was to simply accept the limits of your world.

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I realize that the distance I’ve put between us, both in miles and in years, matters not at all. Because behind the secrets and the horrible truth, under the shame and anger that beat like a heart, there still lives a terrible kind of love.

What kept the whole story from being too much for me, was that it isn’t overly explicit. We are introduced to the Roanoke girls when they are alone with their thoughts. Their chapters are about how they were feeling, rather than lurid descriptions of what they were subjected to. However, there were still several moments made me sick to my stomach, including a kiss and Lane’s description of her grandfather’s love at the end. The beauty of the Roanoke girls is repeatedly mentioned, but I was especially annoyed at the focus of the handsomeness of a patriarch. It almost felt like it was trying to make his magnetism more palatable, even though attractiveness doesn’t seem to be a key feature in these situations. [/spoiler]

You can’t outrun what’s inside of you. You can only acknowledge it, work around it, try and turn it into something better.

At Roanoke, secrets fester in the darkness. It was sad to see how even “good” people fell prey to their baser instincts. My heart broke even more for one of the girls when her trust was betrayed by the one person she thought she could count on. The author also explores secrets outside of the cultish, twisted environment of Roanoke. The Roanokes are not the only ones who have dark secrets. More than one character wonders if the cycle of pain is destined to repeat itself through the generations.“Sometimes you have to pass the pain around in order to survive it.”

“Sometimes people who love us can still hurt us.” The Roanoke Girls features an extreme situation, but we’ve all seen shades of it in the news. Crimes committed by respected members of the community, their terrible secrets guarded by those who should be the protectors. Sometimes segments of the community rally around these people, while passing judgment on the victims. This story covers some difficult issues that can be hard for people with loving families to comprehend. It’s a compelling story, but also very disturbing. The contemporary mystery vibe made me feel like I was gawking at the situation, which is why I’m so conflicted about my feelings for this one.

4.5 Stars. The Accusation is a collection of seven short stories about life in North Korea. The manuscript was smuggled out of the country. It’s the first time a book critical of the North Korean government written by someone who still lives in North Korea has been published.

Bandi, Korean for firefly, is the pseudonym the author uses; he states that he’s “fated to shine only in a world of darkness.” The translation is by Deborah Smith, translator for Han Kang’s Human Acts and The Vegetarian. Bandi wrote the stories between 1989 and 1995. They take place during the rule of Kim Il-sung, grandfather of North Korea’s current leader Kim Jong-un. The stories are fictional but based on real-life accounts. Every story is great! They had all of the features I appreciate most: completeness, rich symbolism, thoughtful characters with strong family relationships, and haunting endings. It was even more impressive that these stories were written in such a closed environment. I was reminded of all the dystopian fiction I’ve read and it’s jarring to think that it’s unlikely Bandi ever experienced any of that work–though he is living it firsthand.

There’s a classic quality to the stories, perhaps due to the lack of technology or the author’s restricted sphere of inspiration. The presentation of the stories is reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro’s work, because Bandi tends to introduce an event and fill in the gaps later. Many of the relevant details are revealed through an intimate conversation (“Life of a Swift Steed,” “So Near Yet So Far”) or via a document (“Record of Defection”).

It features both the privileged and those who are marked by an ancestor’s “crimes” against the state. Status is never guaranteed and a perceived misstep can alter the course of a life. There’s a constant fear that the actions of a relative will become a lifelong burden. Fear and obedience are necessary tools for survival. All negative emotions must be suppressed. Anyone could be watching, waiting to find someone committing even the most minor offense. In each of these stories, characters find themselves in an absurd situation that makes them see the contradictions of their homeland. Sometimes realizing the disconnect between long-held beliefs and the reality of their situation has tragic consequences.

The first five stories were my favorites, but each story has staying power:

Record of a Defection – A man discovers that his wife has been taking birth control in secret. Her other strange behavior makes him assume the worst, but there’s another explanation. The sacrifices we make for those we love and the cruelty of multi-generational punishments.

People write books and sing songs claiming that love is this or that. But to me, love was indistinguishable from sympathy. That intolerable fretfulness at your inability to take any of the suffering on yourself, that irrepressible impulse to offer up your own flesh as a sacrifice, anything to bring some measure of relief.

City of Specters – A two-year-old boy cries every time he sees the giant portrait of Karl Marx across from his apartment, causing huge problems for his parents. This story shows the extreme paranoia of the state and the power of fear.

Life of a Swift Steed – Decorated war veteran Seol Young-su refuses to let the military police cut a branch off of his treasured elm tree. When Jeon Yeong-il is questioned by the military police’s chief on the matter, he his mystified by his “uncle’s” insubordination. This story is about a man “torn apart by contradictions” when he realizes his entire life has been dedicated to a lie. He experiences the rage, sorrow, and shame of an illusion being shattered.

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“They must have trained you well in that village of yours, eh? Properly broken you in. In this society, I tell you, people are like sheep!”
“Are you any different?” Yeong-sam countered. “If you hadn’t been ‘broken in,’ as you put it, would you have managed to live so long?”

Pandemonium – A woman accidentally becomes part of a propaganda video. The government’s report of “happy laughter” is a stark contrast to the chaos that occurred near the filming location. I loved the use of fairy tales in this one.

Hahaha and hohoho, all year round—because of the laughing magic which the old demon used on his slaves. “Why did he use such magic on them? To conceal his evil mistreatment of them, of course, and also to create a deception, saying, ‘This is how happy the people in our garden are.’ And that’s also why he put the fences up, so that the people in other gardens couldn’t see over or come in.

On Stage – The country is still grieving three months after the death of Kim Il-sung. Outlandish displays of emotion are expected at the hundreds of altars scattered around the city. Comrade Inspector Yeong-pyo’s son is in trouble for a second time, this time for being disrespectful during a time of mourning. In a dramatic confrontation, his son compares living in North Korea to a lifetime at drama school. Everyone is forced to live a lie and put on a false front in order to survive. This story also shows why authoritarian regimes are so quick to ban art and quash dissent. Once an idea is planted, it’s impossible to eradicate.

“A sincere, genuine life is only possible for those who have freedom. Where emotions are suppressed and actions monitored, acting only becomes ubiquitous, and so convincing that we even trick ourselves.”

The Red Mushroom – A man implores a journalist to help clear his uncle’s name. A good man who sacrificed his entire life in service to the state has become a scapegoat. In this story, we see how bizarre accusations can be and the futility of fighting the party officials. It was my least favorite, but I still really liked it. (It’s me, not the author! I have a negative Pavlovian response to farming stories thanks to Anna Karenina.)

“In all of creation, the rule is that the more toxic something is, the more pretty and friendly it’s made to look.”

“Afterword: How The Accusation Came Out of North Korea” and “A Note from Do Hee-Yun” give background on the author and reveal how the manuscript was snuck out of North Korea. Some of the biographical details were changed to protect Bandi’s identity. The supplementary material is fascinating! I’m tempted to round up to five stars because I’m so blown away by the story behind the book! Bandi’s stories gave me a more well-rounded view of what it’s like to live day-to-day in North Korea, replacing the caricature that previously existed in my mind. Many of the stories end with a quiet resignation, but the “lightbulb” moments for the characters and the fact this book exists at all gave me hope. A government can restrict people from the outside world, scare them into submission, and suppress dissent, but they can’t crush all imagination and independent thought.

Risking one’s life to resist a system of oppression can be interpreted as having a premonition of that system’s end. In this sense, the writing produced by resistance writers who live within North Korea, exposing the face of the nation to the world, is in itself the beginning of an epoch-making upheaval, showing that cracks are now appearing in the hereditary dictatorship, which has seemed until now an impregnable fortress. – Kim Seong-dong

Further reading:
Do North and South Korea speak the same language? Yes, but not quite by Deborah Smith – A glimpse into Smith’s translation process. It’s interesting that the original manuscript includes 200 words that the average South Korean would be unfamiliar with.
Another interview with Deborah Smith – “I have new translations of Han Kang and Bae Suah coming out in November ’17 and January ’18 respectively” !!!!
Goodreads review by Gustavo  – Interesting analysis of The Accusation’s authenticity.

“Family is all we have,” my father said.
“Yes,” I agreed. “Family is all we have.”

The “war” is over. The divorce is settled and the custody battle is won. A father takes his two sons away from their home in Kansas to start a new life in New Mexico. It’s them against the world! He promises the boys a better life, but his behavior becomes more erratic as they get situated in their new home. He’s quick to minimize any missteps and the boys accept his explanations. The sense of danger escalates as their world gradually becomes more insular and the boys are forced to participate in their father’s strange activities.

“‘There is virtue in sticking it out, in staying put, in building the stamina necessary to endure anything. We can take it. Can’t we take it? Can’t we?’”

The story is told from the perspective of the youngest son, age twelve. The father’s narcissism and manipulations are evident from the beginning, but the boys idolize him and follow his lead. He keeps them in line by appealing to their desire to be “one of the boys” and a dependable family member. His sons are willing to go through immense suffering in order to meet his standards. The psychological abuse escalates into physical abuse and the illusion of the father they thought they knew dissipates. Despite his bad behavior, the boys continue to feel a sense of duty towards him and maintain hope that he’ll change. The way these children can’t help but care for their father makes it even more painful to watch him take advantage of their innate trust. The two boys are forced to become adults when the parents who are supposed to protect them continuously fall short. Every time the brothers attempt to improve their situation, they are thwarted by their unpredictable parents.
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I didn’t want his kindness. His cruelty was less confusing.

One of the Boys is a one-sitting read, but it’s a gut-punch of a book. It struck a similar chord in me as Did You Ever Have a Family. It seemed deeply personal and I felt so much anxiety for the characters. The exhaustion the boys feel by the end is palpable. My favorite passage is when the boy reveals a dream he had about his father in a candlelit hallway (Chapter 10). In the dream, his father directs him to paint over the cracks that are lit up by the candles. When daylight comes, the patchy paint job only serves to highlight the damage to the wall.

Life in the desert is found in the testimony of small changes. It is nearly a secret.

What does it mean to be “one of the boys”? One of the Boys exposes the dark side of widely accepted concepts. The boys’ father repeatedly espouses the virtues of masculinity and family. Admirable values, like being there for your family, can be distorted and used as tactics to normalize abuse and make a child incapable of speaking out. This story shows how a child’s unconditional love for their parents can be used to take advantage of them. We see how gradually an abusive situation can take hold and the myriad of ways an adult can betray their child’s trust. It’s a quick read, but by no means an easy one.

If she didn’t burn, she’d rot.

When Jay was only two years old, his mother walked out on him and his father. Thirty-three years later, he’s feeling the strong urge to flee after the birth of his own child. The death of his father forces him to confront the mother who has always been a mystery to him. Why would a mother abandon her child? Is Jay destined to abandon his own family?

Life would’ve been easier if she’d had a sister. If there’d been someone with whom living wasn’t an act of translation

1968-1983: Yuki is adrift. At sixteen-years-old, after years of being “Yucky Yuki,” she finally has a friend.  Unfortunately, her family is planning to return to Japan soon. She asks her parents to let her stay in New York with her new friend Odile and they agree, with very little pushback. Yuki was already lonely and depressed, but she loses her only anchor when her parents leave her behind. She can’t find a place where she belongs.  Living in New York for most of her life has made her too American for Japan, yet she is still too Japanese for the Americans. She desperately wants to be an artist but isn’t very talented. She floats through life, latching onto whoever shows her interest. She is highly susceptible to toxic relationships. Her friendship with Odile sparks fast, but burns out just as quickly. Yuki’s first boyfriend is abusive, but she can’t bring herself to leave; he’s the only person who’s exclusively hers and she can’t imagine anything better for herself. Even her one chance at a healthy relationship is a giant misstep, destined to fail from the beginning. The only time she feels alive is when she’s hurting.

When I was a kid, I used to ask Dad, was it my fault Mommy left? He always said she’d just been an unhappy person. My old psychiatrist said it was ridiculous to blame my two-year-old self. I believed her, until I had a baby of my own.

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Yuki suspected all men of having some measure of violence. Some clubbed you with silence, and some relied on their fists. Feeling [his] fury, she was relieved, no longer becalmed in false gentleness.

The chapters alternate between Yuki’s coming-of-age tale and Jay’s struggle to come to terms with his mother’s abandonment, until they finally meet in Yuki’s Berlin apartment. Harmless Like You is about home, belonging, identity, and the importance of family bonds. There are no explosive revelations, but the characters’ inner turmoil is fascinating. Yuki is so passive, but I was riveted by her story. Anyone who has ever felt like an outsider will see a sliver of themselves in Yuki. During my reading I was anxious to find out why Yuki ran away and if Jay would follow the same course, but most of all I was curious to see if Yuki ever found what she was looking for.

Someday, she might be able to hold these photographs up as a lasting record of herself. People would look at them and recognise not her flat face or limp hair, but her true self, the Yuki behind the pupils. The Yuki who was the see-er not the seen.

This book wasn’t what I expected at all! I really enjoyed the first third, but I was disinterested in the college drama and romantic escapades after that point. It became a story that I wouldn’t be interested in, regardless of the setting. If you’re looking for a story about college students navigating relationships during a tumultuous time in history or if you like Sunam’s chapters, you’ll probably enjoy this one more than I did. Even though the story was just okay for me, I did appreciate the thought-provoking commentary on the corruptive power of money and the barriers between economic classes.

Seoul, South Korea, 1978: three coming-of-age tales that mirror the growing pains of a nation. Three college students from different economic classes are each trying to forge their own path. While Jisun wants to distance herself from her family’s wealth, both Namin and Sunam want to move up on the economic ladder. When middle-class Sunam has to make a choice between the life he has chosen and the life that is expected of him, he runs the risk of betraying everyone.

The “for readers of Anthony Marra and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie” blurb piqued my interest, but my love of those two authors didn’t transfer to this novel. I think it depends on what you think of when you hear those names. It fits if they make you think of stories about regular people living ordinary lives while their country is in turmoil. However, Marra has a distinct style. Invoking his name makes me expect absurdity and dark humor. Everything Belongs to Us has a serious tone. I’ve only read Half of a Yellow Sun from Adichie, but those characters were more immersed in the historical drama. However, HoaYS did face some criticisms of being soapy.

WHAT I LIKED

• Jisun, the rebellious daughter of a wealthy businessman with political influence. She feels burdened by her family’s wealth. She has an antagonistic relationship with her father and is always challenging him, but he still has a hold on her. Jisun is determined to distance herself from him by joining the resistance against President Park Chung-Hee’s authoritarian rule. Her upper-class status makes it difficult to prove herself with the activist groups.

• Namin – Each member of the Kang family has a job and Namin’s job is to lift her family out of poverty. She spends all of her time studying, in hopes of becoming a doctor. Her sister Kyungmin works long hours at a shoe factory to help pay for Namin’s college tuition, but she’s getting tired of living for someone else. Namin is also grappling with a family secret that her parents are determined to keep buried (loved the relationship that developed from this storyline). Resentments are threatening to pull the family even farther apart than they already are.

Shame was not just about secrets or covering up. Or about failure and not having the things other people casually had. Shame was being afraid that she was from crippled, graceless stock, unworthy of the good things other people had. That the mistakes that would chart her life forever had already been made.

• The unequal friendship between Namin and Jisun – Namin and Jisun have been best friends since middle school, but they’re growing apart. Namin lives in a home without indoor plumbing, while Jisun lives in gated mansion. Namin’s family’s livelihood depends on her success, while Jisun has had everything handed to her. Jisun is completely blind to her privilege. She admonishes Namin for working so hard to get ahead, worried that Namin will become another “stupid bourgeois sheep.” She thinks Namin should be grateful to her for becoming an activist and fighting on her behalf. Namin is frustrated with Jisun’s self-righteousness and condescension, but she feels forever indebted to her for a past kindness.

• History – It showed the everyday side of oppression and class struggle that I haven’t read a lot about because many stories focus on violence and war. It addresses the labor protests, the United States military presence, the activist groups, and the activism of US Christian missionaries. I was especially interested in Jisun’s search for an activist group she identified with. Each group had its own personality: the activists who become the people they detest, the ones that demanded ideological purity, the overly-practical, etc.

WHAT DIDN’T APPEAL TO ME:
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• The structure – I prefer straightforward narratives. When a story meanders, it makes it hard for me to zero in on the message. I was really interested in Namin’s family story in Part II, so I was disappointed when it didn’t return to Namin’s point-of-view until the end (Part VII).

• Sunam – Sunam enters the two women’s lives after Namin applies to join the Circle, a club that will allow her to join the ranks of the elite. The story becomes very Sunam-focused in the middle. He’s described as “charming” and “ambitious,” but I thought he was bland, weak-willed, and entitled. Jisun and Namin even seemed flattened in his presence and their interactions with each other were clumsy and awkward. Love triangles annoy me most of the time, but it’s even worse when I don’t understand the appeal of the shared party. I was most interested in Sunam’s growing resentment of Namin’s ambition and success. On the bright side, Namin’s reaction after meeting Sunam’s family melted my heart!

“You don’t have to be a shark, you just have to be one little step ahead. And if everyone else is thinking today, all you have to do is think tomorrow.”

• The supporting characters – Juno, Peter, & Kyungmin have interesting parts to play, but they barely registered with me. Manipulative Juno is Sunam’s mentor. He’s one of the “four intertwining lives” mentioned in the description, but it didn’t feel like he was on the same level as the other three. Peter is a Christian missionary who Jisun met through her activism. Namin’s sister Kyungmin was the most fascinating and I’d love to read an entire book just about her!

Jisun learned instead that money was the least reliable measure, sliding from great value to worthlessness depending on the spender. With the same amount of money, you could feed a family for a month or a single person one extravagant meal. You could pay a man’s wages or unlock two thousand pages of vocabulary, an entire universe of words. You could clothe a soccer team. You could save someone’s life.

What I got from the story is somewhat influenced by the current uncertainty & rhetoric in the United States. The scariest thing about this story was how anything can be rationalized. When I read about the shuttering of media outlets and prohibition of anti-government activity, I think “Dictator! Bad!” But Jinsun’s father is giddy over President Park Chung-Hee’s reign. He describes President Park as a man who “gave this country back to the people.” He goes on to say that “no one loves this country more than our president does. He understands the sacrifices we need and works harder than anyone, sacrifices more than anyone. … We must pursue development first and foremost. Development first. Then democracy.” Sunam also comments on how South Korea recovered from the war more quickly because of Park Chung-Hee’s policies.

Are speedy economic rewards ever worth sacrificing your freedoms or trampling over others? What is the true cost of accepting that money? Do you have to compromise your ideals to be successful? Despite disapproving of Park Chung-Hee’s methods, many South Koreans—even a segment of the younger generation—have a positive view of him as an individual, in large part because of the economic prosperity under his reign. (See: The Mixed Legacy of a South Korean Dictator & Why Late South Korean Dictator Park Chung-hee Is The Most Popular President Ever) His daughter was even elected president of South Korea in 2013, although she is currently undergoing impeachment proceedings. It may seem incomprehensible to an outsider, but I think the author does a good job of showing why the trade-offs might not seem so bad depending on your situation.

Now he’d know what it meant to be trapped between his conscience and his pride. It was never as black and white as he thought, the decisions of love and duty.

The story was a little too heavy on the romantic drama of college kids for my tastes, though I did find value in reading it. It takes place during a specific time in South Korea’s history, but the issues it addresses are relevant to everyone. For a more positive perspective of this book, check out the starred review at Kirkus. Warning: It mentions plot points that I haven’t mentioned here, many that don’t occur until after the 80% mark. I anticipate the book all over again after I read their review, so I think part of my problem was that the conflicts I was most interested in didn’t occur until very late in the story.

If you are interested in South Korea’s political situation in the late 1970’s, you might be interested in Human Acts by Han Kang. It’s a darker read about people who were caught up in the middle of a government crackdown. Those who enjoy Everything Belong to Us might be especially interested in “The Factory Girl” chapter.

To read later: The Cultural Politics of Remembering Park Chung Hee

3.5 Stars. Twelve macabre short stories set in Argentina. It’s very dark and disturbing.

We all walk over bones in this city, it’s just a question of making holes deep enough to reach the buried dead. (No Flesh Over Our Bones)

Tens of thousands of people were disappeared or killed from 1976 to 1983, when Argentina’s military junta committed “crimes against humanity within the framework of [a] genocide.” While not overtly mentioned, the horrific tales in Things We Lost in the Fire are intertwined with Argentina’s past. Past atrocities refuse to stay buried, always lurking in the back of the collective mind. These stories take place on top of mass graves. These stories feature police brutality, depression, drug addicts, poverty, self-harm, and children deformed by pollution. The shrines to saints on every corner make all of these horrors feel even more haunting.

Many of the characters are resigned to the awful events they witness. Some of them end up not helping those in need, either because of lack of resources or helping could lead to worse consequences for themselves. In “Green Red Orange,” a man withdraws from the world and gets immersed in the deep web, where the worst of humanity is viewed as entertainment. Most of the characters are stuck in unhappy relationships. They resent their partners, but can’t bring themselves to leave.

Except for the first story, my favorites were in the second half:

The Dirty Kid – A middle-class woman thinks the homeless boy who lives across from her home is the victim of a savage murder. She can’t rest until she finds out if it’s true. She regrets doing so little for the boy, despite witnessing the terrible conditions he lived in every day.

An Invocation of Big-Eared Runt (read it at link) – My favorite! A man who leads murder tours is fascinated by a long-dead child murderer. At home, he resents how his wife transformed into a different person after the birth of their child. The quiet ending left me feeling uneasy about this family’s future.

The city didn’t have any great murderers if you didn’t count the dictators—not included in the tour for reasons of political correctness.

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Under the Black Water – A district attorney investigates the case of two teenagers murdered by police officers. Months later, a witness tells her one of the victims has resurfaced. There’s no way he survived, so she goes to investigate. When she arrives and sees all the shrines have disappeared, you know it’s about to get terrifying! The nearby river’s pollution is bad, but it might be covering for something even worse.

Things We Lost in the Fire – After a rash of domestic violence, women begin setting themselves on fire. The old women’s conversation at the end chilled me to the bone.

“Burnings are the work of men. They have always burned us. Now we are burning ourselves. But we’re not going to die; we’re going to flaunt our scars.”

Honorable Mention:
The Neighbor’s Courtyard – A depressed social worker sees a chance at redemption when she spots a chained boy in her neighbor’s courtyard. I loved how the details of this story unraveled. It went from realistic to crazy at the very end, so I’m not sure what to think of this one!

I loved the mix of history and horror. My favorite stories were those where the line between real life and the bizarre was the most blurred. Enríquez was masterful at creating a creepy atmosphere and building tension. I could feel the knot in my stomach getting tighter as each story progressed. My biggest complaint is that many of the stories felt incomplete. The tension would reach a fever pitch and then it would just end. There were moments in each story that I loved, but many times I was left with a ton of questions and no theories to ponder. If you enjoy supernatural tales and the dark and twisty characters of Gillian Flynn or Roxane Gay (Difficult Women), you might enjoy this short story collection. I recommend reading it in the dark!
Another book that deals with Argentina during the late 70s:
<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25387852-the-case-of-lisandra-p”>The Case of Lisandra P.</a> – It has mixed reviews as a suspense novel, but some of the most powerful sections are when people talk about their experiences during that time period.

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“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” – Andy Warhol

Routine is comforting to you. It’s familiar, reassuring. Routine makes you feel safe. Routine will kill you.

A new thriller from the author of the bestseller I Let You Go. What would you do if you discovered a photo of yourself being used to advertise a business that you’d never heard of? Zoe is flipping through the newspaper during her evening commute when she spots a photo of herself in the classifieds section. It’s part of an ad for FindtheOne.com, a service she never signed up for. Zoe’s family assures her the photo is of someone who only vaguely resembles her. They try to convince her that there’s nothing to worry about, but she can’t shake the nagging feeling that something is wrong. She finds similar ads in other issues of the newspaper, each featuring a different woman. She’s shocked to recognize a couple of the women as victims of local crimes. Is it a coincidence or could she be next?

I see you. But you don’t see me. You’re engrossed in your book; a paperback cover with a girl in a red dress. I can’t see the title but it doesn’t matter; they’re all the same. If it isn’t boy meets girl, it’s boy stalks girl. Boy kills girl. The irony isn’t lost on me.

The story alternates between Zoe Walker’s personal life (first person) and PC Kelly Swift’s investigation (third person), with occasional interludes from a potential stalker (second person).

• Zoe is a single mom who lives with her devoted boyfriend and her two adult children. Her daughter is an aspiring actress and her son’s life is finally back on track after some youthful indiscretions. Zoe is dull, but we spend the most time with her character. Her rationalization of her ex-husband’s past behavior and her ill-advised antics annoyed me. There’s a lot of focus on her personal problems. While the lack of action in the first half did make me question whether Zoe’s paranoia was warranted, the focus on the banalities of her domestic life made the story feel slow-paced.

Psychological aspects The brain viagra professional online also does a very essential act during sexual intercourse. Reading on the computer is a requirement each time a man wants to levitra online from india get familiar with these those benefits of Kamagra? Go through the information provided here is only for introduction of the medicine not use of the medicine. His best viagra pill morale was affected adversely by this accident. The Malaysians have been using the natural substance for centuries with much success. discount pharmacy viagra http://deeprootsmag.org/item8105.html • Kelly takes an interest in the classified ads after Zoe alerts her to a possible connection to the case she’s been working on. Finding a connection between the classified ads and other crimes could help her redeem herself. Four years ago, she was demoted from the Sexual Offenses Team to the Neighborhood Policing Team. I loved Kelly’s passion for her profession and her protectiveness of her twin sister. She has a victim-focused approach to police work, but she also has issues getting too close to her cases. I was rooting for her! I wish Zoe and Kelly interacted more, because I would have liked to spend more time with her.

• The stalker’s sections are short, but unnerving. I love how Mackintosh writes sociopaths. It puts me on edge!

I wanted reassurance. I wanted to be told I was overreacting; paranoid; delusional. I wanted false promises and glasses-half-full. A few days ago I worried the police weren’t taking me seriously; now I’m worried because they are.

The creepiest parts take place in the claustrophobic London Underground. We never know who might be lurking around the corner, watching our every move, and waiting for the right moment to strike. The crowds and cameras in the tunnels lulled Zoe into complacency. There’s a false sense of security because there are so many potential witnesses, but everyone is caught up in their own lives and gadgets, oblivious to the world around them. The popularity of social media adds extra concerns. How much of the information we voluntarily publicize can be used against us? There’s also an important lesson about being vigilant and trusting your instincts. There are a few instances where women’s concerns are dismissed as paranoia or overreacting. They’re asked to ignore the clear evidence in front of them. This story shows how easy it can be to dismiss our own fears, either because of outside pressure or our own desire to feel safe. On the investigative side, Kelly has to question her approach towards victims. Is a victim under any obligation to assist the investigation? Should a victim be pressured to testify against their will?

“Offenders, coppers, witnesses, victims … there’s one common thread running through them all, Kelly, and it’s that no two people are the same. Every victim deals differently with what’s happened to them; some are hell-bent on revenge, others want justice, some are looking for closure, and some”—he looked her straight in the eye—“some just want to move on.”

I See You uses an exaggerated situation to remind us of the risks we might encounter in our everyday lives. The paranoia and anxiety increases as Zoe goes from being unsure if she has anything to worry about to feeling hunted. It’s an unsettling reminder to stay alert, trust your intuition, and be aware of your surroundings. Whether you like this one will depend on what you want out of your thrillers. My feelings for I See You are similar to my feelings for David Bell’s Since You Went Away. I tend to prefer investigations or sociopaths over the parenting of teenagers, but there are always exceptions! This book was entertaining and I suspected almost everyone at one point, but I didn’t feel like I was at the center of the action.