#novels

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Is the book 'The Golem of Brooklyn' by Adam Mansbach Jewish?

I've read conflicting reviews about it being both funny and boring, respectful and caricature-y, thought-out and crass. I can't find anything about the author being Jewish or whether Jewish people's opinions on the story differ significantly from goy opinions.

I am contemplating buying the book but wouldn't want it if it's disrespectful.

Rating: Jewish

My spouse has read The Golem of Brooklyn and says they were "reluctantly charmed" by it, that it is definitely coming out of a specific American Jewish experience, and ymmv on how or if it speaks to you.

[wondering-whispers]

For some reason Viktor and Jayce give off the same vibe as Jude and Willem from A Little Life.

[cruella1989]

I completely agree. You can also tell during his Sith training, when Plaguies had him tell the story over and over that he was not comfortable with it yet.

Many people on the internet call the Palpatine family murder in Darth Plagueis to be of a cold-blooded nature when it actually wasn't. And it’s not the ultimate showcase of Palpatine’s evilness. It certainly is grizzly, but as Palpatine confesses internally while in a dilemma over Vidar Kim’s upcoming assassination, it was done out of much anger and fear. To me, it is the unmasking of evilness, revealing that it is a much more complex thing.

In the murder scene itself, it was clear that Cosigna, Palpatine’s father, was ready to take drastic measures. And, instead of dealing with it calculatedly, Palpatine’s next actions were clearly a powerful Force-sensitive’s instinctive reaction to threats. They weren’t completely conscious.

There were indicators during and after the fact that Palpatine, instead of gaining pleasure from his newfound powers and from causing suffering, was deeply disturbed by what he had done and what he could do. He went as far as to tell the rest of his family to not approach him. Although he killed them anyway sometime later, we were clued that it haunted him.

In his meeting with Plagueis afterward, he was obviously shaken by it. I personally could not detect pride in those scenes. Only confusion and terror in himself. He was expecting Plagueis to take some of that off him by showing solidarity, instead, Plagueis dumped all the guilt on him and trapped him with it. Telling him basically that he is damned, unredeemable, and that it would be a waste of time for him to try to be good.

[lucidloving]

@roach-works // Melissa Broder, "Problem Area" // Mary Oliver, "The Return" // @annavonsyfert // Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer // Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance // David Levithan, How They Met and Other Stories // Tennessee Williams, Notebooks

[mactiir]

obsessed with mass market paperbacks. their pleasing rectangular proportions. how they fit badly in a hoodie pocket so you can drag them around everywhere with you like a temporary little buddy. the way they fit in your hand because they're MADE for human hands and not as bookshelf decoration. the way the pages feel when you riffle them gently with your thumb. How pristine and crisp they look when you get them and how creased and folded they look when you're done, even if you try to be nice to them. how that wear is okay, how that's correct actually, because they're made with the philosophy that books aren't meant to be PRETTY, they're meant to be read. that little ripple new ones get on the left side from where you hold them when you're reading, the way the ripple only goes as far as you've read, because u change stories by reading as they are changing you. how you can find thousands of these creased and folded and loved little dudes in every thrift store and used book shop and neighborhood library and you can instantly see the ones that someone carried around in a backpack for weeks or read to pieces or gave up on halfway through because they wear being read like fresh snow wears footprints. I love these poorly made, subpar little rectangles so much. truly the people's books.

[morbid-romance]

🦇 🫀

[@signum.noir - Instagram]

[starryvomit]

[intothedreamverse]

White Nights, Fyodor Dostoevsky

[sirobvious]

“You just wrote your medieval fantasy setting to have medieval gender roles and homophobia and prejudice because you secretly fantasize about being able to be sexist and homophobic in a land with no PoC without any pushback! It’s fantasy, there’s dragons and wizards, it doesn’t have to have prejudice unless you, the writer, want it like that! In *my* D&D setting, there’s no sexism or homophobia, so that gay transgender women of all races can be holy knights fighting to protect the good kingdom from the endless hordes of the evil dark race that has threatened its borders for a thousand years!”

[smashing-yng-man]

[wangxian2bunnies]

Lan Zhan's thoughts:

Lan Zhan: HE WANTED TO WRAP MY HEADBAND AROUND HIS EYES AND SEXILY HIT THE BULLSEYE... NOPE— NOPE, THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT DOING ANYTHING TO ME RIGHT NOW. NOT AT ALL.

*5 seconds later*

[s-soulwriter]

Dark past ideas

A dark past can be really intresting in books .here are some ideas:

Mysterious Orphanage Escapee: A character who grew up in a sinister orphanage and narrowly escaped its dark secrets.

Traumatic War Survivor: A soldier who witnessed unspeakable horrors on the battlefield, leaving deep emotional scars.

Secret Criminal Past: A reformed criminal who once led a life of violence, but is now trying to make amends.

Kidnapped as a Child: A character who was abducted at a young age and endured years of captivity before escaping.

Tragic Family Betrayal: A character who was betrayed by a close family member, leading to a life filled with distrust and pain.

Cult Escapee: Someone who managed to break free from a dangerous cult, but is haunted by their past involvement.

Haunted by a Violent Crime: A person who accidentally caused harm to someone in their past and has been tormented by guilt ever since.

Dark Addiction: A character who battled a severe addiction that nearly destroyed their life before seeking recovery.

Betrayed by a Friend: A friend who turned out to be a traitor, leading to significant emotional trauma.

Abandoned in Isolation: Someone who was left alone and abandoned in a desolate place, struggling to survive.

Witness to a Murder: A character who saw a murder as a child and was forever scarred by the experience.

Childhood Experimentation: A person who was subjected to unethical scientific experiments in their youth, leaving lasting physical and emotional scars.

Kidnapped and Forced into Crime: A character who was abducted and forced to commit criminal acts against their will.

Betrayed by a Mentor: Someone who was betrayed by a trusted mentor, leading to a deep sense of betrayal and loss.

Survived Natural Disaster: A survivor of a catastrophic natural disaster who lost everything they held dear.

Abusive Relationship Escapee: A person who managed to escape an abusive relationship, but continues to struggle with the trauma.

Witness to a Dark Ritual: A character who stumbled upon a sinister occult ritual in their past, leaving them haunted by the experience.

Family Curse: A character burdened by a dark family curse that has brought suffering to generations.

Identity Theft and Framing: A person who had their identity stolen and was wrongfully accused of crimes they didn't commit.

[mikedawwwson]

What Are You Going Through

Published in The New York Times Sunday Book Review, 4/2/23

[questionableadvice]

~ Advice to Young Men and (Incidentally) to Young Women, in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life, by William Cobbett, 1829

Put that novel down right now, young lady! You've stopped trying to look pretty and you need to go brew some beer

[lucidloving]

Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena // Alain de Botton, Essays in Love // Eden Robinson, "Writing Prompts for the Broken-Hearted" // Chloe Liese, Always Only You // Anne Carson and Euripides, An Oresteia // Two—Sleeping At Last // Studio Bones, SK8 the Infinity // Trista Mateer, "is it okay to say this?" // @moodylilac // D. H. Lawrence, "The Rainbow"