Profil

ju

ju@lire.boitam.eu

A rejoint ce serveur il y a 3 années, 5 mois

Photojournalist and many other things in -ist.

I read a lot of SFF, obscure LGBT, travel, photography theory and women authors, in French and English.

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Livres de ju

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Lectures en cours (Voir les 22)

Défi lecture pour 2025

40% terminé ! ju a lu 21 sur 52 livres.

a publié une critique de Always North par Vicki Jarrett

Vicki Jarrett: Always North (Paperback, 2019, Unsung Stories Limited)

We all have to work to live, even if it is an illegal survey for …

Very well written climate change novel

A climate thriller and anticipation novel, Always North is really well written, with enough poetry, vivid action and complex characters to embark the reader and take them wherever the story goes. And it never goes where it would be predictable -- only the climate catastrophe is.

a publié une critique de Biography of X par Catherine Lacey

Catherine Lacey: Biography of X (Paperback, Picador)

Brilliant work of fiction non-fiction

This novel has pretty much everything: an alternate history setting that is at times omnipresent and a detail at others ; a mysterious contemporary artist ; many LGBTQ+ characters ; drama and love. It weaves brilliantly facts and fiction, real artists and writers (oh hello David Bowie & Susan Sontag) and completely imaginary characters (or are they?), and manages to be serious with obvious satirical elements. Very enjoyable.

E. M. Anderson: The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher (2023, Hansen House, LLC)

When you’re a geriatric armed with nothing but gumption and knitting needles, stopping a sorcerer …

A bit of a let-down

I loved the idea of playing with the trope of "the chosen one" and putting an elderly woman instead. But the execution wasn't as good as the pitch: the main idea and character felt under-exploited (a teenager takes over mostly), and I could see no real evolution in her. Some characters weren't very useful and some lacked depth, being just a bit more than a name, while becoming important in the end. The writing was good enough, but there's only so many "fidgeting with the hem of their t-shirt" or "hugged herself" or "her hip hurt badly" that I can take. All in all, some nice and fun ideas, but maybe it could have gone really into parodying the genre, or on the contrary, be more serious about it all, avoiding cliches, repetitions etc.