the framing of the story as a reminiscence to an increasingly twitchy American in Pakistan is great, it's suspenseful and funny. A lot of the negativethe framing of the story as a reminiscence to an increasingly twitchy American in Pakistan is great, it's suspenseful and funny. A lot of the negative reviews appear to be from people threatened by Hamid's critical attitude towards America; that sucks, I hate that. But I do think the book is really hamstrung by the female love interest Erica. she represents the privileged white American life Changez longs for, beautiful, mysterious, and unknowable, but doesn't ever feel alive as a character. it's a common literary device and it's misogynist.
tw: rape (view spoiler)[Erica and Changez's first sex scene is characterised by her "not resisting" his actions; she is entirely passive and remote. He eventually realises this is happening and stops. She apologises for not getting wet. This little detail gnawed at me; many people who are assaulted do stuff like this, not knowing how to articulate what is happening as it's happening, only knowing that it feels bad. It really, really reads like a rape scene, but it's never treated by the narrative as such; Changez simply pities her for being so troubled. After this she keeps distancing herself from him, and he keeps trying to press his way into her life. Over the course of their acquaintance, she experiences a complete psychic disintegration, eventually being hospitalised in a psychiatric treatment centre. Eventually she disappears, presumably having committed suicide. It is really pretty horrifying, the more so because her clear lack of sexual interest in Changez and attempts to get distance from him are treated as signs of her essential remoteness. I was very much troubled by this element of the book; it is so central that I was therefore very troubled by the book as a whole. (hide spoiler)]...more
I do not actually like collapse weave that much, at least the examples given here. But this is a terrific book that gives you a lot more technical infI do not actually like collapse weave that much, at least the examples given here. But this is a terrific book that gives you a lot more technical information than most craft books. Lots of information about the behaviour of various yarns you can use to do something similar or different to the author's work. ...more
