I tore through the Hyperbole and a Half book last night, it was predictably great. Here’s a really wonderful article about Allie Brosh, Donald Glover, and writing about depression when you’re still in the middle of it.
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The police have the video of Rob Ford smoking crack, or, as the police phrase it: “The video files depict images that are consistent with what has previously been reported”
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Getting to know the Roma.
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Tremendous longform journalism (by the talented and thoughtful Irin Carmon) on those left behind when states eliminate medical exceptions for late-term abortion bans (I’m in touch with the author about whether individuals can contribute to the Davis family, and will let you know if that’s possible):
The Davises, who are both unemployed and live on Jessica’s $700 a month in disability payments and food stamps, came home to unpaid bills. The electricity was slated to be turned off the next day. Eric sold off scrap metal he found to pay the bill, but there was no money left for gas and water.
Oklahoma law had barred Jessica from using state Medicaid to cover the cost, so the couple had borrowed some money from relatives to cover the $2,800 procedure. In total, the trip set them back $3,500. “It took everything we had so that our son would not suffer,” Jessica said.
“It was never something that I had to worry about–the politics,” she said. “I just let women make their own decisions. But I would hate for another woman to have to be in my position.”
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Atwood. Munro. Selfies.
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Don’t click, save yourselves.
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A helpful new guide for technology companies who struggle to find women to employ or speak at conferences.
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Tags: feminism, link roundup, the internet
Speaking of Atwood, has anyone read MaddAddam yet? I started it (after re-reading Oryx & Crake and Year of the Flood, it had been a while), but thus far I am not enjoying it at all. The plotting seems kind of random and chaotic, and we’re stuck in the middle of this super-long flashback for some inexplicable reason… bah. Makes me sad!
I read it! I really liked it, though. I am a Zeb and Toby partisan, though, so I enjoyed reading from their perspective and getting Zeb’s backstory, is that the flashback you mean?
I did want a little more Ren and Amanda, though. I won’t say much to prevent spoilers, but I feel like their plotline was underdeveloped and the emotional ramifications could have been explored in more depth.
Yeah, Zeb’s backstory. It’s an interesting story, but it seemed to plunge in out of nowhere – like, why is this relevant? Will it become relevant later? I almost wish it was set up more as a dual narrative rather than a story Zeb (or Toby? not sure) is telling, so we could continue to follow the present-day thread instead of that story basically stopping while this one is going on.
I haven’t finished yet, of course, so it could all come together beautifully, but that’s just how it feels right now. I’ll keep working on it!
It took me the whole three weeks to read the book (I checked out of the library and only have three weeks). I did not enjoy it, but I forced myself to finish it.
I read it eagerly because I wanted to know what happened to the characters I’d been following, but have to agree that it’s not the most polished or thoughtful. Oryx and Crake blew my mind, and I had great fun teaching it for several semesters of first-year writing, but to be honest I though that Year of the Flood wasn’t a great follow-up either. With the last two it’s like the horrors of dystopian life are sort of on parade, intending to shock, but they were far more horrific when viewed through Jimmy’s cloudy privilege-lens.
And, you know, my students hated (or at least pretended to hate) the ending of Oryx because it left them hanging with the lingering question: what would become of humanity? Would people band up or go rogue to survive? MaddAddam answers that question, and it all feels a bit pat and precious, I don’t know. I feel like an asshole when I talk about my sad feelings because Margaret Atwood is the cutest Twittering old lady author, but I couldn’t keep it bottled up forever!
I CREATED AN ACCOUNT TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION GUYS! (I actually ranted on this topic for 3 days to the bf who has never read ANY of the books so this is …. rewarding).
Ready; GO– I HATED THIS BOOK SO MUCH I returned it to the Kindle bookstore and my only regret about that is not being able to leave a horrible review. How do you create a horrific dystopian world with humanoids that is not at all interesting? How are world-weary uber-survivor lady protagonists (Ren / Amanda!) not the focal point of this brave new society that’s forming? How was there not a satisfying end to an epic multi-perspective cliff hanger than spanned TWO BOOKS? And all for “sorry not sorry” misogynistic pillow talk monologue and backstory that no one asked for?
Give me the Ren & Amanda chronicles or give me NOTHING. / end rant.
(FYI I’m much more passionate about this bc I loved the first two).
And all for “sorry not sorry” misogynistic pillow talk monologue and backstory that no one asked for?
I knowwwwww. I really liked that Toby got to get her some. But Zeb is an emotionally abusive fuckhead and Toby reminded me so much of my past self, masking and placating and trying not to be vulnerable to protect her relationship with a secretive, manipulative man.
Ugh yes! I do not like Zeb, and I can’t stand his narrative voice. I never got any hint of interest from Toby in Zeb in Year of the Flood, so her sudden ~longing~ came out of nowhere for me. Do not get it.
Also, the oil-Jesus subplot was so heavy handed I couldn’t even breathe sometimes.
I love you already just because when I REALLY hate a book my reaction is to a) rant to my husband who hasn’t read it and b) obsessively read Amazon one-star reviews to reassure myself that I am NOT ALONE.
So I do agree on Ren/Amanda (see above) but I liked the end! I thought the whole theme of storytelling that ran through the book was really interesting, how it wasn’t just about rebuilding the odds and ends of civilization but of the importance of having a creation myth or a satisfying history we tell ourselves. And how, like the singing, Crake couldn’t engineer that out of his new humanoids.
Anyway, not trying to convince anyone to love it, because the heart hates what it hates. Oh, I also agree with @Sara Davis that poor, clueless Jimmy was the most affecting of any of the narrators. Man his parents were the worst.
Can we just have a bunch of comments here about how much we love Allie Brosh?
I love her so much! The book is awesome; it took me two days to finish because I’m also trying to finish Allegiant.
I’m really stretching the book out– I got three new books on the same day (Allegiant, a romance, and Hyperbole and a Half), and have carefully stretched it for a few days so far. Even though I ‘ve read a lot of the posts, I still laugh until i cry.
I’m also stretching it out, which I’m frankly impressed with myself for being able to do. I’ve been having a crappy couple of days and reading it before bed has really cheered me up.
Yes. Yes we can talk about how much we love Allie Brosh.
I love her so much, you guys.
SO MUCH. I felt Steve shaking in bed next to me, and I looked over and he was reading it by the light of his smartphone, losing his shit over “caaaaaake”!
I really agree with the person who wrote the article linked above: talking about mental health difficulties after the fact frames them totally differently than talking about them WHILE YOU’RE EXPERIENCING them. To be so funny, and so heartbreakingly honest – I just have tons of respect and admiration for her.
There’s a great interview with her in Mother Jones in which she talks about how being able to write Hyperbole and the amazing fandom makes her something like happy, or as close to “happy” as a person suffering from severe chronic depression can be. She also says that the plus side of having essentially no feelings at the current time is that her anxiety is finally gone.
I want to invite her to come live in the mountains with me and groom my horse and let me cook for her, and a bunch of other things that don’t actually “cure” anyone’s depression.
oh man… I feel like it’s her ability to articulate how depression and anxiety feels that has helped so many people connect with her work. I’m glad to hear that she gets some benefit from it also.
She’s going to be doing a book reading at a nearby bookstore tomorrow and I’m so excited.
I clicked and don’t regret it one bit.
Atwood Munro Selfies
ATWOOD MUNRO SELFIES
ATWOOD
MUNRO
SELFIES
I was under the impression that to be a selfie, it had to be obvious that the person in the picture was taking it themselves. Since neither of them has their arm out to take the picture, isn’t it likely that someone else is taking the picture for them and thus it’s not a selfie, just a nice picture of them?
well, sure, technically nothing about those pictures is describable as a “selfie” except maaaaaybe the practice of posting a picture of oneself on the internet? does a GPOY a selfie make? (no)
but are you really going to argue against the headline “Atwood/Munro Selfies”? do you hate joy so much?
No author quote has ever made me happier than “Oh yes. You do That Thing.” –Alice Munro
I am the happiest about that
The Rob Ford news was breaking yesterday as my co-worker and I were making margaritas in the board room for the rest of the office. We toasted to Halloween, to breaking sales goals, and to the beginning of the end of Rob Ford. It was kind of perfect.
The comments on the article about the Roma are a nice display of unabashed, nightmarish racism. Especially fun after all the little kids running around in “Gypsy” costumes yesterday.
The virulent nature of anti-Roma racism in Europe is mind-boggling.
And many people who self-identify as progressives in these countries are quick to say that Americans can’t possibly understand why they’re justified in declaring the entire Roma population thieves and criminals.
The denial of racism in Europe has been raised to an art form. I lived in Switzerland for a year, and had someone tell me at least every week how racist the U.S. was, and how enlightened all the Europeans were. A French guy once told me, with a completely straight face, that “there is no racism in France.” I restrained myself from commenting on the treatment of North Africans…and from reducing him to dust with my laser-beam eyes.
ETA: (Not that I’m claiming there isn’t racism in the U.S., of course.)
The denial of racism in Europe has been raised to an art form. I lived in Switzerland for a year, and had someone tell me at least every week how racist the U.S. was, and how enlightened all the Europeans were. A French guy once told me, with a completely straight face, that "there is no racism in France." I restrained myself from commenting on the treatment of North Africans…and from reducing him to dust with my laser-beam eyes.
ETA: (Not that I'm claiming there isn't racism in the U.S., of course.)