Monday, January 20, 2020
Book 0 - There There
I finished reading
There There by Tommy Orange today. I can't say that I like it a lot which makes me wonder if my taste is just not refined? The book was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and has many rave reviews, like from people who are smarter than me but I'm just not as enthused as all of them. Don't get me wrong, the book does provide some insight into the lives of American Indians in this modern age, something that I really have no knowledge whatsoever and it's always good to learn something new, but overall I'm just not there all the way with the book. I was thinking that perhaps I would have liked this book more if it's longer and gives me a better closure. The next paragraph would have spoiler, so stop reading now if you're planning to read the book.
The book tells the stories of several people of Indian descent. All of them had lives filled with struggles and almost of them all were asking or looking inside themselves on what it means to be Indians. They're somewhat related to one another, but the connections weren't revealed to them even in the ending. Towards the end of the book, everyone was in the same place together where a shooting incident occurred. As I was going towards the end, I was thinking would all the cast of characters die in this story? That would be so bad. Well the story doesn't tell us the aftermath. Really the ending leaves me really wanting more :( The shooting with 3D printed guns (which passed through metal detectors) were told from the point of views of the different characters. It was truly harrowing and heartbreaking. You know, people in the US have to live with the reality that gun violence can happen to them anytime anywhere and you want to think that perhaps they would be more prepared, but I guess no one really is. As I was reading the passages, I was thinking that such situation is just beyond my imagination. I would be truly unprepared and wouldn't know what to do. Imagine being hit by stray bullets and dying just like that. It's insane, truly insane. This gun culture of the US is truly something that I cannot wrap my head around.
So next I have 3 books in the queue and I decided I'll be reading
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates first. Another book with many good reviews. Hope I'll enjoy it too. On other news, I'm going home this Friday for Chinese New Year break. Will be spending 1 week plus. I've been having difficulty sleeping, like even more so since last month and I don't know if I would feel better when I'm home. I've been feeling down even more so and I've just been telling God to please help me. This is actually not an encouraging start to the new year and so I hope you guys are doing better. Isn't it crazy that we're finishing January real soon? The way time flies really fast is one of the many things that gets me down. I just want things to stop :|
:) eKa @ 9:58:00 PM •