#playworld

[dk-thrive]

You felt like you were speechless. That you had things you saw but struggled to communicate. Those are the two most heartfelt things you’ve ever shared with me. So maybe that’s what you’ve been put on the earth for. To come up with a language for your life.

— Adam Ross, Playworld: A Novel (Knopf, January 7, 2025)

[quicktimeeventfull]

every book i'm reading right now is so distressing and it's simply not good for the soul. are you guys reading anything fun. can i steal your books.

[dk-thrive]

I stood on my pedals to go faster. My spokes sang their propeller whirr. I felt light, as if my bones had filled with air. … And then I turned toward the river and headed west.

— Adam Ross, Playworld: A Novel (Knopf, January 7, 2025)

[dk-thrive]

to arrive at love ...

I was taught the indelible lesson that, to arrive at love, I must suffer through someone else’s idea of it. And yet even now, I resist the notion that we are reducible to our wounds.

— Adam Ross, Playworld: A Novel (Knopf, January 7, 2025)

[dk-thrive]

I so rarely feel things when they happen. I remain so insulated from myself.

— Adam Ross, Playworld: A Novel (Knopf, January 7, 2025)

[dk-thrive]

Our education was spatial. Racial. Tribal. Urban. American. But mostly—and this is the most important thing—it was dominated by Kepplemen, over whom we were each failing to gain leverage. And who wore the costume of love. And who was, day in and day out, teaching us fury, aggression, complicity, desperation, exploitation, and, most of all, silence.

— Adam Ross, Playworld: A Novel (Knopf, January 7, 2025)

[kindofwriter]

Please please please please read Playworld

Graphic from my own book ratings page, I did not steal it.

[fizzreads]

I started off really liking this book. But it went on for so long- both in length and the time I took in finishing it- that I ran out of steam and just wanted it to end. The main character is having this young adulthood in New York City in the 80s where he’s benignly neglected by his parents and taken advantage of by other adults, as well as by a girl he likes. His younger brother deals with the neglect in a different way I didn’t quite understand. It was good but I felt sorry for everyone.