started off strong but I found account and assessment Chinese political history eyebrow raising which was enough to entire the entire book for me in astarted off strong but I found account and assessment Chinese political history eyebrow raising which was enough to entire the entire book for me in addition to what is painfully scant sections of Brazil. ...more
Hated it but the criticism was very insightful that made me wiling to giving Austen a second look and I added many bookA begrudgingly rated 2.25 stars
Hated it but the criticism was very insightful that made me wiling to giving Austen a second look and I added many books to my TBR
HOWEVER
Way too much about this chick’s rare book dealings and way too much about her personal journey. To quote a gentleman named Bateman: I don’t care if you have had a good life (or something like that). It was jarring at times and really yanked me out of the meat of the book. The NYT’s review mentioned this but I didn’t expect it to be so draining to have her weave in her personal narrative every chapter. Also found Romney to be aggressively corny and unfunny. Combined these factors seriously hindered my enjoyment of the book. Call me stuffy or a snob idc. Romney needed to dial it down to zero.
Tbh this is an okay pop-history/literary criticism but I am certain there a more fulfilling, and less aggravating, books on the subject of Austen’s influences....more
I was disappointed upon learning that this was an abridged version. This is an extremely rich and detailed political and social histor A solid 4 stars
I was disappointed upon learning that this was an abridged version. This is an extremely rich and detailed political and social history. I could have easily read 1000 more pages of this already lengthy book. At times the transitions between chapters do feel choppy and I attribute this being an abridged translation.
I come away from this book with a real sense for the complete disregard for human life during the famine years. It filled several gaps I had in my knowledge of the famine and provides so much clarity on why and how this disaster was allowed to happen.
At the time of posting this review, I have already started and am well into A World Turned Upside Down. Not all journalists are phenomenal storytellers, in fact, I personally find most to be terrible writers outside of a strictly journalism context, yet Yang is absolutely one of the few gifted writers I have read....more
informative and straight forward. I am not all that familiar familiar with this era and it cleared up a lot of misunderstandings I have as it relates informative and straight forward. I am not all that familiar familiar with this era and it cleared up a lot of misunderstandings I have as it relates the (re?)development of the post-Soviet Russian state. ...more
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