Category: Uncategorized

Book Notes: Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose

~ Clarissa ~ 10 Comments

As the sexual revolution is crashing around him, a crippled middle-aged professor of history Lyman Ward is grappling with the casual abandonment of his freshly liberated wife by researching the life of his talented grandmother.

In the 19th century, Susan Ward, a gifted writer and illustrator, sacrifices her dream of living the life of an East Coast intellectual in order to follow her husband Oliver on his geological ventures in the American West. Oliver has neither Susan’s gifts nor her connections. He’s perennially unlucky and creates endless trouble for Susan and their three children.

As Lyman researches his grandmother, he wonders how Susan’s life, with its self-discipline and sacrifice, compares to that of the liberated women not only of his but of the younger generations. Angle of Repose is truly a great novel, which means that it provides no easy answers.

This is one of the best reading experiences I’ve had all year. Stegner is probably the most important American novelist of the second half of the twentieth century, and this is one of his greatest novels.

People vs Politicians

~ Clarissa ~ 5 Comments

I swear, I’m going to quit watching the news because it’s only spoiling my mood. Look at this:

These absolute bitch bastards, I swear.

In positive news, we are in Florida. I’m seeing a strikingly large number of people, including children, reading paper books by the pool and on the beach. So far, I’ve seen a grand total of two kids with a device. Everybody else either plays or has paper books.

The people of this country are so much better than its politicians, it’s almost funny.

Read the Room, Dude

~ Clarissa ~ 50 Comments

OK, what needs to happen for Trump to drop this talking point? It’s horrible, it’s losing him support, yet he persists with the intensity of an alcoholic reaching for a bottle.

Read the room, dude. Your base hates this endless drumbeat of how America’s greatest problem is Americans.

Is there anybody on any side of the political spectrum who doesn’t subscribe to the Magic Dirt theory? Is there anybody who realizes that a country is its people and not a landscape, populated by whoever is more convenient to drag over to save a buck?

I’m growing increasingly desperate to find any political representation for my views.

An Illusion of Activity

~ Clarissa ~ 8 Comments

JD Vance is asking Americans to have patience until the economy improves. In the meantime, Trump pursues yet another harebrained scheme for a “peace deal” in Ukraine. Can anybody point towards the electorate that voted for Trump so that he can dedicate most of his time to chasing these fictitious peace deals overseas? It’s been months now, and what exactly have Americans gotten out of all this peace-dealing?

This is what I mean when I talk about the withering away of the nation-state. Nothing can be achieved nationally (or internationally), so these fake shows are put on to pretend there’s a flurry of Very Important Business being conducted.

The Undisciplined Can’t Discipline

~ Clarissa ~ 1 Comment

Walsh is absolutely right, and his 6 children are very fortunate to have such a father. Whatever defect parents want to eradicate in their children, they should first eradicate in themselves. Whatever virtue they want to inculcate, they should first develop it in their own personalities.

The mom in the video is exactly what N’s mom was. It’s horrible to be like that. It’s self-indulgent, it’s wicked, it’s immoral.

The Undisciplined Can’t Discipline

~ Clarissa ~ Leave a comment

Walsh is absolutely right, and his 6 children are very fortunate to have such a father. Whatever defect parents want to eradicate in their children, they should first eradicate in themselves. Whatever virtue they want to inculcate, they should first develop it in their own personalities.

The mom in the video is exactly what N’s mom was. It’s horrible to be like that. It’s self-indulgent, it’s wicked, it’s immoral.

Additional Warning

~ Clarissa ~ Leave a comment

I also have to add that, unless you are very aware and suspicious by nature, don’t use the method described in the preceding post. There are many scammers, and you can fall prey.

Big Company Hack

~ Clarissa ~ 3 Comments

If you have an issue with a large company, don’t email or call them. And don’t use their online chat option. The only way to get them to notice you and start responding is to write your complaint on X and tag the company.

Book Notes: Petty Lies by Sulmi Bak

~ Clarissa ~ 4 Comments

Very few books get translated into English. If something does get translated, one can assume it’s among the best a culture has created. The novel Petty Lies by the South Korean author Sulmi Bak is a surprising choice for a translated novel unless there’s truly nothing better coming out of South Korea than this semi-childish effort at creating a psychological thriller.

The structure of Petty Lies is badly thought-out. The big reveal at the end is fumbled. The motivations are flimsy, the dialogues are infantile, and the most interesting thing about the plot is the characters’ obsession with test scores. These are people who are really really into text scores. The test scores are so important that they also become characters. Especially since the actual characters are boring.

There’s always a chance that the translator is incompetent and made the author sound like a moron. But even assuming that the translator here is an absolute hack, the novel is still painfully weak.

The Mark

~ Clarissa ~ 13 Comments

The idea that, in a relationship between a 55-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, the power lies with the man can only come from somebody who never observed any actual humans. Men are almost invariably the marks in this type of con.