Mastodawn

Naga (he/they good for now)Apr 10

@craftykraken I mostly love #RFKuang. #Katabasis was a slog, though. Yeah, it was absolutely supposed to be one for the characters, by the premise, but I didn't need to relate that hard.

#AmReading #bookstodon

Crafty ツ 🍁Apr 9

Alright fellow readers. Who’s read #RFKuang? #Katabasis?

For the life of me, I cannot get through it. I don’t often #DNF books (and I don’t have any issue with DNFing books) so it’s been odd for me.

I assumed I just wasn’t in the mood maybe, or experiencing the usual disorientation at the beginning of any new story and vibe.

I’ve tried four separate times since the book has released…and I just… can’t.

I liked #ThePoppyWar, and #Babel…

Have you read Katabasis? (No spoilers plz) Am I alone in feeling this?

#AmReading #bookstodon

Gyrfalcon Mar 18

I finished R. F. Kuang’s Katabasis today - just in time to turn it back in to the library on the day it was due .

I found the writing quite good. I enjoyed the exploration of the, basically, voluntary torture grad school participants submit themselves to. I also very much appreciated the perspective of a woman struggling to excel in a male-dominated field. I found the imaginative exploration of Hell combined with philosophy very creative and fun.

My one quibble was that the protagonist managed to squeak out of crises enough times that I could clearly see the plot armor and the wrap-it-up-in-a-bow ending was a little too cute for my taste.

My only real criticism is to wonder what it is about books about wizards that people can’t stay dead? Ms. Rowling removes the impact of her protagonist’s sacrifice by bringing him back. Ms. Novik has to keep her protagonist’s love interest alive in her Scholomance trilogy to, I think, avoid making El sad. And Kuang follows in the same pattern of what, to me, seems like cowardice in the face of loss. I’d suspect it’s an American thing about wanting to avoid thinking about death, but Rowling isn’t American. Still, I think it robs all these stories of a depth they could all benefit from.

Overall, I would recommend Katabasis for its creativity, writing, and for presenting a solid, female voice; but now that I know the plot, I’m not sure I’d pick it up again - which is true for most of the books I’ve enjoyed.

#katabasis #bookreview

Another "Katabasis" thought: both main characters hide behind a stereotype, I think.

Alice is deeply depressed and traumatized. She uses the Asian-American do-gooder who is after gold stars as a mask.

Peter has a disabling condition and varying number of spoons. He uses the scatterbrained, otherworldly genius as a mask.

Both don't even let their best friends see behind that mask until they've literally been through hell together.

That's certainly possible. But could she, would she choose to, mask as a carefree, scatterbrained genius? I am not sure.

Genius without effort is so strongly male-coded I can't see her getting away with it. People would tell her to dress differently. They would talk about her being unprofessional and awkward and not a good fit.

So, gender-swapping "Katabasis"? Not completely, I think.

(3/n, n=3)

Ach, come on. Now the draft is finished: my (spoilery, so under a CN they go) thoughts on gender-swapping Alice and Peter, the two grad students venturing into the underworld in R.F. Kuang's "Katabasis".

Alice could be Al, I think. Asian-American boy with loving parents, a drive to succeed and a fascination for Old Europe. He comes to England and deals with racism, imposter syndrome, stereotyping.

(1/n)

When he's groomed and assaulted by his advisor, he's on his own not because he should've known better, but because this doesn't happen to men. He tells no one, spirals into depression until he breaks.

Yeah, that works. Needs work not to tap into anti-gay bigotry but can be done.

And Peter, could he be Petra (with maybe a more stereotypically English first name)? A chronically ill woman who doesn't tell anyone because she doesn't want to be seen as weak?

(2/n)