#the storytelling is a MASTERPIECE everything is woven so beautifully

[e-the-village-cryptid]

please watch andor please come talk about it with me please please please i am begging

[yuv4na]

Harmonies in the Cosmos: Exploring 'The Dark Side of the Moon,' 'Twin Fantasy,' and 'Anveshna' – A Sonic Odyssey

Hello there,

I'm that person who always has her headphones on (yes, I'm listening to music right now). From bouncing between various music phases, I've evolved into the "everything" listener. Lately, I've been drawn to albums with meaningful themes that thread all their songs together. It just clicks, you know? So, if you're someone like me, here are a few albums with beautifully woven themes that deserve a spot in your playlist.

1) THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - by pink floyd

So, "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd? That album is like a deep dive into the human psyche, you know? Released back in '73, it's like a musical journey exploring life, time, and the not-so-sunny sides of being human. Time is a big player here – tick-tocking clocks and all. It's like a constant reminder that life's ticking away, urging you to ponder how you're spending your precious moments. And then there's "Brain Damage" shining a light on the fine line between sanity and madness, delving into the mental health rollercoaster. But it's not just introspective stuff; they take a swipe at society too. "Money" and "Us and Them" throws shade at the dehumanizing grind, the rat race, and the whole conformity circus. Pink Floyd was like, "Let's talk about the real stuff," you know? And like a cherry on the top, the songs flow seamlessly into one another, creating a continuous musical experience, so get ready for a fully immersive experience. It's an album that hits you in the feels and makes you think – a timeless classic for sure.

2) TWIN FANTASY - by car seat headrest

Twin Fantasy is like a musical rollercoaster through the twists and turns of love, relationships, and self-discovery. It's like Will Toledo decided to spill his heart out on every track, creating this coming-of-age masterpiece that's basically a soundtrack to the messy, beautiful journey of growing up. The whole album feels like a personal diary set to music, you know? With the title "Twin Fantasy," it's like Toledo is playing around with this idea of duality, maybe reflecting the internal tug-of-war we all go through when trying to figure ourselves out. There's this mirrored quality to the narrative that adds this extra layer of complexity. And the lyrics? they're like a direct line to Toledo's soul. It's like he's baring it all – the struggles of getting close to someone, the impact of mental health on relationships, and the whole messy business of trying to figure out who you are. Something I love about he album is that It's not just a bunch of tracks; it's a cohesive story. Each song is like a chapter in this novel of emotions. And the vulnerability! It's refreshing how honest and raw Toledo gets. Listening to "Twin Fantasy" is like taking a deep dive into the complexities of relationships and self-discovery. It's relatable on so many levels – like Toledo is narrating the soundtrack of our own messy, beautiful lives.

3) ANVESHNA - by arpit bala

"Anveshna" isn't just an album; it's a journey through the labyrinth of human emotions, skillfully crafted by Arpit Bala alongside Sangeetkir and A.O.D. The very essence of the title, meaning 'to find something,' sets the stage for a narrative that delves into the story of a lost soul going through a heartache. Arpit Bala seems to have poured his heart and soul into this creation, turning it into a personalized exploration of obsession, heartbreak, and self-doubt. It's like he's inviting you to step into his world and feel every chord, every beat, and every lyric as if they were tailor-made for your own emotional journey.What makes "Anveshna" truly exceptional is its seamless storytelling. As you listen, you can't help but be swept away by the cohesion of the four tracks. The beauty lies in how each song flows effortlessly and gracefully into the next.In essence, "Anveshna" is not just an auditory experience; it's a personal odyssey. This album is like an invitation to feel, to reflect, and to find something within yourself.

[vpittszay]

(PEEK PREVIEW) 

The essence of the (PEEK PREVIEW) 

Ah, behold the sneak peek of this literary masterpiece, a collection of 38 chapters woven together like a finely crafted quilt—or maybe more like a tangled ball of yarn, depending on who you ask. With bated breath and a healthy dose of curiosity, I prepare to dive headfirst into this mosaic of storytelling, like a cat chasing after a laser pointer. 

Each chapter promises a delightful rollercoaster ride of diverse perspectives and events—a veritable smorgasbord of storytelling delights. From the highs of heartwarming tales to the lows of laugh-out-loud mishaps, there's something for everyone in this literary buffet.

As I embark on this adventure, I can't help but feel a twinge of excitement, like a kid in a candy store with a pocket full of quarters. I eagerly anticipate the twists and turns that lie ahead, ready to be whisked away on a journey through the depths and nuances of each intricately woven narrative of Pitts, Mike, Evie, Allison, and Anna Mae. 

So here's to the promise of laughter, tears, and everything in between. May this literary odyssey be as thrilling and unpredictable as a game of Russian roulette, but with words instead of bullets. Enjoy the ride, dear reader, and may the story unfold like a beautifully choreographed dance of words and wonder. Cheers! 📚🎉

Amidst the chaos of conflict, Sergeant Anna Mae Lewis charges headfirst into the fray, armed with determination and a hefty dose of sass. As she embarks on her perilous military mission, she's like a one-woman show, starring in her own action-packed drama with a script that's equal parts suspenseful and hilarious.

Navigating through the treacherous terrain of war-torn regions, Anna Mae doesn't just walk; she struts, her confidence radiating like a beacon in the darkness. With each step, she's a symphony of resilience, dodging bullets and delivering one-liners with equal finesse.

The narrative unfolds with all the dramatic flair of a Hollywood blockbuster, with Anna Mae as the fearless protagonist who's always ready with a witty retort, even in the face of danger. "One shot, and you're silenced before gravity claims you," Death echoes from a thousand meters, where each pull of the trigger weaves a tale of precision and inevitability. She quips, her words dripping with a mix of badassery and humor. 

And as death looms ominously in the distance, Anna Mae remains unfazed, her trigger finger poised and ready to weave a tale of precision and inevitability. With each pull of the trigger, she's writing her own action-packed saga where danger and laughter go hand in hand.

So here's to Sergeant Anna Mae Lewis: a true warrior, a master of wit, and a force to be reckoned with. In a world filled with chaos and uncertainty, she's the hero we never knew we needed, kicking butt and taking names with style and panache.

So, brace yourselves for the epic saga of Sergeant Lewis, where courage and determination collide with chaos and calamity in a whirlwind of hilarity and heroism. Picture this: Sergeant Lewis, her unit armed with nothing but her wits and a hefty dose of sarcasm, charging headfirst into the belly of the beast—the tumultuous battlefield.

As the story unfolds, it's like a rollercoaster ride of adrenaline and absurdity, with Sergeant Lewis at the helm, navigating through the chaos with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. Each encounter is a vivid brushstroke painting a picture of mayhem and madness, with danger lurking around every corner and comedic relief never far behind.

The reader is catapulted into the midst of the action, feeling the tension and intensity of each harrowing moment as if they were right there alongside Sergeant Lewis. It's a raw and unfiltered glimpse into the realities of war, where laughter becomes a coping mechanism and absurdity reigns supreme.

But through it all, Sergeant Lewis stands tall, her indomitable spirit shining bright amidst the darkness. With every witty quip and sarcastic remark, she proves that laughter truly is the best medicine—even in the face of danger.

So buckle up, dear reader, and get ready for a wild ride with Sergeant Lewis. It's a story you won't soon forget, filled with laughter, tears, and more than a few explosions along the way.

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rb.gy/hugzoo

[luuurien]

motifs - remember a stranger

(Dream Pop, Shoegaze, Indie Rock)

The Singaporean quintet's debut is a beautifully detailed and impressively transparent dive into loss and childhood, Elspeth Ong's voice and writing guiding the band through vivid shoegaze mirages and hazy ambient pop. remember a stranger's compactness combined with its potent instrumentation makes for a slim yet stunning album where fading memories are saved just before they drift entirely.

☆☆☆☆☆

For a modern dream pop band, motifs keep things decidedly low-key. Where their contemporaries embrace glossy chillwave (Lucid Express) or buzzing twee pop (Tokenainamae), the Singaporean quintet opt for something approaching cleaner, sweeter indie pop, leaning on heavy guitars and swirling effect pedals when necessary but often pulling back to reveal how fragile and sensitive a band they can be as well, their debut album remember a stranger a nine-track masterpiece of playful dream pop/post-punk with a distinctly personal bent, eschewing the usual abstraction of bands within their orbit and taking advantage of the genre's vast atmospherics to tell stories of childhood distress and the memories both broken and lost from them, Elspeth Ong's voice and writing guiding the band through vivid shoegaze mirages and hazy ambient pop. Everything just works with remember a stranger in ways few albums manage, where every instrumental element feels perfectly placed and no moment seems wasted even when the group slows down to near ambient levels of stillness, all delivered with such generous emotional vulnerability and a natural instinct for what makes this kind of music so good that it's impossible to listen to remember a stranger without wondering how this is just the band's first outing. motifs' success is as simple as all these songs being absolutely wonderful to listen to again and again. Like many modern indie bands, there are a myriad of 80s and 90s influences driving them forward, but motifs converge them in surprising ways that keeps remember a stranger feeling fresh and unique even as it steeps itself in traditional pop structures for the majority of its eight tracks. Though the title track plays on formless, gently strummed acoustic guitars for its first half - reminiscent of Slowdive's Dagger or even the softer cuts off Sweet Trip's You Will Never Know Why - the second half pulls the song into icy post-rock à la Sigur Ros, a surprising detour for the song that turns it from simply a tender penultimate cut to one of the album's most thrilling and rewarding tracks, while plucky cuts from the album's first half point to motifs' love of The Cure and Cocteau Twins as fluorescent brings out bouncy lead guitars and hourglass' sparkly synth leads shine a sunny warmth onto shoegaze the genre rarely finds itself in the same room as. It's not just that motifs can make great pop songs, it's that they can stitch such wonderful textures and subtle compositional notes into them to make remember a stranger lighter and lovelier than any other dream pop album this year even while retaining the genre's graceful oasis of noisy guitars and hushed singing. Ong's writing is another strong point for the album, something remember a stranger takes advantage of to reach just a little further as they catapult to the stars. Where the lyrics of a shoegaze song tend to be either nonexistent or loosely woven with imagery and intentional vagueness, Ong opts for specificity and rich environmental storytelling to allow motifs a new level of gutting emotional honesty, a warped image of what seems to be a death in her family dominating fluorescent ("I was four / All i saw was red paint all across our front door / Everything has changed ") and precise details from meeting an old friend making the already aching summersad even more of a heartbreaker ("I think you’ve lost some weight / Your hair still falls quite the same way"), remember a stranger focused on fading memories and coping with loss and stitching in as much detail as possible to try and not lose the image motifs are so desperately trying to hold onto. Combined with the crystal-clear instrumentation they often utilize, there's no way to listen to remember a stranger without those feelings coming at you straight-on, motifs building an experience where the bliss of their instrumentation is matched by how impactful Ong's songwriting and vocals are. It's a measured, perfectly balanced mix of glossy indie pop and thoughtful singer/songwriter-isms, and motifs bring it all together so flawlessly that remember a stranger's effortlessness never comes across as detached or indifferent. remember a stranger is dream pop at its peak, and nothing more. motifs aren't reinventing dream pop or trying to experiment much with their formula; their decision to stick to what's known and find ways to make it their own infinitely more gratifying as they search inwards towards healing rather than some external end point. Part of what makes the album special is how it lingers on old feelings without always feeling the need to resolve them, motifs sitting with a memory and often leaving it at that as remember a stranger commits itself solely to flipping through the pages of Ong's mind and learning what each story means to her. Understated, reserved, and absolutely brilliant, remember a stranger's spotlessness is the result of a band treasuring the opportunity to do what comes completely second nature to them.

[caramujotan]

disco elysium text-form #thots:

i finished my first run last friday because i went stupid and played the game for nearly 24h straight. i could literally not drop it. i called it a 10/10 when i was about 2h away from finishing it, finished it and kept that score. it’s a real good game and you can stop here with my endorsement but if you want some more in-depth spoiler-free thoughts on it you can read the rest of this post. it’s big.

due to the content of the game, i talk about mental health topics, suicide, drug use and - obviously - cops 🐷

in a way calling this by numbers feels reductive (scalding hot review take, i know). a 10/10 score doesn’t reflect the awe i felt when gilding through the end-game. it doesn’t say a thing about how viscerally my body reacted to a few pixels and lines of text. it can’t tell you that i spent 2h in bed trying to sleep but couldn’t keep my brain off of it and got up at 8AM to finish it; or how much i’ve been replaying the game in my head, curious about how certain quests or events would have gone if i’d tried a different approach or character build.

i have this funky little medical condition that goes with my autism that makes it difficult for me to identify and process most emotions that i feel. but i can tell you how my body reacted. this game went into my gut. it felt like a leaded fist burrowed through my throat into the pit of my stomach and shredded my insides. it got me fucked up, is what i’m saying.

obviously i can’t go into what caused me to react like that without spoiling the shit out of this game, and since i wish i could gently lobotomize myself in order to experience it again for the first time, i heavily recommend you go through it knowing as little as possible. what i can do, however, is talk about the technical elements of it.

the art is beautiful. the art direction is top-notch and it was definitely of the things that drew me to this game first. the oil painting aesthetic is sublime - gritty and ethereal in equal parts whenever each purpose is called for. finding out that the art team was spearheaded by painting majors from russian fine-art schools made perfect sense - it shows, and the game made peak use of it. the philosophy behind their visual approach is woven into the fabric of the game itself - it’s a perfect compliment to the writing and storytelling, and i’d struggle to imagine this game without it. it permeates and elevates every environment, every interaction, every character build choice - from the character portraits, to the UI, to certain skills and game events. real art cop hours all my homies kin the art cop.

the music by british sea power is subsided and haunting and gives the game that british/european post-industrial melancholic flavor. i’m no music critic sadly. it fits the mood and it stands out beautifully in a few key scenes, but that’s as much as i can say.

the biggest turn off for me was in the voice acting. if you’re interested in playing this game i’m going to assume with 75% certainty you’re in your early 20s to 30s and are politically located to the left side of liberal at a minimum - so i’ll just come out and say it plainly: every second NPC (especially in the late game) is voiced by a leftist podcaster. i’m sure this is a plus for some, and it’s not the kind of thing you’d immediately notice anyway unless you’re a quote unquote dirtbag leftist with terminal irony poisoning twitter brainrot. most of them do competent work, but the sound mixing and general performance is weaker in comparison to the NPCs voiced by actual voice actors. 

it’s not that bad, but it’s there - and the fact that this is probably my biggest complaint about the game should say enough of my opinion on it. either way i was cringing with recognition every time it happened and it took me out on more than one occasion because i kept hearing felix chapotraphouse in one of the game’s big tense climatic scenes.

‘but caramujo!’ you say ‘this doesn’t tell me what this game is about’. hold on, i’m about to blow the ‘i can’t do literary analysis unless things are explained to me in clear cut absolute terms’ gang out of a career and spell the themes of this game out for you in detail:

it’s about loss, and renewal - both personal and interpersonal. it’s about rising from the ruins of something that’s been in motion long before you were even thought of, having little power over it, and soldiering on. it’s about heartbreak and the end of a relationship and how that can warp your mind and infect everything around you. and you won’t get better right away - the end game doesn’t wrap everything up with a little bow and lets you cause systematic upheaval. you can’t revolutionize your way out of this one. shit will, for the time being, continue to suck. 

it’s about waking up in a body that’s fucked up with a heart that aches in a world that’s been torn apart - and still making the decision to try to make it better - because you’re alive, and your heart beats, and there’s other beings in the world that are tethered to you and we all owe it to ourselves to make it better. communism hasn’t worked, baby - but so hasn’t love - and we’re not gonna give up on that. that’s what it’s all about.

it should be pretty clear right now that i did my first run as a bisexual/questioning communist feminist hobo who kinned karl marx. but i can assure you there’s other ways to play this game, and there’s more to it than that because of it. 

the quests (both side quests and a main story) are varied and had me laughing and dropping into existential despair on different occasions. other than trying to be the biggest communism builder, this game is also about:

- having a heart attack because a chair is too uncomfortable, but it’s OK because your buddy cop holds you in his arms like in the buddy cop movies. 

- doing copious amounts of drugs and turning on, tuning in and dropping out, maaaaan. 

- going on an x-files monster of the week episode to track down a curse that’s dooming the local businesses.

- shilling for the free market to come fix it all with its beatific invisible hand while standing in a town so fucked over by economic embargoes and poverty that the local union leader is a corrupt toad with a plan to revitalize the region by gathering the work force into a nationalized worker owned drug enterprise of the legal and illegal varieties - and it still comes off as one of the more levelheaded economic decisions one could make in that situation. 

- trying not to fucking kill yourself even though you have to live with that thought every single day. 

- winning the trust of a 12 year old crackhead with a deadbeat dad by becoming a positive masculine role model. 

- turning into a fascist you so can get buffs from drinking alcohol, and therefore becoming a raging alcoholic and having to walk up to important story events carrying half a liquor store in your inventory so you don’t have a mental breakdown or kill yourself from lack of morale whenever someone calls you out on your ethnonationalist bullshit.

it’s also - and i cannot stress this enough - about making sure you can find a tape to sing karaoke and make kim kitsuragi smile. it slaps. it’s real good writing.

i don’t know what else can say. pretty sure the game is on sale on steam now. anyway please play this absolute masterpiece and stan studio za/um for clear skin. ACAB.

[skamamoroma]

“I Told Sunset About You” - Review/Recap/Whole Bunch of Nonsense Rambling about my Love!

Every now and then a show comes along that I get absolutely knocked off my feet by and I can’t stop thinking about it until I write a whole bunch of nonsense because it’s THAT GOOD and this damn show. I’ve thought about it all week. Outside of the SCU and other longer running stuff, the last time a show sidetracked me like this was San Junipero and I dreamed about that episode for weeks! This show got to me so much that I knew I had to write that whole bunch of nonsense for real and I decided to write a bit of a review and then some specific posts about some of the themes, metaphors, ideas and shots etc that I adore. So if this is not your thing, I tag religiously!

So if you haven’t seen it, the show is about two young boys, Teh and Oh-aew, living in Phuket in Thailand about to take their entry exams/go through the Uni acceptance process. They were childhood best friends until they had an argument which caused them to stop speaking to one another for many years until they meet again at a Chinese class. The story is about friendship, identity, love, rivalry, family, authenticity, ambition and growing up. It’s sweet, funny, painful, warm, difficult, romantic, hopeful, honest and insightful. I hope you don’t fall asleep reading... !

My friend in Japan recommended this show to me. I watch a lot of movies/tv from different parts of the world but rarely from this part of the world not because I don’t want to - I DO! - I just don’t know what’s good and I tend to rely on recommendations from friends or coming across things by chance. If you’ve followed me for even a while, you know my JAM is character driven, nuanced, beautiful shows that go heavy on authentic emotion but use cinematography/music/sound/colour and other creative tricks to further the story. Nothing makes me go starry eyed more than a show SHOWING without a single moment of TELLING where it isn’t necessary and this show hit every single one of those things and more to the point that I was completely swooning at how much of a masterpiece it is. I swear some tiny moments in this show have me floored with how effective and meaningful they are. ARGH. 

As icing on the cake, it’s beautifully LGBT+ themed (written in part and, I believe, directed by LGBT+ folks - if I’ve got that wrong from translations, let me know). These themes are created with care and love, felt refreshing with characters I don’t feel I’ve really seen before. I know that there is info to suggest that they wanted to create this show much more FOR LGBT+ folks and to differentiate it from a style of show that is perhaps more popular for a mainstream audience or a certain audience that wants a certain thing from some Thai dramas (I’m personally not into BL - I think that’s what the genre is called as I kinda don’t know how to feel about that stuff being hella tropey and made for a specifically straight female audience)… and you can tell. They apparently didn’t promote this as that genre. Some of the other themes were so interesting and explored so beautifully. The idea of rivalry and competition was handled with so much insight and depth that it really did stun me at time’s how skilled the writing is. 

The acting… oh the acting. I know Billkin and PP have apparently been close friends for many years but even that sometimes doesn’t guarantee to equal this level of chemistry. They are stunning actors, genuinely nuanced, so charismatic and loveable. I love that even the sad anguished moments are messy as hell (and a couple so delightfully dramatic), the gentle sweeping romantic moments are swoon worthy and allowed to linger or exist in silence, the tension they create is often feels a little too intrusive to watch and the nuance - so much is said without saying anything at all. Some specific moments are handled with so much care when dealing with really complex emotion and I’m floored to see such young actors achieve some of the moments they do because some of the emotion is genuinely complex. There’s a lot of Teh who is terribly complex and to achieve that balance between difficult to work out and yet still feeling like you understand him is a very tricky thing and yet, that’s what I felt when I watched his character. I am in awe of their abilities to be honest and just found them completely mesmerising from start to finish. I love that a lot of their character traits are established so strongly through acting choices that by the end, when both have come kinda full circle and have learned from the other, you can see the OTHER in the OTHER, if that makes sense! Teh in the final few scenes takes on some of Oh’s characteristics. It’s so noticeable but never oversold. Perfect.I can’t overstate this enough! Some moments left me breathless for so many reasons. 

My mum lived in Thailand for a while and in Phuket where the show is set and I loved seeing stuff I recognised from a few of her photographs. I felt I learned a lot about Thai culture too, stuff my mum would have learned and I adored the world surrounding these characters! Btw, if I get anything incorrect re: the culture - come shout at me! :)

The music. Knowing that the soundtrack was written for the show and sung mostly by the two leads was such a surprise because they are beautiful songs. The score is, and I cannot emphasise this enough, bloody gorgeous. There are parts where they play the most gentle soft piano music that kinda breaks my heart and others when they perfectly place the most uplifting soaring sounds that enhance some simple scenes so much that they felt so impactful. There’s a song on the score called Skyline Minimal which is used in a specific scene and in the documentary the director talks about how just the sound of it, you don’t need the lyrics, it just makes you miss someone and makes you cry and he’s absolutely spot on so that when you hear it, what happens on screen just shatters your heart. The soundtrack is woven into the storyline so deeply that the lyrics are used, the melody is used to trigger Oh-aew’s memories at one point and the pretend source of the main song, Skyline, is directly linked to not only the idea of learning Chinese and what that means for them both as characters and as a pair but two of the main themes of the season, ambition and identity! 

The cinematography. Christ on a bike. I could write essays. I am a sucker for meaningful camera work, stuff that does half of the storytelling for you and I cannot praise this more highly other than to say it’s close to perfect. Some moments are so absolutely mesmerising and meaningful that a simple movement or a simple peek at something means a LOT. I’m going to have to write a whole damn post on some of my favourite moments because I can count on one hand the shows/movies of late that I’ve seen that achieve what this show does with camera work, directorial choices and general approach to non-verbal story telling. The level of thought and detail and using a camera in a creative and loving way... I found it so moving and so beautiful the way you could feel the level of consideration that went into the smallest moments, how entire moments of character development were done silently…

The use of metaphor. Anyone who knows me knows I am absolutely WEAK for this stuff. If a good complex emotion or concept can be developed in a way other than with words then I am yours… I will read into everything, enjoy every clever reference and revel in the use of colour or light or sound or motif. This show was a gift in that sense. I’m going to end up writing posts about stuff like the use of colour and the hibiscus flower and coconuts and the use of Chinese words. Again, some moments were so genuinely beautifully done and unexpected that I was like a kid in a sweetshop and was a little swoony over them. There are some moments when the Chinese phrases/words are used through their tutoring in a way to sum up the character’s feelings, moments are built up to by establishing motifs that, when used to their conclusion make for the most BEAUTIFUL or gut wrenching moments. The hibiscus flower scene/colouring in may  be one of my most favourite scenes in the whole show and I just smile thinking of how wonderfully it was developed.

Another thing I truly adored was how I genuinely loved every single character. There’s no demonisation, no discarding of characters at the expense of others (especially as I hate when women in movies are treated this way when there’s no reason to), no characters who are used as scapegoats. If anything, you come out adoring the characters who traditionally “get in the way” of a pairing because, well, they don’t. They don’t feel in the way or an annoyance. They feel genuine and lovely and you root for them. That’s a really really kind way to treat your characters but, above anything, it’s just lovely to see that much consideration given to characters to treat them all as humans. I get a little sick of seeing ‘bad guys’, you know? I like flawed, messy but human people. Hoon as a big brother is so understated but when he appears and when it matters, some of his moments are so genuinely emotional it’s amazing how they allow him to be a typical brother, kinda dismissive and teasing his younger sibling but then he’s THERE and really fully there for his brother in some truly significant moments. It felt so earned for me and goodness, one moment kills me when Teh is full on in the middle of a family fight, sobbing and confused and in a room of them all, Hoon goes directly to his brother and the simple way it happens had me in bits. Apparently, that was an improvised scene too so it makes it a little special.

The ending. Any LGBT+ soul out there knows the pain of watching another miserable ending and, don’t get me wrong, I’m ALL FOR endings where you don’t necessarily get what you WANT but only ones that make sense and are earned so they make you think or realise you don’t NEED what you want etc. BUT also want happiness and hope and love and watching LGBT+ characters thrive. Not to spoil, but they treat these two very well by the end… you just have to make your way through a box of tissues first!

So yeah, it was alright. Hahahaha. I genuinely think it’s a masterpiece. I feel the love and care that went into it, the time taken to consider and think and find ways to say a LOT by saying very LITTLE. I feel the commitment to LGBT+ media, little nods to other shows/moments… I feel their wish to be original and to try to make new characters feel fresh and unseen. I just adored it and I’m so grateful it exists because as a piece of art, when you finish it and can write legit essays (and I’ve seen posts other people have written and I’m in NO WAY the only one here) then you know you’ve done something kinda special! So that’s me, getting my whole bunch of nonsense down… and now I can make specific posts and ramble a whole bunch more! Mwahaha.

[ya-book-reports]

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis

Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.

Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time—the twelfth century; the place—feudal England; and the subject—the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters—into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.

The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

At once a sensuous and endearing love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age, The Pillars of the Earth is without a doubt Ken Follett's masterpiece.

Thoughts

I saw the TV miniseries based on this book years ago, and when I visited Scotland and saw some of the awe-inspiring castles to be found there, I started thinking about the story again. I decided to read the book, and started listening to the audiobook. I think this was a good move, since the book is almost a thousand pages long. The timeline spans across an entire lifetime, so it has a lot of ground to cover. Overall, it struck me as Game of Thrones without the magic. It is not fantasy, but it takes place in a similar setting, were we get to follow both nobles and commoners alike. They all have different motives and goals, but their stories are beautifully woven together. Another thing that reminds me of GoT is the level of violence. This book should definitely come with a few trigger warnings in my opinion, and some scenes were very difficult to get though. That is something the reader should be prepared for before picking up this book.

The thing that stood out to me the most in this book it the Cathedral around which the story is centered. The way the author describes the techniques and the perils of building and the symbolism imbedded in the stones really shows a remarkable knowledge and understanding. Reading this book, you start to understand the enormous amount of work that went into such a project in these times, but also how much it came to impact ordinary people’s lives. To the people in this story a cathedral is not just a building, but something much more. I don’t think I will ever look at great buildings like cathedrals the same way ever again.

I recommend this book for people who enjoy long, intricate stories with many characters. You should also be prepared for dark and brutal scenes. This is in no way a light read, but to me it was so worth the effort. If you in any way find the premise of this story intriguing, I urge you to pick it up. You will not regret it.

//Love from L

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A New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller“This character-driven romance will enthrall [Rivers’s] many fans.” —Library JournalThe New York Times bestselling author of Redeeming Love returns to her romance roots with this unexpected and redemptive love story, a probing tale that reminds us that mercy can shape even the most broken among us into an imperfect yet stunning masterpiece.A successful LA artist, Roman Velasco appears to have everything he could possibly want—money, women, fame. Only Grace Moore, his reluctant, newly hired personal assistant, knows how little he truly has. The demons of Roman’s past seem to echo through the halls of his empty mansion and out across his breathtaking Topanga Canyon view. But Grace doesn’t know how her boss secretly wrestles with those demons: by tagging buildings as the Bird, a notorious but unidentified graffiti artist—an alter ego that could destroy his career and land him in prison.Like Roman, Grace is wrestling with ghosts and secrets of her own. After a disastrous marriage threw her life completely off course, she vowed never to let love steal her dreams again. But as she gets to know the enigmatic man behind the reputation, it’s as if the jagged pieces of both of their pasts slowly begin to fit together . . . until something so unexpected happens that it changes the course of their relationship—and both their lives—forever.“Rivers deftly threads Roman’s and Grace’s lives together as they tiptoe around their emotional scars, eventually shifting into a dance of tentative steps toward a love neither can resist. Fans of Christian romance will delight in this tale of salvation through love.”—Kirkus Reviews“Richly detailed characters with traumatic pasts are woven together with biblical truths and redemptive themes This is an amazing, beautifully written tale to be savored and pondered and shared with others.”—Romantic Times“Readers will marvel at Rivers’s storytelling arc encompassing the reconciliation of gritty past misdeeds and the work in progress of a life of forgiveness.”—Booklist“Fans of Francine Rivers will eagerly devour The Masterpiece and find exactly what they are looking for: a beautifully written story of faith, romance, and the power that true freedom can bring.”—Bookreporter.com [amz_corss_sell asin=”1496407903″] Masterpiece, The A New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller“This character-driven romance will enthrall many fans.” —Library JournalThe New York Times bestselling author of Redeeming Love returns to her romance roots with this unexpected and redemptive love story, a probing tale that reminds us that mercy can shape even the most broken among us into an imperfect yet stunning masterpiece.A successful LA artist, Roman Velasco appears to have everything he could possibly want—money, women, fame.