saramdeuri's reviews
286 reviews

Excellent translation, incredibly atmospheric and emotional writing.

To me, there's something so unsettling about the way Han Kang writes men. I can't quite pin what it is, but it always feels like they're thinking something more sinister underneath what we can see on the page — not sure at all if this is what we're meant to feel in Greek Lessons specifically, but something I felt regardless. 

lacked the academic thought I was under the impression it had, but a decent overview of Yuri regardless. the bits of interviews with Yuri authors was especially enlightening.

친구 집 있을 때 조금 읽다가 놓았어 호 귀여웠는데

lovely little book !! cute use of cut out windows and colour, lovely prose

I'm finding it hard to come up with words to put here. This was a deeply emotional and well-woven representation of fandom life as a young woman, living with a disability, chronic illness, addiction, and identity. 

As I sat reading it, I had my phone open on ads to gather points to vote for my current oshi's group on music shows. The irony did not escape me. I felt vile and yet so alive at the same time. As my oshi's group wins their fourth trophy this week, I feel a single spark of joy that quickly fizzles out into the air. But if there's anything at all that keeps me on this earth I must grasp it with two hands. I have learned this with too much difficulty to let myself renounce any of the love I give freely. But maybe next round of promotions I'll click on one less ad, buy one less CD.

well, I think my time with this webnovel has come to it's end. I'm unstanning Testar lmfao

It's fallen a little bit into the classic webnovel curse where the author can't seem to find somewhere to stop - arguably, there was no good place to stop, since the whole game-like sent back to the past premise doesn't come with a built-in or suggested end, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to come up with a decent way to finish it. just look at love interest zone for a start!

anyways, it really quite lost me with the slightly telenovela reveal of

chungwoo being moondae's cousin and actually it being all his fault that moondae's parents died

which was absurdly funny when it probably shouldn't have been. I do think that moondae should have had more emotionally heavy moments with the members and with VTIC's leader, also, to have it be that much more impactful at the climax of the award-or-die arc. otherwise, it was a very normal webnovel.

A great sci-fi, and an adequate BL.

Little Mushroom brings quite a refreshing take on the apocalypse sci-fi genre, imagining what might happen if the magnetic fields were to somehow disappear (although its cancer-like heterogenous creatures are perhaps more outlandish, you're inclined to let it slide because it's just such an interesting concept!). 

The BL side of it, though, leaves maybe a little to be desired. While, yeah, he's literally a mushroom so what kind of social skills would he have straight out of the man-womb, An Zhe's a little too blank at times and doesn't feel too fun to get to know. I wish we had more bits where he talked about how much he wanted his spore back, because it felt like they were a little sporadic. We also don't really get many reasons to believe he'd be in actual love with Lu Feng, except the bits where he says he's handsome. And why would An Zhe even want to love him after

he effectively murders his spore for all he knows??

But overall this was an enjoyable read, and I would recommend it to sci-fi loving fellow fujos. The side-characters are all pretty well developed too !! And he's literally a mushroom. What more could you want from a guy (except everything else I've mentioned here)

Beautiful, beautiful art, impeccable framing and storytelling. Genuinely rather moving in how it approaches self-deprecation and fear of aging in a post-capitalist society. I have a very distinct fear that I'll end up with nothing at all to prove myself, even now, so watching Nozue work his way through such thoughts and come to let himself want more, and then work to achieve that 'more' is always motivating to me. I re-read this whenever it feels like I'm falling into complacency.

Of course, one could ask "but wouldn't it be more effective of a story if Nozue didn't need Togawa to guide him through the 'andropause' and detached himself from Togawa later in the story to do fun things by himself?" and it wouldn't be entirely wrong to think so. But the point is that sometimes it's alright to depend on someone else. This is also reflected in how at the beginning, we see their coworkers laughing about how none of them have to do overtime because Nozue does it for them. Fundamentally, the idea that we don't need to depend on other people is individualistic, and I think ultimately can prove rather harmful.

But then, saramdeuri, how is this at all motivating for you? Doesn't this just de-motivate you, a story where a man can't reach joy or understand his worth until he gets into a loving relationship? No, actually, it doesn't. Apart from the fact that it's BL and that's just how things go around here, I understand already that I can do this by myself, because I'm not held back by the gender constraints that originally keep Nozue from seeking small daily joys by himself, and that he had achieved quite a bit career-wise by then, and was keeping himself back from promotions out of a lack of self-worth. Also, I know that I feel infinitely more joy when I'm with my friends. Anyways, the point is that the nuances here fit together rather well, actually. It's a great series!

I used to read this pretty often between the ages of 8 and 14, oddly enough, just because I'd read any old book with pictures in it at the time. Now that I'm older, and unfortunately, now that I'm exposed to news of the occupation and the war every day, I can fully understand it. At times Delisle tries to fit in a bit of humour of his own, but it falls flat for me - the setting simply isn't conducive to some of the jokes he attempts. Otherwise, this is a pretty informative memory-piece, and it's a great pity that things have only gone from bad to worse in the time since it was publsihed.

well. i've finally completed this (except the extras, sorry, i need a break) it might take me a while to write a proper review for this. before I do so, some points:

I'll probably end up writing an extended essay on this behemoth. there's a lot to say.