I wish I'd done some research on the best translation before buying this one. There's so much subtlety in the language & story that I suspect may have been lost in the version I read.

I will definitely seek out a different translation & read again in the future.

2/2

Also, I hadn't quite understood the sheer extent & variety of drugs these guys were getting through during their peak, which seemed to help & hinder in equal measures.

What a book!

3/3

A staggering piece of work, which makes an already fascinating story even more interesting.

I don't agree with all of Ian's many opinions on the music, but I still enjoyed them.

Lots of great anecdotes, such as Harrison getting upset because Yoko Ono took a chocolate digestive without asking.

2/3

Can you show us where Polanski & the Greens are offering business vs workers? I may have missed it.

Search Engine podcast just did a great two-parter on this.

www.searchengine.show/colossus-1/

www.searchengine.show/colossus-2/

Working in a shop is both a real joy & a lesson in toleration 😅

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9kh...

Not an easy read in places & a rare example of there being a book within a book. I'll definitely come back to this one again, as well as reading a lot more PE.

3/3

His "fuck it" mentality as everything unravels, sending his life in an uncomfortable direction is great.

How much of Everett is in this book is not clear, but this like Trees & James must have been very cathartic to write.

This one was adapted to the screen as American Fiction.

2/3

Hopefully I'm not risking some kind of Roko's basilisk situation by stating this 😉

"Forget" your discovery unless you or the university are able to help them in another way, as long as they're not at risk.

In particular, the aunt Vittoria is a catalyst for the big changes & a complex force of nature, a victim & antagonist in equal measures.

I'm told there's a series based on this book, but I'm not sure I want to lose the viscerally formed characters in my head by watching it.

A tremendous book!

Her vulnerability at the start is acute, but her progression to see through all of the deceits of humans & their messy complex relationships & feelings is a real journey, such that by the end, Giovanna felt like a real person in my life.

The supporting characters were complex & authentic.

2/3

...because it seemed to switch between fantasy & reality without clear indication, like a fever dream, but once you just roll with the prose, the story unfurls almost like a texture, until the final inevitable crescendo.

There's an important theme of food & nourishment. I'm glad I read it.

Some more thoughts. The book is based on a real mass poisoning event in France in the 50s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951_Po...

The book is a fictional account of what might have happened, almost like an ethereal dream of desires, deprivation & power. Sometimes it was hard to follow the narrative..

2/