I really enjoyed Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival which led me to tracking down the source material, a short story titled Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. This was originally published in 1998 in Starlight 2 and then again as the titular short story in a collection of eight short stories by Chiang in 2002. It begins strongly with Tower of Babylon, about building a tower to reach the heavens that has an interesting philosophical bent. This is followed by another intriguing story titled Understand, detailing the progress of […]
Daredevil in the Detail
I polished off Daredevil: End of Days in one go. There is a hook in the very beginning that isn’t answered until the very end and it was definitely the curiosity to know the meaning of a whispered word that kept the midnight oil burning. I don’t have any particular affinity with Daredevil. I didn’t come across the character much in my youth. I remember a Spider-Man-Daredevil comic cross-over I must have got as a freebie somewhere and I had no interest in the Ben […]
A Life
There is plenty good about Stoner but the thing that really jumps out is author John Williams’ ability to write such a deep and emotionally engaging story about what can be considered a mostly ordinary life. The titular character begins life on a farm but the story quickly follows his progression to college life where he settles into comfortable surroundings, pursues a career as a lecturer and academic, marries and has a daughter. The novel practically canvases Stoner’s entire life in around 280 pages and not […]