Julie

Historical roots of RW extremism

Reviewed: 12-04-24

Quick run through of fairly recent past history of rw extremism in US. I remember Goldwater’s campaign so much of this was a refresher through the administrations up to now. There were parts I’d never learned about Iran Contra that now I have to seek out another book as it was a terrific scandal but RR skated above it all. It’s ironic that since at least 1930s ppl have been so paranoid about The Left while it’s only Democratic presidents who are held to account or standards, & have to do cleanup of messes left by GOP. Esp ironic as DJT just won reelection against an establishment that is very conservative. Yet as author notes that’s not enough now. Now it’s (counter)revolution burn it all down. Def worth the read

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Layered, complex , absurd, funny

Reviewed: 11-23-24

My first Murakami. It was quirky & took awhile to hook me but worth the ride. Covers a little if ground in young married man’s life. Narrator quite dramatic, each character is def distinct & easy to keep multiple threads straight. Unusual things happen. As another reviewer said there’s a string Wes Anderson vibe. Enjoyed it.

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Buyer beware

Reviewed: 11-18-24

If you’re into endless paranoia about the human body, horror generally & absurdism a la Kafka going on forever— the books for you.
I was unaware & read reviews that just said Best! Masterpiece!
This book goes along with Romania’s serious history of same period. It is likely most relevant for students of that time/place. This is a gifted author & there are bursts of beautiful prose as well as nods to Gabriel Marquez without the magical, more the daemons.
I’m not squeamish but after 18 hrs am just bored by the body horror, constant referring back to childhood of protagonist & paranormal disquisition.
I hate to leave a bad review but reader deserves knowing what getiinto. I love long books- Underworld by deLillo, Infinite Jest, DFW. Etc. Have to bail in this with 10hrs to go

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Wonderful in audio

Reviewed: 11-16-24

I couldn’t imagine this in audio but narrator did an amazing job, with DFW long sentences and great wordplay. Narrator was smooth and really brought IJ to life in unexpected ways.
IJ one of my favorite books. This makes my 5th reading as it’s so dense & not easy to hold & read such a heavy book that you also can’t put down.
I’d put this audio version over reading it first for its clarity and excellence overall. You can follow along with the book to get into the longer footnotes and not get lost.
Amazing job. Kudos to narrator and production team.

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Lays it out

Reviewed: 11-08-24

Ben saw things & remembers, pulling together how we got to where we are today. Only question is where will things go from here, now, 11/7/24? It’s been a long unraveling but well laid out. Excellent narration also.

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Why isn’t this taught in schools? Or even discussed more—

Reviewed: 10-14-24

Often uncomfortable and previously unknown facts of how we Americans are seen by rest of world, especially Middle East and omg Greece. The section on Iran and then Greece was not what we’ve heard before in most U.S. accounts. Just wrenching. I’ve known from my own travels how well other countries know history and our own reputation for ignorance. This book takes it up several notches and yet seems to have died away, proving the point that Americans must be spoon fed & even then will soon forget. I’ll be rereading this. It’s a short history of certain countries like we’ve never heard of— from the countries we crushed. Cf Hershey’s Hiroshima. 5 stars. All Americans should read.

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Interesting, well researched

Reviewed: 10-06-24

So much information about events I was aware of but without all relevant facts. Some of it is shocking. Much is still relevant to today’s problems as well as rhetoric. I’m struck by how we (U.S.) have been so hysterical about communism since J Edgar Hoover & Dulles bros in my lifetime, to point of ignoring critical UK dignity on mole in CIA (Philby) to backing dictators in Chile etc at whiff of leftist activism yet at home or abroad going far right is ok. So long as corporations & profits protected I guess.
This was better than I’d expected, and more broadly informative.

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1 person found this helpful

Dickens in 2024

Reviewed: 08-19-24

Terrific story with compelling characters and good pacing, though in last chapters at times suspense was killing me.
More interesting & wider view of life in Brexit Britain than you’d get from other reading, cutting across class, racial, socioeconomic & age groups. Quite interesting to me in U.S. like reading a modern Dickens & I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Admit I had a hard time with narrator’s Scottish brogue at times, & it’s a mild brogue but certain words … Narrator’s other accents like American spacey influencer were spot on. Was relieved whenever he shifted into London accent. Sorry to be parochial but prefer less strain to understand.
Great story. I hope it starts a trend of authors taking a cue that complex novels well written have an audience in this ADHD age.

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3 people found this helpful

Truth & facts mattered at long last

Reviewed: 08-17-24

Excellent having Ellsberg’s voice. This would be great for those too young to remember the earthquake that release of Pentagon Papers caused.
There’s more than I’d recalled esp going back to 1945 as start of Vietnam fight for independence.
This is great retelling without just a reading of entire PP. kudos to all involved.
Can’t help but think that today Nixon would get away with it all No senators would dare risk their careers— & imagine if J Edgar still ruled over fbi & nearly everything else.
The good news: Vietnam war finally ended after so many lies upon lies, decade after decade. So many of our boys dead. So many Vietnamese dead. For what.
May our nation under fact based reality & rule of law persevere.

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Interesting overview

Reviewed: 08-04-24

Especially interesting for us who lived through this irt but didn’t see larger picture author sees. I have just a couple minor quibbles— the Whiskey had a great house band at same time as Doors, Arthur Lee & Love, who most of us felt were more deserving of record contract but Lee was black- but crowd at Whiskey from ‘66 on I’m my experience. Plus Otis Redding & other Black performers came through regularly. The racial line was not at all strict or noticeable.
Otherwise very interesting view of music, film, tv confluence I’d never thought of. Very true that ‘68 & RFK MLK killings then Nixon win was totally devastating. The Bomb couldn’t have been worse.
Captures the zeitgeist and vibe narrowing in on particular people— leaving out plenty of important players but still telling a compelling story.
Explains rise of Moral Majority & Reagan.
End of my generation’s belief & hope in collective action still makes me unbelievably sad. Good book though and worth the read.

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