Book 41:
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Rough Review:
5 stars. This is an interesting book. I’ve tagged it both as True Crime and Historical Fiction. Its relationship to the idea of “based on a true story” is fascinating. I’m not sure I’ve read a book quite like this before, and I think I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. That’s not a knock against it, the subject matter is quite brutal and the fact that it’s based on a (n infuriating) true story means it’s not a feel-good read. I thought it was incredibly well done, though.
Basically, it’s an imagining of the Ted Bundy murders and trial through the eyes of some of the women affected by his actions, a perspective sorely missing from most of the books, movies, TV series, podcasts, and news articles on the topic. In fact, Knoll never once mentions “The Defendant” by name, although the timeline, nature of the crimes, and reference to the infamous Judge Lambert and his asinine remarks about the wasted potential of this “bright young man” make it perfectly clear who he’s meant to represent.
Final Review: OK GREAT NEXT
Book 42:
The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Genetic Mystery, a Lethal Cancer, and the Improbable Invention of a Lifesaving Treatment by Jessica Wapner
Rough Review:
2 stars! Why is this kind of thing allowed!
Am I being harsh with a two star rating? Probably, yeah, but oh boy was this a long, hard slog of a read.
This is a book about the development of the first drug that targeted a genetic mutation directly to treat a cancer caused by that genetic mutation. It looks at the history of scientific exploration and discovery that led to the mutation, the titular Philadelphia chromosome, and how it resulted in new ideas for how cancer could be treated, opening new avenues of research, and how a drug (now known as Gleevec) targeting the misshapen protein that results from the Philadelphia chromosome was conceived of, developed, and produced. It focuses on the scientists, clinicians, patients, and businesspeople whose hard work, dedication, and bravery led to Gleevec. It looks at what happened after, the second- and third-generation treatments, the high hopes and crushing disappointments as subsequent treatments failed to live up to the promise of Gleevec, the future of cancer treatment today (well, as of 2013-2014, when the book was published/the softcover edition came out).
It is also TERRIBLY written.
These days, I try to limit my reviews to my reaction and experience reading a book. Just because something isn’t for me or didn’t meet me in the right mood doesn’t mean that the author deserves to be attacked (even if I’m sure they’ll never read this). And I’m sure Wapner cared a lot about this project and put a lot of effort into research and writing.
Which is why I think her publisher FAILED her, UTTERLY.
I don’t know much about the ins and outs of the book industry. So I don’t know at what stage in the process an editor is hired to proofread, fact check, and perhaps provide gentle suggestions for story structure.
I would like to talk about scientific research and how it’s funded and what the incentives are and how there’s not enough room for young people or creativity these days because everyone wants to maximize profits and stick with established things and Gleevec sounds like Emma’s first word on Friends, but I can’t. Because I have over 100 highlights noted in my Kindle edition, and about 90% of them are rants about editing.
Witness:
If the cell is like a house, then identifying src’s product was like pointing to a single part of the house and declaring it important.
If cancer is like a gun, then the kinase is like the finger behind the trigger.
In the hunt for cancer’s underlying mechanism, finding tyrosine was like a tracker finding an animal’s footprint or a broken branch.
Like pieces on a chessboard assembling for checkmate, discoveries and researchers were slowly coming together.
Like a balloon, and…something bad happens!
Like an impressionable child, these embryonic cells proved susceptible to the virus outside of the protective shield of the womb.
like a metal detector scanning for gold lost underneath the sand.
It was like moving from the broad strokes of Matisse to the pointillism of Seurat.
At this point, I was starting to lose it.
It’s like a chef who has used the first knife she bought for cooking school to make ever more complicated dishes; that knife is highly conserved.
like a relay race in which the gene shoots the gun and the kinase is the first runner.
It was like finding the leaky faucet responsible for a persistent dripping noise.
like a mountain climber finding a jutting rock for his next step.
THIS BOOK IS NOT THAT LONG. HOW IS THIS STILL GOING?
Like a gloved hand fitting perfectly over a mouth to block the next breath, the drug would stop the runaway kinase in its tracks, thereby halting cancer progression.
The amount of phosphotyrosine revealed by the antibody reflected the amount of active kinase. It was like counting the number of sand castles to estimate how many children had been at the beach.
The flag methyl group forced the compound into one immovable arrangement, like a host finalizing the seating for a dinner party.
It was like stopping a car by removing the gas pedal instead of the motor.
I swear to fucking Hades, if I read one more needless, incomprehensible simile, I will…finish reading the entire book because I don’t value my personal time at all, I guess.
Then there’s the stuff that’s just…wrong? Or weirdly written and underexplained?
For example, in the prelude:
The first few days of treatment [Gleevec] were pure hell. Eichner vomited several times a day, often through the night, and the nausea kept him from sleeping.
But in chapter 25:
The STI-571 [Gleevec] experience wasn’t normal. This wasn’t how cancer treatment worked. Patients were supposed to be doubled over in agony, vomiting into waste bins at the side of their bed
So…much like Eichner was in the very beginning? I get what she’s trying to say here, that the side effects were relatively bearable and not long-lasting, especially when compared to cancer treatments like chemo or Interferon. But then say that. Don’t LITERALLY USE VOMITING AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF A SIDE EFFECT WHEN INTRODUCING YOUR READER TO GLEEVEC AND THEN SAY THAT GLEEVEC DOESN’T HAVE SIDE EFFECTS LIKE VOMITING.
corticosteroids (synthetically manufactured versions of hormones produced by our adrenal glands)
Um? Corticosteroids are hormones, only synthetic corticosteroids are synthetic.
further confirming the central role of the Abl
Further confirming? Okay, 1, something either is or is not confirmed, it doesn’t need FURTHER, and 2, science! We support hypotheses, we don’t confirm them!
Every attempt was a failure. Finally, the lab contracted the work out, and it soon had its antibody, called 4G10, to phosphorylated tyrosine. From there, Druker could grow the clone, purify it, and experiment with it. But the primary mission had already been accomplished: He had acquired the skill.
…I mean, had he? They needed to contract someone else to make the compound because his attempts were all failures!
The understanding that Matter brought to Zimmermann, isolated in the lab as he was, were enough to sustain his determination to do what Matter was asking them to do.
I just…what does that even mean?
Also, while I’m complaining, why were the image numbers not in the order the images appeared? Is this just a Kindle problem? Why wouldn’t they be numbered in order of appearance?
There is a good book in here, there is. But it reminds me of what my writing looked like in J-school when I was in the middle of an assignment. I would group info, quotes from sources, and phrases together in sections, and cut and paste these sections when trying to decide how to structure the article. Before the last few re-reads, there would be a bunch of sentences all kind of saying the same thing ending up together, and I would have to, you know, EDIT. Sometimes that meant removing a quote from a source I really liked, or a sentence of my own I really liked, but I had to pick one.
Like:
The persistent pleading from clinicians on the outside gave Matter the confidence to keep fighting. The letter from Druker and all the other voices in support of the drug gave Matter the boost he needed. […] “Without [everyone] covering my back, I don’t know whether I would have had the stamina to see this through,” Matter said.
or
As the [clinical] trial finally got under way, Druker remembered Bud Romine’s letter from two years earlier […] When it was time to start enrolling patients, Druker remembered the bold request.
PICK. ONE.
Or take the following four sentences, which I promise you, all occurred on the SAME FREAKING PAGE:
Every known kinase placed phosphates onto either serine or threonine.
every other kinase known at that time brought phosphate only to either serine or threonine.
The other 900-plus proteins use serine, threonine, or a combination of both.
Of the several kinases known at that point, all stuck their phosphates onto serine or threonine.
FUCKING WHY?!
When people take interferon, they often develop a fever, chills, and a paralyzing fatigue, like having a flu that lasts for months or even years at a time. The drug can also cause severe depression.
they would remember the decimation wrought by the drug: the tiredness, the persistent flu-like symptoms, the depression.
ARGH
For the first time, he allowed himself to believe in what was happening. As he watched the tears roll down their cheeks, Druker shed his own as he finally allowed himself to believe what was happening.
That’s just — that’s just two sentences right next to each other. Not even a paragraph between them.
Every large company has a kinase inhibitor pipeline: Novartis, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, and AstraZeneca [emphasis mine]
NO. STOP.
Why am I harping on this? Because I actually cannot believe how bad it is. This was not a self-published book. This is not something tiny that slipped through. This is EVERYWHERE. There is no excuse for it. How did this happen?
The Philadelphia Chromosome was called one of the 10 best nonfiction books of the year by the Wall Street Journal. It has three pages of accolades at the beginning. It’s rated over four stars on Goodreads. How? HOOWWWW?! Do other people just not care about this stuff? Maybe it’s like how Netflix shows these days all have their characters explain their exact feelings and motivations so people can half-watch while cooking or doing their laundry. Are y’all just skimming? WHAT IS GOING ON? PLEASE JUST HIRE ME TO EDIT YOUR BOOKS, IT IS MY DEFAULT SETTING, I CANNOT TURN IT OFF.
Final Review: This book did not deserve to be number 42. Also, I was wrong, there were 3 books I strongly intensely did not enjoy this year.
Book 43:
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Rough Review:
5 happy stars!
Sometimes it’s so much easier to talk about a book you hated than a book you loved, but I’m happy to add this to my “favourites of the year so far” pile. I wanted to hang out with these characters longer. Before I started, I’d heard they were making a TV show of the novel, and I was a bit skeptical – it’s not too long, it’s not a dense fantasy or historical epic, how are they going to get a whole show out of this, is it maybe going to be a limited series? But having finished Margo’s Got Money Troubles, I can’t wait until the show comes out. Flesh out JB and Suzie (we were given enough to go on in the novel, but they’re great and could be even better). Milk that parental angst more. Laugh/cringe at Mark’s nonsense more. Hell, tell me more about Snoop Dork!
Rufi Thorpe touches lightly but confidently on so many complicated, difficult things – drug addiction, single motherhood, parental neglect, power imbalances, sex work, religion, doxxing. And yet it never feels miserable or heavy (although there was a point maybe 50 pages from the end where I was tense as fuck not knowing how things could possibly resolved with so few pages remaining), and somehow it never feels underdone, either. But with all of this going on, there’s plenty for a TV show to say. So I’m going to use the rest of this placeholder review (until I finally/hopefully write full reviews for all of these books for CBR17) to remember how I pictured some of these characters before they’re taken over by the awesome sounding but not at all how I imagined them cast.
Margo: Not Elle Fanning, sorry (although I’m sure she’ll be great). I was picturing the goofy energy of Jennifer Lawrence circa Hunger Games.
Jinx: Garry Oldman or something I think? Not Nick Offerman at all (although I’m sure he’ll be great).
Shyanne: Umm, Rhea Pearlman from Matilda, I’ don’t even know. Absolutely nothing like Michelle Pfeiffer (sorry, sure, great etc).
Kenny: Jack McBrayer, again, I’m sorry.
JB: Steven Yuen but some Jason from The Good Place (I’m not sure why, JB did not have Jason Mendoza vibes, but that’s what my brain conjured).
Biotch: I just really wish it had been spelled Beyotch or Biatch because I kept misreading it as Biotech and that’s what I’m naming my next dog.
(I think it’s clear that I stopped watching TV/movies regularly around 2018, so my mental images of everyone are way out of date, but whatever, that’s what my head characters looked like.)
Anyway, I really loved this. Rufi Thorpe’s prose isn’t convoluted or try-hard, it’s just lovely and real and goofy with little gems that I don’t want to forget dropped here and there, and I’m looking forward to reading more of her stuff.
Final Review: Another favourite. THIS should have been 42!
Book 44:
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Rough Review:
3 stars. I wanted to like this more than I did, but unfortunately ended up agreeing with Katie’s review. I think part of it was my expectations – I had it in my head that this was a psychological horror suspense and dreams and reality would be a major focus, but this was more in the realm of speculative fiction. And boy was it timely, with the uptick in detentions across the states with people getting stuck in purgatory and dropped through the cracks in whatever horrible ad hoc mess of a brutal system they’re in the middle of creating. I liked the way that climate and social change and technological advancements were hinted at or mentioned in passing. At certain points the claustrophobia was palpable, the helplessness and absurdity of the situation gnawing, but on the whole I found the pacing uneven and the story repetitive (not the situation, I understand that was meant to be so, but the points being made).
Final Review: Not enough words but also you’ve probably had enough of my words by now oh no 15 minutes.
Book 45:
The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht
Rough Review:
Giving this 3.5 stars rounded down not because the humour wasn’t right up my alley (because it was, although it probably needs to be spaced out a bit), but because it’s so short! And there were so many North American twitbirds that weren’t covered! And I didn’t catch any typos until I got to the acknowledgements but then there were a bunch! The sketches were cute and I laughed out loud (or at least audibly released air from my nostrils) several times, but I honestly thought the longer form intro and birding tips were the best parts. The individual bird descriptions could have been fleshed out (I mean joke-wise, not just info-wise) because this barely counts as a book. Maybe the world edition that includes this and I think two others (?) would include enough material to deserve the title. The title of “book” that is.
Final Review: 7 books to go and 15 minutes it’s really going to be down to the wire.
