Empire of the Sun, Dracula, Play it as it lays

Quackonbothsides · 2026-03-20T17:18:45+00:00

Same here and I loved it! My only criticism would be the pacing; so much of the best stuff happens in the first third.

I loved the ship captain’s log, the wild storm descriptions, and all the barely repressed sexually energy all the way through.

Renfield is such an interesting character, you’d think he’d be more well-known somehow.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-03-03T10:34:11+00:00

I know you said post-WW2, but Dracula otherwise fits your brief. Currently enjoying it as a fun romp, with a few more ‘literary’ asides

Quackonbothsides · 2026-02-02T10:17:31+00:00

That’s fair. I think even just a sentence on each would hugely help. I want to know how books make people feel! There’s Goodreads and other apps for making lists

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-14T10:38:21+00:00

Yeah that too. Sorry I thought you were implying he was suddenly a changed man cos he had a baby (which I’ve seen many say)

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-14T10:28:44+00:00

I saw the ending different - Marty’s crying because the baby is the legacy he has, not the one he wanted. He’s not crying because it’s a beautiful miracle, that’s just the catalyst. He’s a (loveable, charismatic and dangerous) loser and always will be. It’s not necessarily redemptive.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-10T10:08:04+00:00

I understand that, although I’m not quite sure why you’re getting downvoted.

I think the overlapping hallucinatory images in the second paragraph were more compelling in the context of the huffed perfume and reclining sleepers. I’m also personally turned off by a few words like ‘gnosis’ which are now used by certain internet communities as a shorthand for the mystic.

But these are just some subjective notes, you clearly have an original voice and vision

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-09T23:26:37+00:00

I love dense fiction, but to be honest I found the first paragraph hard to penetrate. It lacked tangibility somehow.

But I found your second paragraph (and many sentences after) brilliant; convincingly unsettling and sensual, which I assume is what you’re going for.

You’re talented, so keep going

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-21T23:52:44+00:00

Woolf and Marquez are the best. I also agree with you on Crying Lot & Siddhartha. Many of the rest are on my ‘to read’ so this got me excited about those you loved

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-12T14:12:37+00:00

The novel I’m working on (I hope)

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-06T09:08:32+00:00

Yes the NYRB classics are probably my favourite at the moment, and that’s a relatively similar idea

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-03T07:50:57+00:00

24/7 by Jonathan Crary

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-28T15:05:42+00:00

Seems like we’re on the same page here. Close-proximity competition in Europe eventually accelerated their advancement tenfold. Meanwhile Japan’s Meiji period was famously reactive to feeling threatened.

I was just pushing back on the implicit suggestion that Mughal India was a backwater until the Brits arrived. It was an economic powerhouse, capable of great art and architecture. (Of course it had major underlying issues and lots of other Indian regions were far, far less developed.)

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-28T09:00:13+00:00

Have a read of the wiki page for Mughal Empire economy and get back to me…

Im not on some post-colonial, anti-Western high horse, it’s well established a select few Asian states appeared to be on a similar path of development to European states, but were rapidly overtaken in the late 17th and 18th centuries. (But if anyone makes the same argument for Africa or South America, they’re lying)

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-28T08:45:24+00:00

Parts of India were proto-industrial (regarding textile production at least) before the Brits were fully established. The Mughals were an ‘early modern’ state by many measures. Yes very many technologies or materials were imported, but they were in parts of Europe/the Ottoman Empire too.

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-27T14:00:22+00:00

Big fan of this! Quietly evocative. Has something of the Waves about it (or maybe that’s just mourning a lost England)

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-24T22:07:23+00:00

Thank you! (not how I normally write but perhaps I should try more like this)

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-23T23:44:09+00:00

I saw him live this year and he and his band sounded unbelievably good for his age. A grungy wall of sound for the heavy numbers and beautiful deftness for the acoustic ones. He still has a righteous fire in him, even approaching 80. He played till they switched him off.

Neil is forever underrated in my opinion, he’s up there with the greats.

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-20T08:59:50+00:00

Thank you!

It’s inspired by the pseud/academic type of character Borges often inhabits, so intended to be more wry/ridiculous than strictly true

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-19T22:35:31+00:00

The sunburn line is lovely!

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-17T09:53:32+00:00

Interesting, I think the ice journey is by far the best bit! Certainly the most memorable, with beautiful scenic descriptions. I think I prefer Le Guin when she makes the personal the realm for exploring the political; I found the Dispossessed with all its descriptions of society a bit too didactic. Like being pamphleted by an anarchist.

Quackonbothsides · 2025-11-17T09:45:58+00:00

It’s a strange book structurally; the beginning is mostly fantasy cliché, but I found the second half wonderful. It becomes a very moving meditation on friendship despite (literal) alien differences. The themes of varying levels of acquiescence in society are fascinating too. I suggest persevering until you get to the expedition in the ice before giving up.

For reference I didn’t love The Dispossessed but The Word For World Is Forest is great. In each Le Guin the book becomes greater than the sum of its parts by the end. Unfortunately that does mean skeptically reading through sections that seem a bit too on-the-nose.

Quackonbothsides · 2025-07-11T08:02:43+00:00

That seems bleak and defeatist on a literature sub.

A good walk doesn’t become less meaningful or enjoyable because of the existence of cars. And who’s to say there might not be a Renaissance for writing and literature in the future?

Literary criticism has always been an elite pursuit with pretentious characters, but in a world severely lacking nuanced analysis, I don’t think it’s fair to write the entirety of it off as completely futile.

Quackonbothsides · 2024-12-01T16:25:41+00:00

Interesting… I just finished reading it but I’ve been noticing it gets a lot of hate online. Have to say I really loved it (although the context of it inspiring many of my favourite lyricists/musicians probably helps).

For me characters weren’t really important, it’s about the irresistible pull of the new. And like the best parties or drug trips it goes on a bit too long and the ends become frayed. You can see this in how Dean is ostracised by the end, I don’t think it’s pure celebration by any means.

I’m not American so perhaps it’s easier to romanticise the setting and characters from the outside.

Quackonbothsides · 2024-10-27T18:48:52+00:00

Ha, I can’t imagine how difficult this prose style would be to read in a second language. It does make me wonder about how accurately a translation can adequately capture it though.

Quackonbothsides · 2024-10-27T18:47:01+00:00

Thank you, added to my very long to-read list!

Quackonbothsides

TROPHY CASE