LIT 243 @kay-tay22 - Tumblr Blog

Observation: Quinn is starting to integrate Peter’s phrases into his own dialogue and notebook entries.

#kaitlin reads #city of glass #kaitlin liveblogs ny trilogy #Daniel Quinn #Peter Stillman

Is it truly considered great literature if there isn’t at least one mention of a limp dick?

#kaitlin reads #City of Glass #kaitlin liveblogs NY Trilogy #nsfw text

Woman in Cabin 10 Part III: When I talk about how poorly constructed the text is.

We talked a little about how the text is trying to be both a mystery and a psychological thriller (and how it kind of fails at being both because of that), but there are some other issues that bothered me in the closing sections.

I found the whole relationship between Lo and Carrie really unbelievable. The “making a friend of my enemy” story has been told and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it feels forced and rushed here. I can understand why Carrie would start to feel some compassion for Lo, but not the other way around. Lo spends the first 2/3 of the novel being suspicious of and anxious around everyone. She is then trapped in a closed space, cut off from communicating with anyone, is barely fed, and cut off from her medication and boozing. After this, she develops a bond for her captor? This especially bothers me because it becomes the book’s final reveal. I know there were attempts in the text to make us empathize with Carrie, but it falls flat because we don’t learn anything about her aside from that she “loves” (gag) Bullmer.

The ending sequence is also really convenient, which is my favorite thing to complain about in storytelling. Here’s a brief list: Despite having plenty of time to establish is influence, the book tells us right before it becomes important that Bullmer has a wide influence in Norway business, law enforcement, and the like. Lo stumbles into a hotel and is sold out by the owner as she returns to consciousness. She runs away from the hotel away from civilization, somehow not noticing she’s running up a mountainside. She injures her ankle, but this doesn’t stop her from running through the woods for miles before stumbling on a barn. This barn is owned and actively used, but not only does she sleep soundly for ~36 hours straight, the barn owner (who should have been caring for his two horses) didn’t notice her inside at all. This owner also is completely okay with helping Lo, and doesn’t recognize her or even have a clue it might be the missing woman/connected to the Aurora case which would have been all over the news.

Overall, it’s an okay read, but the ending took a lot away for me.

kay-tay22

Yeah, I wasn't able to suspend my disbelief for the ending. That was probably my biggest thing about the ending that just drew me right out of the narrative.

I know it’s completely acceptable, but the ending was rather .. anticlimactic(?) I don’t know. Everything seemed ‘too convenient’ by the end. I like a little angst to my ending and it just seemed cute(?) if that makes sense.

#we get it #Lo got her life together #I’d love 40k pounds in the bank #kaitlin reads #the woman in cabin 10 #kaitlin liveblogs cabin 10 #spoilers #tw spoilers

There were so many weak verbs scattered throughout the text, it seems unreal that it’s her second published book

#not to sound like a snob #but #kaitlin reads #the woman in cabin 10 #kaitlin liveblogs cabin 10

brandnewbree

WIC10 1-3

My worst fear is being trapped anywhere and to read those last lines I got goosebumps. I was impressed with the way she got out, I honestly don’t know what I would have done. I wish some of the things she was thinking in her head she would say out loud like, “despite my ovaries I can remember a simple two-digit number.” Like show him who is boss! The words weren’t reassuring because the locksmith guy was being a macho dick. WHY IS EVERYONE TAKING THE ROBBERY AS A JOKE. It is so frustrating because if it was a man this happened to then it would be deemed “serious.” All these jokes have Lo thinking that she should bring it up lightly when it is a serious matter.

Jude dropping that job was not even remotely close to Lo’s fault, he never talked it over with her!! Men being men put the blame on her because she emotionally could not handle the relationship anymore. Surprise, surprise.

One of my favorite lines “They did that sort of manly half-hug thing, where you’re too metrosexual for a handshake and not hip enough for a fist bump”But then men in this book SUCK. That Ben guy saying you cant blame a guy for trying is total BS because she just said she was unavailable so piss off??

Basically what I’m picking up is men are trash in this novel.

frikiorgullosa-deactivated20221

Yeah, I agree with you, men in this novel sure are not the best thing ever. But I am sure this is not the first time we have seen this happen.

Men tend to be trash in novels where we have some sort of powerful and independent female role, which is disappointing. However, these characters still serve as an obstacle that the female role needs to defeat which will help with her amazing character development. You could say that sometimes novels use characters that are trash to show how other characters are better. As readers it pisses us off, however sometimes the final result tends to be worth everything the female has to go through in the novel.

kay-tay22

I would say that these are men you could also easily find outside of the novel, too. If you haven’t dated a Judah, maybe you know someone who has. Same thing with Ben. Much like we probably know women or have heard of women such as Tina. I’m sure journalism is filled with trash men (as a number of professions are), and we kind of get a glimpse of that through the boys club mentioned by Cole.

Honestly, powerful, “trash” men often are obstacles for independent women in real life. So, it might just be something that is frustrating but also relatable

#does that make sense #response #discourse #feminism #tw assault mention #the woman in cabin 10

lifeinpoetry

I love you like a vulture loves / the careless deer at the roadside.

Traci Brimhall, from “Love Poem Without a Drop of Hyperbole in It,” published in The New Yorker (via lifeinpoetry)

Read (or listen to) the full poem: http://nyer.cm/QFr6w0R

#huh #poetry #this feels like an Edward Cullen thing #quote

Activism + Cabin 10

This book has a weird way that it confronts and explores mental health, patriarchy, and misogyny, especially through the lens of its protagonists. She is very aware and makes commentary on the ways that people perceive her mental illness and the fact that she takes anti-depressants; she’s receptive towards Richard Bullmar because he takes her concerns seriously and doesn’t discredit her because she takes anti-depressants (versus the head of security). While it’s fantastic that she is taking agency of her mental health and the way that people perceive her, I think that the way that she handles misogyny and patriarchy is not as clear cut.

She struggles to comment on her relationship with other women. The way that she regards Tina, noting that she comes from a ruthless age of career women, and chastises her for tearing down other women to success (which is fair). Then Lo is also skeptical of her female captor and is critical that she is holding Lo captive when really she should be upholding her in the name of sisterhood and womanhood (which... I guess). It’s one of those things where I think Lo just misses the mark on her feminism and the way that she approaches womanhood, at least for me.

#LIT 243 #the woman in cabin 10

Lo + alcohol abuse + empathy

The fact that Lo abuses alcohol in the beginning of the novel highly stresses me out as a reader. Especially when stuff like medication is involved and she’s using alcohol as a way to self-medicate, then something is wrong. If you’re not safeguarding yourself and locking your apartment, you’re setting yourself up for failure. And that’s stressful. What if your cat got out? Could you live with yourself if something happened?

While this part of Lo wasn’t something that I gravitated towards (or the way that she particularly interacted with Judah), the nice thing about novels is that with narrative voice, even if they’re really strong in the beginning, they tend to mellow out in the middle. Which was nice moving forward in the section. I felt better about her and even though I know she abused alcohol and used it as a tool for self-medication, that didn’t really detract from how I felt about her moving forward and that I still wanted her to succeed and find her peace of mind.

#LIT 243 #the woman in cabin 10 #i'm stressed

kay-tay22

Prediction: Cole Lederer housed his cheating wife in Cabin 10 and the black-haired waitress was babysitting. Then Cole and/or the woman murdered her and threw her overboard and that’s what Lo saw/heard

kay-tay22

Update: Not entirely off base. Definitely involved a married couple, I just chose the wrong one

#kaitlin liveblogs cabin 10 #kaitlin reads #the woman in cabin 10 #not official #tw murder mention

I still can’t tell if Richard Bullmer is a good or bad guy. He takes Lo seriously, which is nice, but it could be self-serving, so... idk

#ya girl is anxious #kaitlin liveblogs cabin 10 #not official #kaitlin reads #the woman in cabin 10

jon-gasca

I am a woman, by Veronica Ruthf Frias Photo Jon Gasca

#Elsie Bovary #this is her aesthetic #and you can't tell me otherwise

newyorker

A cartoon by Will McPhail.

#honestly #mood #probably me in 10 years #not lit 243

I. Am. An. Animal.

Elsie, my home girl, is doing such a fantastic job navigating the world. She does a lot of maturing over the course of the novel, which comes from her lived experiences. I think for this small town animal, going abroad was a good move for her. It allowed her to grow and resolve some of her curiosities and allowed her to explore (with as much as depth as she allowed) some of the difficulties of our world (i.e. Palestine v. Israel, classism and population density, career v. dreams, etc.)

In the end, she still comes to wrestle with the how to shape her life as a woman. She debates whether she wants to have a child and have some happy years out at pasture with her or if she wants to continue exploring and being a public figure. I think this is a line that every woman has to cross at some point and a way that makes Elsie’s journey relatable. Because even if women have these rich experiences of traveling or building a career, at the end of the day, family is a constant nag in future planning.

This doesn’t reduce the importance of family or wanting to have a family, but I think there is an unfair weight attached to it (thank you patriarchy) that extends beyond women but tends to fall onto them.

I think as Elsie grows as a cow and as we, as an audience, mature into the next version of ourselves, I think it’s really important to keep in mind that “we are both” A and B (whatever ever those mean to you), but at the end of the day, we’re also just humans and we’re just animals. “No more, no less.”

#LIT 243 #Holy Cow #official post #did this get weirdly preachy #because it feels that way #but go out and live your best life being a complex and multifaceted human being

Sistas

I really enjoyed the relationship between Elsie and Mallory. It was a healthy relationship between two maturing cows and because the relationship (and the book) is so compact, we were able to see them grow together and separately.

They were supportive of each other and didn’t judge one another. When Mallory was getting a little bull crazy, Elsie didn’t understand it, but she didn’t shame her for it. Much like Mallory didn’t shame or ostracize Elsie for wanting to travel and leave the pasture and Elsie didn’t shame Mallory for wanting to stay on the pasture and have a simple life raising her baby girl.

Their relationship was sweet, full of concern, and understanding. I think it was really demonstrative on how positive female friendships can be (especially when compared to Jessica + Bella in Twilight)

#Lit 243 #Holy Cow #kaitlin reads

Reasons why Mallory is relateable:

Puts dirt on her face to attract men

Falls in love after kissing a guy once

Makes sure her friend is emotionally/mentally okay

#what a mood #kaitlin reads #Holy Cow #Kaitlin liveblogs Holy Cow #not official

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LIT 243