Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Great post! I could quibble a little (I do think Buried Giant is a masterpiece) but overall, I think you got the breakdown in the right order.

(Also read the linked article about Murakami, believe me when I tell you you made the right choice. I wish I had never read 1Q84, it’s even creepier than his previous stuff sounds!)

Well it could be both! But that’s interesting, I have heard of this book but haven’t read it yet bc I wasn’t sure what the tone/writing style would be like.

Huh why are Lolita, Kafka, and Beckett “the greats”? That’s such a specific list - is there some particular reason you’re comparing those to this book?

I wouldn’t say I agree with this interpretation - I think it’s equivalent to saying that when Elizabeth looks down on her younger sisters for being flighty/etc, it’s a “not like other girls” thing. But it’s not that, she just… correctly thinks her sisters are flighty/etc.

I guess it depends on how you understand “not like other girls.” Imo that implies a girl who’s trying to say she’s “one of the guys”, smarter/less shallow that all the other girls around her, has more “valid” priorities than the girls around her, etc. Lizzie… would never have been able to present herself as one of the guys even if she wanted to.

I think that quote is more about how Darcy would be surrounded by people who wanted to butter him up to take advantage of his wealth. Obviously in a marriage context all the people doing that would be women, which is why Elizabeth would have stood out because she acted differently than them. However, Darcy was also surrounded by men that wanted to take advantage of his wealth - for example, Wickham. But in a specifically marriage-centric context, Wickham and other men were irrelevant. Similarly I would say Wickham could be considered socially “crafty” - but as with the women that quote is alluding to, it’s not presented positively.

Idk I get what you’re saying but I think one of the things Austen does really well is show how the complicated social norms of interaction encouraged “social craftiness” but it’s actually better if people, both women and men, can just be honest with each other - but of course even social pressure aside that’s very hard for Austen’s characters to do.

Honestly 1) it’s not worth it, the ending is very bad, and 2) people like it bc they like the writing style enough they are willing to give a pass to the weird misogyny and >!sexual abuse of children which is never really critiqued by the book!<.

Start liking and commenting on other people’s reviews. If you think you might like their reviews in the future, send them a friend request or follow them.

Stop rereading them and read something else in another genre! There are a lot of positive things that can come from fantasy/fiction, not least strengthening your imagination and gaining empathy by relating to characters in unusual and difficult circumstances. But if you’ve read these books that many times you probably aren’t stimulating your brain in those ways bc you know the stories too well.

Basically to get the all benefits from reading fiction that do factually exist… you have to read new/different things, not just the same things over and over again