Review: Love, Theoretically

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Animal Farm, by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book is about a revolution taking place in the "Animal Farm", in which animals overthrown their human masters, and implement Animalism, in which all animals are free and equal!

I started this book being very skeptical. I read that it was a satire and a critique of communism, so I was wondering if this was going to be some sort of glorification of capitalism. I started reading it, and immediately felt uncomfortable. The book starts with an old pig, Old Major, talking about the plight of the farm animals, about being exploited, and about his desire to be free and have a better life, not only for him but for all animals. So I am thinking, this is meant to be satire, but it’s just talking about how a sentient race is trying to get free from oppression from slavery and from cruelty - is that meant to be bad or absurd? Is the author's point that inferior races are just meant to accept their fate? That the animals (the masses) cannot take care of themselves without masters? (this is not as facetious as it sounds, there are lots of captains of industries who really think that). Or was the criticism against communism as trivial as to say that the problem with it is that it promised to abolish all luxuries, even small ones, and that is why it couldn't work? (To be clear, I do agree with putting limits on big luxuries - no one needs 5 mansions and 3 yachts; but I do think that small luxuries, such as nice clothes and the occasional nice meal, are not anathema to solidarity and empathy towards people in need).

But it quickly becomes apparent that the criticism is of the leaders of the new movement - as soon as the revolution happens, they immediately start taking advantage of it and of everyone else. Basically, the whole revolution was a lie - they didn't get rid of masters, they just became the new masters! Animalism was never really implemented - it existed only in name, but not in practice and spirit.

I came to the book feeling very skeptical, but it won me over quickly. The parallels to history are fantastic! So "animalism" is "communism", the pigs are the communist leaders, with Old Major being an amalgamation of Marx and Lenin, Napoleon being Stalin, and Snowball being Trotsky. The story is a surprisingly informative and delicious satire of Stalinism and the Soviet Union!

Past 1/3 of the book, things really pick up. Napoleon (Stalin) is in full control, and things start to get real. The absurdities of the new regime grow day by day, and the similarities to the real history become starker and bleaker. As time passes, things just get bleaker and bleaker, and then outright tragic. When we come to denouement, years have passed, and the animal farm has achieved some stability. But then, when you thought you knew where it was heading, it finally arrives at its conclusion - that the ultimate stage of the Stalinist regime is good old capitalism - the pigs were, after all, capitalist pigs!

Did Orwell really predict the current state of capitalist Russia???

I liked that the author also criticized the other farms (i.e. countries) for demonizing the Animal Farm right from the start, lying about it, and minimizing their achievements; and that once they realized that Animal Farm was a more brutal place for the animals and a more profitable farm (at least for their masters) than the other farms, they looked at it with envy, and desired to emulate those aspects.

After reading it, I learned that the author (Orwell) was a Democratic Socialist, and that the book was written towards the end of World War II, when the UK was an ally to Russia! That just made the story much more remarkable!

Additional note: as a follow-up, I read "The Death of Stalin" right after this book - perfect coda to the story!

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Review: Snuff (Discworld, #39; City Watch, #8)

Snuff by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great book. Dynamic, witty, and as always, lots of fun!

In a lot of books I have read recently, it feels like it's mostly setup and then you have all the action at the end of the book; or the reader knows the answers to the mystery central to the plot from the beginning, and you're just waiting for the protagonist to catch up. This book is neither of these two cases: there is always something happening, the pacing is perfect, it's always moving the story forward. All of it is a good read, the journey is just as good as the destination; and the ending is just right!

If you know the Discworld canon and division of books, this is a "City Watch" story. However, it's more of a Sam Vimes story, not the whole City Watch, because it takes place during Vimes vacation trip to the country. In this story, Vimes has risen to the position of Duke, is incredibly well-regarded by all, recognized as a very important person not only in Ankh-Morpork but also by the dwarves and trolls. But then Vetinari somehow manipulates him (through his wife) into taking a vacation in the country, to go visit his wife's family manor, of which Vimes is now lord.

The main plot is a murder mystery, with Vimes trying to solve the murder and bring those responsible to justice. At times it feels like it is riffing on a Sherlock Holmes story, with Vimes standing for Sherlock and his gentleman's gentleman Willikins for Dr. Watson. The story is set on the countryside, and it's meant to be evoke (in a satirical way) stories in the English countryside from the 1800s - think Jane Austen, Emily Bronte. He actually has a minor character called Jane who is most definitely the local incarnation of Jane Austen. Thus following this theme, the book has a great exploration of the questions of class and elitism in Britain.

A big theme is racism, nominally about racism against goblins; but calling out all the ways a group of people can be racist against other groups of people. And how first it's racist towards one group; and once that group gains acceptance, racist against another group; and once that one is also acceptable, another, and so on. But surprisingly, it's not just about overt racism, but about not doing anything while others are being racist; about just sitting idling by, letting things be because that's how they always have been. The story literally says that everyone should take up arms if that's what is needed to combat racism. Vimes shames the good citizens of the village for failing to do that.

The book has many scenes and dialogues full of self-reflection, of digressions, of wonderings about life, morality, about what is right and wrong. It feels very introspective and retrospective, as if the author is reflecting on his own life. It doesn't shy away from exploring some quite dark themes, like racism mentioned above, but also violence, slavery, exploitation, the condition of misery of poor people. It is maybe as if the author thought as he was getting older and closer to being unable to write anymore, he better address some more serious topics while he had a chance, before he was unable to. I think this brings some maturity to the Discworld series as we near its end, and it is better for it.

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Review: The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting but difficult read. But before talking about the story, a pet peeve: this book has a lot of foreshadowing, which is a technique I don't like. It makes reading very repetitive, leaves the reader thinking "haven't they said that already?".

It’s a difficult read because of how detestable the protagonist, Esteban, is. At times it looks like the book might be a redemption story, or at least a story about a hero in the Ayn Rand mold - bad enough, but pretending to be good. But no, he is truly cruel, stealing, raping and murdering without concern and with impunity. He treat his employees at best like children, but usually like animals. And "employees" is already being too generous, they are like his slaves (for many years he didn't pay them); or more like his serfs from a feudal system, where he is the lord with all rights over their life and death. And all that while placing himself above all, like he is doing everyone a favor, that "job creator" mentality.

Esteban is definitely the central character of the book - some summaries say it’s meant to be Esteban and Clara, but Esteban steals the focus and scene continuously. So it’s a story about a egotistical despicable man, commuting his crimes, abusing everyone around him, and getting away with it - he just keeps prospering! His eventual loneliness at home is hardly justice, and the fact that his descendants suffer due to his own actions is the opposite of justice: it's just one more instance of him getting away with it, with the only addition that now others have to pay the price. I suppose that the good thing about this story is how it illustrates how the rich and powerful get their way, no matter how much evil they cause, and everyone else has to deal with it.

It also illustrates the elite mentality of seeing themselves as innocent victims, and of being truly deserving of their power. Esteban constantly brings up how the poor are lazy, and that he is rich because he worked hard for everything, that he started from nothing like them - never mind the fact that he inherited vast tracts of farm land from his family, and that was the foundation of his wealth and power. He often accuses the poor and the "Marxists" of being criminals and wanting to take things by force - never mind all the crimes that he himself did and all that he took by force. He abuses, rapes, steals, and pages later, says without irony that he "never committed any crimes, except tax evasion". In the end, that is a weakness of the book: he is depicted completely without introspection, and the reader is left with no insight into his mind and his actions. The story ends well for him, he never comes to any realization of how twisted his worldview is. He never shows any regret, goes to the end defending his positions, and only admits that something is bad when it affects him personally. He defends his anti-socialism, his feudalism, his support of the coup, and only admits that perhaps the military went a bit too far - they were mostly right, they could have dialed down the violence just a bit; you know, if they had not gone after people connected to the elites, to himself, then everything would be all right. He is a deplorable person to the end.

Only towards 2/3 of 3/4 of the book we finally move beyond Esteban, and the country itself becomes the main character, as we get to the story of the military coup and dictatorship in Chile. Esteban is no longer the central character, as the focus passes partially to Alba, his granddaughter. It has some romance, personal tragedies, and some very difficult passages at the end. But all that is in service to capturing the events of the coup. It's all tragic and difficult.

Another thing I didn't like was that I thougth that the authors engaged on a lot of what-about-ism and "both-sides"-ness. She does this both at small and large scales. She draws a parallel of the hate of Esteban for Pedro Tercero, for being a peasant (never mind that he eventually is a country music star) daring to love his daughter; to the hate that Pedro Tercero has for Esteban, *for trying to kill him and cutting off his fingers* - right, almost the same :/. She equates the violence of the rebels (fighting to survive) with the violence of the military (fighting to wipe out anyone who might threaten their iron grip on power), which is offensive to say the least. She clearly condemns the military dictatorship, but on the other hand she leaves a lot of (false) criticisms of socialism unquestioned.

In the end, the book as a whole is good for the big picture of the country it presents, adeep dive into the culture, and the molding of its society and its politics throughout the 20th century. If you're not familiar with Latin America modern history, it might be revelatory. This is the biggest strength of the book, and what makes it a worthy read.

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Review: The Labyrinth Index (Laundry Files, #9)

The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's a great exploration of the world after the shocking events from the previous book. Nyarlathotep is in charge - now what? The plot seems fun, and a good way to up the ante. And although the previous book was a good sort-of-conclusion to the story of the main characters, this book is the one to actually have the Laundry face its greatest enemy, alluded to from the very first book, the sleeper ((view spoiler)[Cthulhu (hide spoiler)]). It's a good plot, going back to the first two books, and a more technical sort of spy book, with the protagonists going into a secret-agent type of mission, but dealing with a lot of the bureaucracy, setup, and technicalities. You can tell there was a lot of research going into it. I really like that, since that's what made me like this series to begin with. It had a lot of non-linear story-telling, with flashbacks and pauses for technical explanations. It also had lots of high political intrigue, which is quite new to the series. Finally, there is a lot of action, of the more conventional type with guns and shootouts (it takes place in the US!), also in contrast to the previous books. In particular, the ending was very action-filled, with lots of cool stuff happening. It was very satisfying!

One thing I didn't like was the choice of characters. I would have preferred a book following the main protagonists, Bob and Mo, but they are not really present here. It's too bad, since it looks like this will be the last book following the main storyline for a while (the author switched to writing about secondary stories, "side quests", happening in the new world). So instead of Bob and Mo, or even Alex the vampire, we got pretty much all the other side characters thrown together in a single mission, for no apparent reason other than they are the ones we are familiar with and are still alive. It was weird selection, with all new interpretations of the characters. Some of them are good, some of them seem forced and completely out of place, so it's a mixed bag of characters and characterization.


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Review: The Delirium Brief (Laundry Files, #8)

The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent continuation and an almost-conclusion of the Laundry Files overall story!
It picks up directly from the previous book, so don't think about reading this if you hadn't read what came before. However, it does have a very brief summary of the story so far at the beginning, so if it has been a while since you have read it, this helps.

I like how the story starts with our protagonists having progressed to be at the top of the organization. It was good following them along all these years, and seeing them now in high positions, being recognized. It also brings back a lot of characters and plotlines from the older books - it's a great "it's all coming together" book, but it does require you to have a good memory for a lot of it.

The action is great in this one. In previous books, they always felt like they spent 90% building up to something, then you got the action on the last 10%. In this one, the action is much more evenly spread, there is stuff happening from the beginning. This plot moves briskly, and there is a "twist" about a third of the way in (the "enemy attack"), and it is a pretty shocking one, and drives the rest of the plot. By the halfway point, the plan is already clear. This book is not holding back, there is a lot going on, and it's pretty fun. Bob is a great character in this book. He is incredibly powerful, but also grounded, very human and very non-American: he doesn't simply go around beating the bad guys sensibly, and when he does hurt someone, he feels very guilty. It makes for a much more compelling character than if he was more of a super-hero.

It strikes me how non-American all of the action is. Guns are rare; people are reluctant to use guns and kill people; there is way more bureaucracy than violence.

The ending is great, and it could be a good stopping point, except that I really want to know "now what???".

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Review: The Nightmare Stacks (Laundry Files, #7)

The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Comparing to the previous entry in the series, this is a much better and more fun book. And as I am reading the audiobook, the narration is also much better, more lively.

It feels more like the earlier books of the series, specially the very first book and the early short stories; and the narrator/protagonist himself, Alex, sounds a lot like Bob Howard, the main hero of the series. He is different, yet similar. So it's a back to the roots type of book. The story in this book, (view spoiler)[the Elf invasion (hide spoiler)], is a detour from the overarching story of the series ("Case Nightmare Green"), but it still ties with everything else, and moves the overall story forward.

The one complaint about the book is that most of it feels like prelude, like it's building up to something, which then happens only at the very end of the book, and very quickly. The end is very interesting, but then it just kinda happens and then the book is over - there is no further explanation, no exploration of the consequences. It's too bad, because it sounded pretty good. I guess that's meant to leave us wanting for the next book!


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