Erik O

The most serious but comedic essays

Revisado: 09-08-24

Wallace has that refreshing gift of stating things how they are with wild detail, humor and at times a few extra steps to really unpack the topic at hand which is amazingly rare in writers who actually are purposefully writing comedy.
You can tell maximum thought goes into a moderately bias view of the world before we got to huge amounts of political correctness and micro aggression nonsense which Wallace experienced as a teacher and writer on many levels which is ironic to write this in the present time of 2024 right before another chaotic election year.

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Narrator is robotic but clear. As is the message on why Communism is attractive

Revisado: 07-26-23

Lots of interviews on how lots of folks were romanticized and given a purpose to only have the shocking realization that Communism and at that Soviet Communism is only pretty on paper and leads to miserable conditions and ultimately death on the people it claims to help and uphold.
Thomas Sowell, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn and countless others who have practiced and realized too later at times the disaster of Communism and Marxism.

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I was hesitant but corrected…

Revisado: 02-10-23

The author and the material is no more suggestive of another story of how the other side lives and saw a prolific moment in history. The main purity of joy from the book is the wordplay and dark comedy which is in itself enough. The narrator though nicely completes the audio format perfectly since the narrator is his self Vietnamese and left when he was young with his family to get away from the North occupation of Communist VCAs.
I mean read his name with French roots still engrained. I even enjoyed him recently in years in The Expanse TV series as the Villian.
I can see why this book won a Pulitzer!

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Enjoyable story with lots of wicked white people virtue signaling

Revisado: 01-25-23

I am open minded and enjoy a smidge of social justice but I’d rather a good story be allegorical of current events than what happened in the past.
No fantastical historical fiction will change that. The book was incredible for bibliophiles and phonetics fanatics that love language better than they like people.
The characters were great. The plot was solid. The oversimplification of Marxism essentially was a soft point in the story as a whole but I am understood that some events on our past rear themselves in writing regardless of journaling or fiction novels.
I do feel bad that prejudice comes out and says hi to people that look different than the whole of the crowd or community. It sucks. Whenever someone should just realize that we are all the same race is the instance that someone else determines that others are different and that is not to be liked or tolerated will always be a human trait that can’t be unlearned or removed easily without sacrifices to freedom of speech or thought.
At least in the US this is a double edged sword or being who we are whether we are wholesome and nice or scummy and racist.
Either way Babel is a competent novel. It took me back to parts of revolt of Les Miserables mixed with Midnights Children humor and magical realism. I’d listen to it again and read it multiple times as well. Hopefully there will be a sequel not unlike Poppy Wars Trilogy.

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Wildly pretentious but beautifully written

Revisado: 01-04-23

The first part of the characters were great. The whole story while a bit cliche and as stated is pretentious on a whole of being that radical towards arboring and conservatories concerning forestry.
I do read mostly for the story aspect which was amazing. The narration was even and exploratory for being an acted upon narration.
I am not a radical or fanatic of forestry and the Earth. I do agree we should do more which we are doing the best humanity can do but to the length of a few of the character story arcs were what I could see eco-terrorist trying to accomplish.
Like beauty, caring for the Earth and all it’s spectrum is in the eye of the individual on what they are prepared to do. I hope reading this book I can appreciate nature and forestry as a whole much more clearer than I did before reading the book but I feel this is what Greta Thrunberg would have written had she been more mature and creative than just elaborately berating politicians and heads of states lol.
It was a good read overall don’t get me wrong but it just bothers me that the arcs were almost overbearing of nature when life is not ever that fanatical of an obsession unless you are a fanatic or obsessed compulsive personality deranged with caring for living plants more than humanity.

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Super twist!!

Revisado: 12-26-22

Best Historical Fiction I’ve read in a long long time. Both main characters are utterly charming and ferociously witty with a dash of saddening of life’s qualms for the time period.

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Jubilant fictional history

Revisado: 12-21-22

First time reader and listener of Louise Erdrich. Amazingly entertaining, humorous as well as informational to the point of unwilling to lower the book or pause the audiobook.
Louise’s voice is incredibly smooth with that Northern native accent of sharp intelligence disguised in overly polite dismissal of seriousness.
Many many times this reminded me of the movie humor of Smoke Signals coupled with serious events that factually affected the entire tribe and communities of all Native tribes at that time.
Beautiful writing and overall story telling.

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Interestingly morose and intelligent

Revisado: 12-18-22

Well if you are enlightened enough to know this book is paired with The Passénger by Cormac McCarthy then good on you. This book, even though it is the second of the series, takes you pace before the events in the first book.
This is Alice/ Alicia’s account after Bobby was in a coma after his racing accident.
The back and forth between the only two characters in the book are tempered with wit, sorrow, frustration and overall confusion stemming from a suffering life of a spectrum of grays.
As always McCarthy writes how life is versus most authors writing how they think life should be in the silver lining of the mind to make life worth living.
This account is how the more intelligent persona will overwhelmingly torture the psyche due to never being understood and wanting what everyone else wants but on their own terms.
Both narrators are satisfying. Julia Whelan can do no wrong and Edoardo is crisp, rich like a proper stage actor without the need to shout to produce the tone needed to convey emotion.
Even though this and the first book are short, they are amazingly rich in needing to re-read these tomes to visualize a completely different view. Enjoy!

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Hauntingly sad and real

Revisado: 12-10-22

Cormac McCarthy has driven a story and characters who are humorous yet somber with a tinge of depression of realism. To question who you are and if you want to be apart of this world with the burdens that many intelligent persons feel.
This is the story mostly of Bobby Western with snippets of Alicia Western along with her schizophrenia laden ghosts haunting her.
Coupled with the past of their father’s sins that also re-visit time and again stands as a story that will take you on a thought trip within existential wonderment.

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A lot to digest and experience…

Revisado: 12-08-22

If you enjoy immersive sagas then this is for you but wait! Do you enjoy queer-centric and Afro focused stories? Think about that. If you have never heard of Anansi, African lore, and Jamaican stories then this will be incredibly hard to digest if you are more familiar with Anglo myth and lore.
This is not like Game of Thrones so forget whoever started that non-sense. Think if you are more into Neil Gaiman, Ta-Nehisi Coates Black Panther, and dash of Octavia Butler Sci-go but more supernatural.
This has a ton of characters so if you don’t own or have the books in front of you with characters, or the maps, and African nomenclature then you won’t get this story in the first go.
Even if you are familiar with all of that you may still not get this book in the first go. Plus this story is designed to twist, turn and be clever in its own way to see a viewpoint of a cunning imprisoned character who is being questioned after being caught. Keep that close to your thoughts as well. Enjoy!

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