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Phi

@itisphiphi

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📚 buys books faster than she reads them
honest reviewer, chronic doomscroller
currently overthinking whatever I'm reading
📍 Dublin

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I have very strong opinions about the opinions people have on Netflix’s East of Eden. I understand that Steinbeck built the story on Cathy’s inherent evil, calling her a “monster” born to human parents, and that this is central to the novel. What I don’t understand is why it’s wrong for the series to explore why she is the way she is.

In the book, Cathy is vilified for having ambitions. She doesn’t want children, and she tells the people around her what she wants time and again. The men in her life choose to ignore it. We’re supposed to believe the teacher was so innocent that a young girl seduced him to madness, and that she single-handedly manipulated two brothers, Adam and Charles. Steinbeck never questions whether the adults around her bear any responsibility.

Steinbeck’s novel also contains racist language and stereotypes, particularly in how Lee is written, and many readers read those passages in their historical context. Yet when the series gives Cathy a woman’s point of view to show she was human too, people call it a betrayal. Giving her a backstory is a departure from the book, but so is any adaptation that decides what to keep from its source.

People can be evil and still have an origin story. Leaving it out invites us to assume Cathy was simply born this way, not shaped by the pain inflicted on her since childhood. I understand the counterargument: the novel is about free will, and timshel says we choose who we become. But a character can be accountable for her choices and still be understood. Explaining Cathy doesn’t excuse her. by @itisphiphi

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2 days ago

She thought she’d incur serious punishment and even risk dying if she took too much pleasure in life. So she protected herself from death by living less, consuming so little of her life that she’d never run out. This savings gave her a little security since you can’t fall farther than the ground. Did she feel she was living for nothing? I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. Only once did she ask a tragic question: who am I? It frightened her so much that she completely stopped thinking.
- The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector

Did not expect “Hour of the Star” to be such a grim yet witty read. Clarice Lispector tells the story of Macabéa, a poor typist from Brazil’s northeast, through a narrator who keeps questioning whether her story is even worth telling at all. That’s the whole book in a nutshell: the stark difference between the classes, and whose stories get told versus whose get erased, captured with the darkest kind of humour. by @itisphiphi

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3 days ago

September ended, and I ended it with “All Them Dogs.” Interesting read. I get why some people wouldn’t be into it, the language takes you by surprise, but as someone who’s witnessed the “jogger gang” (my unofficial term for them) and their shenanigans firsthand, this book made a lot more sense to me. Dublin is beautiful, but like every other city, it has its limitations, and this book captured that beautifully. If you can get past the slang, you will enjoy Tony and his restless heart.

Now October’s here and I’m going classics first: “1984” is up next. After “Animal Farm,” I’m realizing I just really enjoy Orwell’s not-so-subtle commentary on the world, the man really said what he meant.

I’m still a slow reader, work eats up most of my time, but I’m genuinely thankful for all the friends I’m making here. The shy person in me is always excited to log in and connect with all of you. Thank you. taken in Dublin, Ireland by @itisphiphi

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6 days ago

I’m done. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, and she maybe so, but I am not, not after reading it. I’ve had a couple of hard reads emotionally, back to back, so I’ve decided to go for something I know will be a fun read: the story of Medusa. My crusade for weird girl lit continues, but this time with a Greek twist.
What are you all reading, and how are you coping with 9-5 stress along with some anxiety-inducing reading sessions? Am I doing something wrong? It took me an entire week to finish a book. taken in Dublin, Ireland by @itisphiphi

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11 days ago

the entire Instagram is hinting at the arrival of autumn, a season of romanticising fallen leaves, rainbows, books, reading. Me on the other hand: extra dark long nights, so extra hours in bed, questioning, extra dread like Kierkegaard. Sour, dour part aside, lots of reading though. Turns out existential dread has excellent taste in books.

Anyway, tell me your autumn era: cottagecore comfort reads or spiraling into the void with a philosophy book, no in between apparently. by @itisphiphi

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12 days ago

read close to 20 books in the last two months and now i can't even finish one in a week. reading slump hit different this time. so today these short books showed up at my door and i am already in love with this penguin edition, praying they bring my spark back before i give up on reading altogether. is it just me? give me some recommendations, i need reinforcements. by @itisphiphi

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14 days ago

"Not every child has the endurance and fearlessness to go on searching until it comes to the kindliness that lies beneath the surface. You can only treat a child in the way you yourself are constituted."
― Franz Kafka, Letter to His Father

When people talk about Kafka's work, they mention great wonders like Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle. But me, I cried, no, I wailed like a baby when I read this short book, Letter to His Father. It was everything I hold inside of me but could never muster the courage to tell my own father. It was as if words were magically being read from my mind and drawn onto the paper. If ever I could thank a person in my life, it would be Kafka, for freeing me with his words. by @itisphiphi

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15 days ago

100 pages into Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I have never related to a fictional character this hard. Why do I keep picking up books about kids raised by emotionally immature parents. I want to throw this book at the wall and pick it right back up in the same breath. Eleanor is awkward, blunt, and quietly falling apart, and somehow that’s the most comforting thing. Close-up photo of the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, open around the 100 page mark, styled for a bookstagram post about relatable book characters and books exploring emotionally immature parents and childhood emotional neglect. by @itisphiphi

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16 days ago

my absolute favourite bookstore on planet earth. i am already missing it😢 taken in York by @itisphiphi

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17 days ago

I don't have a book buying problem. I have a book buying lifestyle. These authors are the reason my "to be read" pile has its own zip code. Some people have a savings account. I have a complete Virginia Woolf collection. Priorities. by @itisphiphi

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17 days ago

This book follows Mallory and Leo, two people who couldn’t be more different in their lifestyles and choices, but at their core are the same person.
That’s not what stayed with me, though. This was a hard read. Not because it wasn’t good (it’s brilliantly executed), but because Ronan and Mallory’s mother triggered me. As someone who has been caught up in emotionally manipulative relationships (not romantic ones), I found myself aching for it to end.
I stopped caring about Leo’s story. It was Mallory’s that made me anxious, and that made me want to throw the book at the wall.
Some books entertain you. This one got under my skin.

#FruitFly #Bookstagram taken in York, England by @itisphiphi

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18 days ago

york is a literary heaven so many good books and cafes. i don’t think it gets better than this. such a quaint little town with so many ghost stories. ahhhhh i can live here forever❤️

#bookstagram #yorkshire #york taken in Minstergate Books by @itisphiphi

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20 days ago