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ettolroli's review against another edition
Soort van The Idiot (Elif Batuman), maar dat alles dan nog vreemder is.
bellwetherdays's review
challenging
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
rostatbrod's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
bea_arthur's review against another edition
2.0
Everyone is a garbage person in this book. Maybe I’m too old to appreciate how smart these 20 year olds think they are. Or maybe that’s the point. Either way, this book just felt full of its own self-importance with no redemption and no point.
gregzimmerman's review against another edition
4.0
I like to think of Nell Zink as an avant garde indie band you try to tell all your friends is so awesome, and then they give them a listen, and they're like "Eh, what?" That's to say, Nell Zink is a bit of an acquired taste, tbh. But if you love her, you unabashedly love her. Her books are quirky, odd, irreverent, funny, and really really smart.
This novel's about a teenaged girl named Bran who escapes a cult-like farm situation after both her parents abandon her, and gets mixed up with a pretentious over-read UCLA student named Peter. The story is about searching for utopia, or using art to search for utopia, or art defining what utopia is (or what utopia is not), or to define fascism, or to define fascistic art...or maybe it's just good ole fashion teenage sex comedy. I don't really know, but I enjoyed the hell out of this - it's basically a one-day read, and it's often very, very funny.
Here's Nell Zink describing Bran's friend Jay, who is a training to be a dancer, but is really awful at dancing (he's being trained by a blind instructor, so it's not all his fault): "Imagine a pedophile who is a serial killer of puppies on the side but wiling to spare a few in exchange for sex with Jay. Jay hears the offer while directing traffic. The threat casts him backwards like a gust of wind, face twitching with emotion, heels pounding the rhythm of a temper tantrum as he bargains with fate. Circling seductively, he conveys vulnerability, weakness, and the unmistakable message 'Let me evacuate my bowels first.'"
So. If you think that's funny, you'll maybe like Nell Zink.
This novel's about a teenaged girl named Bran who escapes a cult-like farm situation after both her parents abandon her, and gets mixed up with a pretentious over-read UCLA student named Peter. The story is about searching for utopia, or using art to search for utopia, or art defining what utopia is (or what utopia is not), or to define fascism, or to define fascistic art...or maybe it's just good ole fashion teenage sex comedy. I don't really know, but I enjoyed the hell out of this - it's basically a one-day read, and it's often very, very funny.
Here's Nell Zink describing Bran's friend Jay, who is a training to be a dancer, but is really awful at dancing (he's being trained by a blind instructor, so it's not all his fault): "Imagine a pedophile who is a serial killer of puppies on the side but wiling to spare a few in exchange for sex with Jay. Jay hears the offer while directing traffic. The threat casts him backwards like a gust of wind, face twitching with emotion, heels pounding the rhythm of a temper tantrum as he bargains with fate. Circling seductively, he conveys vulnerability, weakness, and the unmistakable message 'Let me evacuate my bowels first.'"
So. If you think that's funny, you'll maybe like Nell Zink.
chelsieh148's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
ellieren's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
amyp2's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 I found some sentences so inscrutable, even after reading over and over again. Then I felt dumb. Ex: "I thought they were normal and I was not, if only because lucky people are the minority that establish the norms behind the concept of normality." I'm sure someone will now read that sentence, and go sheesh, she's dumb because that sentence makes perfect sense.