Asakiyume mita

It's been a whole week since I posted. I used to never let a week go by without posting; I couldn't bear to. I don't know precisely what's changed, though I have some ideas . . . but enough of that.

Here are some things I've been thinking about and would like to talk about more at some point. Alif the Unseen. I finished this book and loved it. It was funny--I was reading humorous bits out to family members--had excellent characters, an exciting story, and faith was an integral, moving part of the story in a way I liked. I'll make a Goodreads review at some point, and I hope I'll say more, but that's the executive summary.

Ondine. sovay reviewed that movie here, and I was very taken by what she said. The movie was everything she said it was, and the character of Annie, the daughter who weaves a story for her father and the woman he pulls from the sea, interested me very much--her role as the storyteller. I want to say more about that at some point, too.

The uses and limitations of empathy. The movie Ex Machina (flawed, dissatisfying film, but it did spark conversation here) got me thinking about what gets said about empathy and humanity and sociopathy, etc. etc., and I realized that, to me, it's more important how people ACT than how they FEEL. There are exceptions and caveats and curlicues, and I thought I might post a whole entry on this topic, but who knows when? But yeah, that's been on my mind.

Lastly--photos. Today wakanomori and I went for a bike ride and crossed a bridge. On one side, the water ran to sky; on the other, there were water lilies:





And some extremely contemporary graffiti was inscribed on the bridge:

This entry will have mild spoilers for Alif the Unseen, but I promise to put them behind a cut. If you're coming directly to his entry (and so won't see the cut), it's the fourth paragraph you want to avoid (unless you've already read the book or don't mind mild spoilers).

I only just started reading this. I like it already. The prologue has a spirit talking about how symbols don't carry hidden messages, they are, themselves, the message. Then the story proper begins. Alif [an alias] is a computer hacker in an unnamed Gulf Coast country. He helps people--activists, jihadis, whoever--who want to be active on the Internet avoid detection and capture. His elegant, upperclass (he is not upperclass) secret girlfriend has just broken up with him because she is to be married to someone else, and although he's all for running away together, she tells him no, forget it, it's over, I never want to see a hint of your presence on the Internet ever again.

I wondered if that was just an inciting event of some sort or if she was going to figure in the rest of the story. I flipped randomly through the book and didn't see her name. Maybe that whole incident was just going to be an Example of something. I didn't want that to be the case (not sure why). So I asked cafenowhere, who'd recently finished the book, if she was going to figure in the story more, and cafenowhere told me yes.

And I thought that was spoilers enough. But then I happened to be flipping through the book again, and this time I saw her name. And ( okay, this is a spoiler, so don't click if you haven't read the story and you don't like spoilers ) And those two discoveries were big--not in the plot sense--I'm too early on in the story for them to make plot sense yet--but in the emotional sense. I felt so relieved to know where at least one emotional thrust of the story was going to go. And this sets me so at ease, I can't even tell you. I don't know how I'll feel about how the author unfolds it--she'll do an excellent job or a mediocre job or a poor job; it's in the future yet. But I know where she's going, at least on one emotional, interpersonal line. I can just relax and see how she accomplishes it.

That, in a nutshell, is why I often like spoilers. Not always. Sometimes I deliberately don't spoil things for myself. But when I do, it's because of not liking a certain sort of tension. I like to get that out of the way and focus on other things.

The plot is only just beginning. The characterizations are only just beginning. So far so good--I'm enjoying it!