annoyedhumanoid's reviews
176 reviews

really liked the chapter titled "Diderot and Disability", and there were a few others that were touching. the overall experience, though, was kind of boring and a little bleak, sorry :/

the art reminded me of Phineas and Ferb and that era of cartoons. very angsty which i enjoyed. a fun story but doesn't wrap things up nicely so i'll have to look into the sequel

i actively avoid both short story collections and non-fiction so it's a wonder i read this collection of essays, but i chose it because of its clickbait subtitle ("how 26 pieces of code have changed the world" would be more accurate; it is not about exactly 26 lines, it's simply composed of 26 essays more-or-less about code), its illustrations, and my general interest in the topic as a computer science student. in the end, the illustrations added little value, and the same is true of the essays themselves.

the essay about tracking pixels was so rudimentary that its only interesting claim came from its title. the police beat algorithm is such a promising topic, and the essay on it provided helpful historical context to its development, but not much beyond that, like how it became today's surveillance state. the piece i was most looking forward to, "Encoding Gender", was interesting but suffered from the same problem of primitivity. i am not one to complain about brevity—"Typically chooses fast-paced books that are <300 pages long," as storygraph describes me—but it feels like each essay only scratches the surface of its subject before promptly wrapping up with a big, question mark–shaped bow. the collection's desire to disprove its own title came at the expense of any deeper insight into the issues at hand.

the essays i liked best were "Monte Carlo Algorithms" for the collection's most technical detail, on code whose applications are everywhere; and "The First Email" for the fascinating background i somehow never knew to this ubiquitous technology. if you want an in-depth look at a historical example of the confluence of computing, medicine, conceit, corporate greed, and accountability or the lack thereof, i recommend this very good video, "History's Worst Software Error" by Kyle Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap0orGCiou8

-0.25 for just how slow of a slow burn this is. but i feel like we're finally getting somewhere, so that's good.
the art is varied and pretty and i enjoyed it.
also, are they British??? "chaff", "calibre", "E(x)ton"…

i feel weird critiquing when i know i'm no longer the target audience (🥲) but there are literally five plot points it’s so short. i don't think i fully realized, as a fourth grader, the gravity and emotional trauma of the Baudelaire's situation… like

the slap to the face and all the other adults laugh

?!? pit in my stomach. also, this is not an attempt to "cancel" the book, but what must it be like to read this as a child going through abuse only to have Mr. Snicket tell you twenty times "it doesn't get better for these kids". i guess that’s its form of a trigger warning?

it had a killer prologue and a promising concept, but its execution with the titular "cult" was not my favorite. i actively disliked the journey and wanted to abandon it but pushed through.

the prologue hinted at some unthinkable wrong Clive committed to earn him his death, but in the end it was more deus ex machina

. i wish it leaned more into its mystery and grand conspiracy aspects; that would have made its bordering-on-pretentious philosophical musings on love and the human experience more bearable. the main character always had some snarky quip and after a while it became annoying, a guard put up to forgo genuinely engaging with other characters.

also, i would like to propose that the title should have been Cult Following rather than Cult Classic.

very similar to the only Sally Rooney book i've read so far, Normal People, (in fact, both audiobooks were read by the same person) but where i found NP depressing, i found Exciting Times *comforting*. i think it's in the narration: NP's is third-person, detached, and almost cold, while ET's is first-person, familiar, and didn't make everything feel completely futile? it helped that i related a lot, more than i would like, to the narrator 🥲 she's just like me fr. i loved her character's voice (in the literary sense, not the audiobook, though that was good too), i saw myself reflected in it a bit.

i want to talk about the ending. at first i was disappointed, asking myself how the author could think that's a good place to stop. but i read it back and there's more to it:

the comparison of exiting the subway station to ascending into the clouds—heavenly, or at least stepping out of the dark and into the light. and to spot & run after Edith there? and Ava's admission to herself that she loves Edith, and that Edith changed her life… i think it says more about me that i wasn't against her moving to Frankfurt with Julian. because at least she had someone who ostensibly wanted her, and what more is there, right? but that's not what i was meant to take away. it's a little bit romcom, but chase after the person you wronged in a transit hub and get them back; don't settle for the emotionally stunted man-child. (i actually kind of like Julian though, despite his politics [Miles is right])

. i also appreciate that the book is a conduit for talking about these things: even though you lovely storygraphians did not ask to hear any of this, it's nice to be able to express it.

(adjusted from 4.0 to 4.25)
this was so weird but honestly i quite enjoyed it. it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea: light on plot, repetitive, ambiguous ending, unclear whether there's a deeper meaning… just like the work our characters are doing! i also would not call it a thriller.
the fact that i found it relatable 😭 just barely getting through my tasks of the week only to do nothing and dissociate for the two days of "respite". in this way, another weekend passes at the Northern Institute.

also, like, a little bit Among Us LOL which got me thinking, i could actually love a novelization of the game, is that a terrible thing to say.

funny and a good concept & format with the flip-page-to-reveal. hoped for some more insight into the artists though, and there was some out-of-place fatphobia

this feels to me this installment feels completely different from its predecessors, in a good way.  the art—which has been my number one complaint—is completely overhauled and looks so good. retains the melodrama that i find so enjoyable, balances fencing (which is genuinely interesting in its strategies) with character development. it is definitely a very slow burn though; i haven't yet read the next installment but i'm worried that if things don't start to pick up we may never see a resolution