#bellevue square

[stylenewsus]

🔥Vessi, a Waterproof Sneaker Brand, Launches First US Store

The store is located at Bellevue Square in The Bellevue Collection shopping center just outside of Seattle. read full news

[joekennedy]

MINI at Bellevue Square Joins Tesla in New Bellevue Auto Mall

MINI at Bellevue Square Joins Tesla in New Bellevue Auto Mall

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[renefabre]

Wednesday in Bellevue, WA. On my way to teach a workshop at the Microsoft Store.

[jennyboom21]

Seahawks rookie Shaquem Griffin tests Microsoft Adaptive Gaming Controller, and it’s now on sale!

[literaryvice]

Failed Attempts at Can Lit; or, Books I Started But Didn't Finish in the Last Two Weeks

Failed Attempts at Can Lit; or, Books I Started But Didn’t Finish in the Last Two Weeks

I started, and gave substantial effort (enough that I feel okay reviewing them), to two Can lit novels in the last couple of weeks. Both are books that I ought to have really liked but didn’t. I’ll take the blame. It’s summer. There are patios. And BBQs. (And work, family and responsibilities. Whatever.)

First up was Michael Redhill’s Bellevue Square. I waited ages for it to arrive from the…

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[books-tea-and-blankets]

Reading challenge 2018

17. Bellevue Square - Michael Redhill

Genre: psychological thriller, mystery, suspense, Canadian

In a nutshell: So... What did I just read? 

Recommendation: I don't even know what to tell you. that's how confused I am. 

Rating: 

I wanted to read this, first of all because it won a prestigious Canadian literary award. But I was also hearing about it for a while. And usually I like books that leave me wondering what I just read... but this one was literally like, "I need a translator to tell me what actually happened." 

“Winter here arrives, stays, persists, goes away a little, then comes back and people start leaping off the bridges. That's approximately March, when jumping is at its apogee, but even then, winter isn't over. What it likes to do is go away for a week in April and then return for three days and finish grandpa off.”   ^^^This is Canadian winter in a nutshell^^^

Jean owns a bookshop in Toronto and is thrown off when one of her regulars goes into a frenzy saying he just saw her somewhere else shortly before. At first, Jean thinks nothing of it, until a strange woman comes in and acts like she knows her. Apparently, Jean has a doppelganger that frequents Kensington Market named Ingrid. Jean becomes obsessed, staking out Bellevue Square, a park filled with all sorts of colourful characters as she hopes to catch a glimpse of her twin. But then some of Jean's new friends are being killed off. Upon further research, Jean discovers that the appearance of a doppelganger means imminent death. Is Ingrid trying to take her place? 

Honestly I can't explain what happened. One minute you're getting sucked into what the appearance for Jean's doppelganger is, the next you're learning Jean is suffering from a neurological disorder that makes her confused about what is fiction and what is reality, and the next you're watching Jean confront her Doppelganger, a famous author, whose name is actually Inger Ash Wolfe... which is apparently Michael Redhill's pseudonym. 

Maybe if I had read some of his other books I'd understand a bit more about what the hell point this book was trying to make? Maybe? Perhaps? I don't know. But right now all I know is that I'm confused and this book started off enjoyable until I didn't know how to feel because realities kept changing. 

That's a hard nope.

[doug-lewars]

Book Review: Bellevue Square

*** Possible Spoilers *** The pacing was good. The settings were well described and the author succeeded in providing the reader with a 'feel' for the locations. The plot was interesting. It appears to describe a woman descending into madness and it's well handled although I think Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper' published in 1892 was just as effective. The difference is that Mr. Redhill attempts, and rather succeeds in conveying to the reader, the confusion being felt by the protagonist. Since he has an entire novel to work with as opposed to just a short story, he is able to build the feeling gradually and quite effectively. That said, the ending is less than satisfactory. In fact, it's pretty much a write-your-own-ending since nothing is resolved and nothing is explained. We are left dealing with madness or an alternate reality, or the possibility that nothing is real at all and everything we believe is merely a simulation being carried out on a humongous computer by some alien race - and frankly Douglas Adams did that and did it quite a bit better. There isn't any real character development here. Characters appear and then they disappear. Sometimes they have one name and sometimes another. Since the author is trying to create a sense of unreality he can't really focus on anyone except the protagonist. In many respects the book is dreamlike as the reader moves from illusion to what seems like reality only to find the underpinnings shifting once again. I can't really complain but I can't recommend the book either. The ending is so nebulous that instead of reading it you might just as well sit back in your chair, close your eyes and dream your own dream.

[the-rybrary]

Let's get cerebral!