Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Notes of a Crocodile
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
40 posts | 20 read | 55 to read
An NYRB Classics Original Set in the post-martial-law era of 1990s Taipei, Notes of a Crocodile depicts the coming-of-age of a group of queer misfits discovering love, friendship, and artistic affinity while hardly studying at Taiwan's most prestigious university. Told through the eyes of an anonymous lesbian narrator nicknamed Lazi, Qiu Miaojin's cult classic novel is a postmodern pastiche of diaries, vignettes, mash notes, aphorisms, exegesis, and satire by an incisive prose stylist and countercultural icon. Afflicted by her fatalistic attraction to Shui Ling, an older woman who is alternately hot and cold toward her, Lazi turns for support to a circle of friends that includes the devil-may-care, rich-kid-turned-criminal Meng Sheng and his troubled, self-destructive gay lover Chu Kuang, as well as the bored, mischievous overachiever Tun Tun and her alluring slacker artist girlfriend Zhi Rou. Bursting with the optimism of newfound liberation and romantic idealism despite corroding innocence, Notes of a Crocodile is a poignant and intimate masterpiece of social defiance by a singular voice in contemporary Chinese literature.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
review
sarahbarnes
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Mehso-so

I‘m traveling to Taiwan in December and so I‘m reading some fiction by Taiwanese writers. This was my first, and I‘ll admit I wasn‘t as able to connect with it as much as I‘d hoped. I liked the crocodile in human suits metaphor a lot, though. Any recommendations for books to read, please send them my way. 😁

batsy How exciting! I'm not well-versed in Taiwanese literature, and I think I enjoyed this more than most. It's a bit of an odd book, so I get it 😁 13mo
BarbaraBB Exciting indeed! I was there for work twice and Taipei is amazing! And I agree on the book. It was a so-so for me too. 13mo
Reggie I liked this book but it got under my skin. I hope you have great travels! 13mo
34 likes3 comments
blurb
batsy
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

#AlphabetGame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Letter N

I really liked this introspective, edgy book about queer youth in late 1980s Taipei. There were some great lines and observations, a lot of it relatable precisely because of how it highlights gender norms in Asia. The disaffected lesbian narrator was an intriguing voice throughout.

And really, who among us hasn't felt like a crocodile in a human suit?

Translated from the Chinese by Bonnie Huie.

Graywacke So many of your titles are new to me 2y
vivastory I love yr line about a crocodile in a human suit! This is one of my TBR NYRB & I have always loved the cover 2y
See All 6 Comments
batsy @Graywacke @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thanks to a fun game that allows me to share the more offbeat favourites I've read 😊 2y
batsy @vivastory That's from the book if I recall correctly. It's a pretty great read but it has mixed reviews, as I've seen. The crocodile in a human suit was an analogy about queer people in a heteronormative society. 2y
vivastory @batsy That analogy makes sense. I noticed the mixed reviews, but I have to say that I have yet to read a NYRB that I actively loathed, So, I'm going in with an open mind when I read it. 2y
57 likes3 stack adds6 comments
blurb
xicanti
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

Supper was gochujang tofu steaks, pan-charred Brussels sprouts, and NOTES OF A CROCODILE. I loved the book‘s beginning, but now I‘m getting a bit bogged down with all the American university terminology the translator uses. I find the year nicknames and suchlike so twee that it‘s hard to concentrate on all the good stuff, like the variety of relationships and the crocodiles that aren‘t literally crocodiles.

blurb
BarbaraBB
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

#BookReport 21/21

Expecting Adam was a a very good read. Both others didn‘t do much for me.

Cinfhen One out of three isn‘t too terrible 🙄Too bad they weren‘t all winners 3y
63 likes1 comment
review
BarbaraBB
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Panpan

A crocodile hides most of itself underwater. University student Lazi and her queer friends live like crocodiles, as their sexuality forces them to hide most of their entire selves.
That‘s a great starting point for a book about coming of age and queer identity in #Taiwan in the 1980s.

The writing style however is aloof and the snippets that made up the story are lacking coherence. This made it hard for me to connect.

#ReadingAsia2021 🇹🇼

Librarybelle At least another country is checked off of the map! 4y
Megabooks Ah, too bad. I‘m leaning towards Loveboat, Taipei for Taiwan since it‘s free with my audible subscription. It‘s not something I‘d read for any other reason though. 😂 4y
See All 13 Comments
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 4y
BarbaraBB @Megabooks No I guess not 😂 4y
Tamra Do you use your tagine? My husband gave me a beautiful one years ago and it‘s become an ornament. 😏 Maybe this will inspire me to use it! 4y
BarbaraBB @Tamra Yes, quite often! I love the (North) African kitchen and it is so easy cooking with a spectacular effect 😉😀 4y
SamAnne Not book related but I love my tagine and Ottolenghi‘s recipe! 4y
Tamra @BarbaraBB well, I‘m taking this is as a sign I should give it a go! 4y
Cinfhen Great photo ♥️sorry the book was a dud 3y
Cinfhen I listened to the audio of Loveboat, Taipei @Megabooks it was actually entertaining and enjoyable 😁 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen That‘s good to know. It‘s on my audible plus listen list! 3y
82 likes13 comments
quote
Bertha_Mason
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin

"Because of her despair, I loved her. Because of her despair, I was shaken. Because of her despair, I was overwhelmed, and because of her despair, I left her. Her despair was her beauty."

quote
Bertha_Mason
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin

"But to me, her words had struck a fatal blow, not unlike shoving a red-hot piece of wire up a monkey‘s ass."
Today in odd similes.

quote
Bertha_Mason
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin

"It was an awkward embrace, like black rain pelting snow-covered ground."

quote
Bertha_Mason
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin

"College—now there‘s a system. Though it‘s not quite death, it‘s a pretty close second. It‘s the nexus of three major institutions (compulsory education, compulsory labor, and compulsory marriage), and these three institutions happen to be the greatest achievements of human civilization."

quote
Bertha_Mason
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin

"It was a clandestine form of dating—the kind where the person you‘re going out with doesn‘t know it‘s a date."

quote
Bertha_Mason
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin

"People in this city are manufactured and canned, raised for the sole purpose of taking tests and making money. The eighteen-year-old me went through the high-grade production line and was processed in three years, despite the fact that I was pure carrion inside."

blurb
ephemeralwaltz
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

Recent loot! I'm going to be taking a couple of these on my last week of vacation before returning to the strange reality of old routines in the new normal.
After seeing how bookstores (and other businesses) have been struggling during this pandemic, I've decided I'm going to be buying more books if I can afford it. We need to support the businesses we love in order to not lose them forever in these strange times.

Kalalalatja Pretty covers! 4y
ephemeralwaltz @Kalalalatja they are! 😍 4y
squirrelbrain They all sound great! 4y
See All 7 Comments
zezeki Those covers! 😍😍 4y
ju.ca.no They all look good😍 4y
LeahBergen Happy Birthday! 📚📚 4y
ephemeralwaltz @LeahBergen thank you so much, Leah! 📚❤️ 4y
50 likes7 comments
blurb
Tove_Reads
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

I‘m asking out of curiosity, not questioning this or anything else ridiculous, I‘m genuinely interested. Is it important to have the rainbow flag on LGBTQ books? Is it because of equality, getting the word out there, to attract attention, or for some other reason libraries add these flags? People who know, enlighten me!

Butterfinger I think it is just to visualize the genre. In my local library, we have crosses for Christian fiction and horses for westerns. I looked at the Lachberg and it has a question mark for its label. 4y
38 likes1 comment
blurb
Megabooks
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

🎧🎧🎧🎧 TODAY ONLY!!

One of my goals this year is to read more in translation. I‘ve read some, but I can do better. This is $2.95 #audible, and I liked the narrator on the sample. I think I‘m going to start it later today.

It‘s a #nyrb book @vivastory @Reviewsbylola @emilyhaldi for those that are interested in that collection.

#audiobook @Cinfhen

#LGBTQ+ #pridemonth

Cinfhen I saw this on Audible/ maybe I‘ll try a sample too - price is right 🥰 4y
Reviewsbylola This sounds like a fun format. 4y
vivastory Thanks for the heads up! I think I own this one, but I'm going to double check 4y
See All 6 Comments
charl08 Sounds like a fun project. I'm reading with this online group at the moment in case useful? https://www.peirenepress.com/borderless-book-club/ 4y
emilyhaldi This one has been on my list for a while!! 4y
emilyhaldi Can't wait to hear if you enjoy it 🤗 4y
51 likes6 comments
review
Pinta
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Pickpick

Taiwanese lesbian college student coming-of age-novel set in the 80s. Idiosyncratic narrator‘s diaries & letters switches off with satirical crocodile vignettes. Intimate, sad, self-discovery, self-loathing, queer power, quest for connection, yearning for soulmates. Bittersweet—funny & despairing. Strong voice. Melodramatic vibe, but that‘s also youth & passion. Author committed suicide in her 20s, leaves you wishing she‘d found her tribe. 1994

review
Reggie
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Pickpick

65yo Female Coworker: Reg, you reading about crocodiles now?
Me: No, Franny, it‘s about a young female in the late 80‘s Taiwan, who is at war with herself because she can‘t reconcile the fact that she‘s a lesbian with what society has told her is normal. There‘s a lot of self hate and drama with the women she gets involved with because she never allows herself to love them.
65YOFC: (stunned silence).....that‘s sad.
Me: I know.

ephemeralwaltz Awesome review 😂 5y
erzascarletbookgasm I love your review! 😁👍 5y
Mitch Great review! 5y
See All 15 Comments
Cathythoughts Love this Reggie ♥️ 5y
SarahHarts_books Great Review Reggie!! I💖it so much! 👍 5y
JennyM Reviews by Reggie are the best! 👏🏼😊😘 5y
batsy This brilliantly sums it up! Fab review as always ❤️ 5y
saresmoore That‘s it, exactly! (I bailed on it. 😬) 5y
LeahBergen Perfect! 👌🏼 5y
Redwritinghood Funny review but you sum it up well. I struggled reading this one a bit. It was kind of depressing. 5y
readordierachel I love how perfectly you can distill a book! Great review. 5y
Reggie @ephemeralwaltz @erzascarletbookgasm @Mitch @Cathythoughts @SarahHarts_books @JennyM @batsy @LeahBergen @readordierachel Thanks!!!❤️ @saresmoore I don‘t blame you. It was difficult to get through. @Redwritinghood It was depressing and it was a struggle. I do feel like I owed this author who committed suicide at 26 something. I‘ll be 40 in another month and not all of us make it to the other side when we‘re younger. 5y
Centique Beautiful slice of life in your review Reggie. I can just picture Franny‘s face! 😂😂 5y
Reggie @Centique lol yeah it was something like this 😯. Lol 5y
BooknerdsLife @Reggie LOL Poor Franny! 😂 What an awesome review! 😍❤️👏🏼👏🏼 5y
89 likes6 stack adds15 comments
quote
Reggie
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

This girl......

Cathythoughts Brilliant quote ♥️ 5y
batsy She's really something! 5y
readordierachel Sounds like a great read 5y
Reggie @Cathythoughts @batsy @readordierachel not gonna lie this was a hard read. I had to put effort into to continually watch someone have the same hardships over and over agin so much so that I thought she might be crazy. And that‘s how it must have felt being so different from what the world tells you is normal at a time not so accepting as ours. Oof. 5y
56 likes2 stack adds4 comments
blurb
Billypar
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

#HookedonaFeeling #MayMovieMagic
Taiwan just became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, and authors like Miaojin played no small role in changing the culture. She wrote two novels before committing suicide in 1995. I read Last Words from Montmartre, a series of anguished letters, many written during turbulent points in the writer's relationship with one recipient. Looking forward to NoaC, though it sounds equally heartbreaking.

saresmoore I found this to be both heartbreaking and infuriating! I bailed about halfway because I just couldn‘t stomach the melodrama, but I plan to brace myself and pick it up again—would love to do a buddy read to help me get through. 😊 6y
gradcat It sounds like a deeply sobering read—not sure I would be up for it, either @saresmoore 🤔 6y
See All 6 Comments
Billypar @saresmoore Yeah, Montmartre was like that: not an objective look back at unrequited love and the drama that follows but right in the messy middle of it. I think it would be a great buddy read pick- I'd be down. Lots to analyze but tough to get through! 6y
Billypar @gradcat Yeah- definitely a 'choose the right time' author if you do pick up 😬 But worth it too I think. 6y
gradcat @Billypar Thanks for elaborating further... I appreciate you. ♥️ 6y
38 likes1 stack add6 comments
blurb
greeniezona
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

I made earrings to match the cover of Notes of a Crocodile because its sunny, citrusy color scheme was making me happy when I was trapped in the house with my kids after multiple snow, cold, and ice days. I‘ve heard very mixed reviews in this book. Have you read it? What did you think?

blurb
Kathrin
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

Finished the QIII/2018 prompts. #booked2018

Do I get brownie points for selecting women‘s writers for all my prompts??? 🤪

Now I need to start thinking about the last quarter... 🤪🤩🤓😬

Cinfhen Way to go!!! And BIG HAPPY BROWNIE POINTS for your all female choices 💕💕💕💕 6y
24 likes1 comment
review
beaconhillbooks
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
Mehso-so

The chapters told as the Crocodile were the best part and I‘m still glad I read this to gain a greater since of empathy for Qiu Miaojin‘s life however I ended up skimming the second half. I‘m heart broken that she ended up commuting suicide and grateful she wrote a book like this so people can hopefully learn from it.

blurb
wanderlustforwords
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

These are my physical book, current reads. Diving Belles, a book of magical realism shorts, fun and light. Notes of a Crocodile, the words tortured and sad, but important come to mind. And, Visiting Privilege, experimental writing book of shorts (I‘ve not read two books of shorts at the same time). Williams writing style put me off at first, but now I‘m find great depth in her stories and I‘ve adapted to her style. What are you reading?

Sophoclessweetheart I‘m reading Far from the Madding Crowd, Bonjour Triesste and A Spy in the House Of Love 💗 6y
18 likes1 comment
blurb
beaconhillbooks
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

Our #readaroundtheworld book club pick. This month is Taiwan.

9 likes1 stack add
review
Kathrin
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Pickpick

I really liked how the author divided the novel in two major parts: The main part is a regular coming of age novel with queer couples and the whole narration is done with a tone of normalcy. The other parts are the notes of a crocodile and in those the author addresses the social stigmas LGBT people have to deal with. At times I thought the narration was too introverted and the dialogues lame, but I still thinks it‘s worth reading.
#booked2018

BarbaraTheBibliophage I‘m assuming this is for the LGBTQIA+ prompt. Right? 6y
Kathrin @BarbaraTheBibliophage Yes! There weren‘t enough characters left for the hashtag. 6y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Sounds like an interesting read. Thanks for the review! I‘m tagging my cohosts also. @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft 6y
alisiakae I‘ve never heard of this novel, it does sound interesting! 6y
Kathrin @4thhouseontheleft It's the July pick for the "Read Around The World Book Club" on Goodreads! 6y
19 likes1 stack add5 comments
review
jenniferw88
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Mehso-so

#Taiwan read for #PassportLitsy. 3 ⭐

85 likes1 stack add
blurb
jenniferw88
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

All of my physical copies for #litsyclassics (& a few other challenges) @Sarah83

KVanRead Nice! 7y
Sarah83 Lovely editions ❣️ 7y
101 likes2 comments
review
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Pickpick

A melancholic, introspective book about being a queer new adult in 1990s Taipei. It reminded me of THE BELL JAR but also Oscar Wilde. This is a complex, fascinating book ripe for interpretation and historical/cultural analysis. It's the kind of book that would grow on me more if I got to talk about it with other English grad school nerds. But I can appreciate it for what it is, even if it did depress the hell out of me. #QueerBooks

prowlix Wow Bell Jar and Oscar Wilde? #Stacked 7y
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @prowlix But without the humour in nihilism that some of Oscar Wilde's writing has! There is definitely no humour in this book. 7y
Bertha_Mason I can't wait to read it. 7y
44 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
batsy
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Pickpick

Sad, idiosyncratic anti-novel of vignettes, diary entries, & letters. A young lesbian deals with wrenching self-hatred because of what she's internalised. It's brutal; her despair is real. The crocodile chapters slyly satirise how queer rights are co-opted by corporations or straight allies. Love the subtle humour throughout. The quest for connection, of finding soulmates both romantic and platonic, is bittersweet & imbues the book with pathos.

batsy Letter N for #LitsyAtoZ 7y
Bibliogeekery Hadn't heard of this. Thanks for drawing my attention to it! #queerbooks 7y
Lindy I had already stacked this onto my TBR; your review encourages me to move it up in priority. Sounds like my wheelhouse. 😀 7y
See All 11 Comments
Bertha_Mason <3 ! 7y
batsy @Bibliogeekery You're welcome! Based on GR reviews, the character's depression and her struggle with accepting her desire for women was triggering and maybe off-putting to some readers? Just thought I'd mention that. I thought it was honest; not an easy read, but a necessary one... @Lindy 7y
Bibliogeekery @batsy thanks for letting me know! Fair warned. 7y
Lindy @batsy Bring on the darkness, the realness. 7y
batsy @Lindy Yes 🙌 7y
fleeting Interesting! I'll pick this up. 😊 6y
batsy @fleeting It's a bleak read but I loved it. Hope you find it interesting if you give it a try :) 6y
81 likes7 stack adds11 comments
blurb
batsy
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

I do plan on reading more than two books this month 😅 but these two are confirmed and my #AugustMostAnticipated. Wildfell Hall is a buddy read with @saresmoore and Crocodile is for review. I'm also halfway through The Quiet Violence of Dreams, which I like a lot, but it's 600 pages so taking it slow, and just started a digital ARC of Percival Everett's So Much Blue. Beyond that I'm not sure just yet :) #AndItsAugust @RealLifeReading

saresmoore I'm so glad you're reading Notes of a Crocodile, too! It was depressing me too much and I bailed on it, but I think your insights would certainly help me appreciate it more. 7y
batsy @saresmoore I know you weren't blown away by it so I'm a bit apprehensive! I'm hoping that if I don't get on with the style of the writing that at least the subject will hold my interest. 7y
saresmoore I think you are a more forgiving and wider-ranging reader than I am. Even as I sit here thinking about the book, I'm hoping you'll like it and give me a reason to pick it up again. 😬#selfishladyreader 7y
See All 6 Comments
twohectobooks The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is excellent. 7y
batsy @twohectobooks I was already looking forward to it and now more so! 7y
75 likes6 comments
review
asoftskeleton
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Pickpick

YES.

2 likes1 stack add
quote
asoftskeleton
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

quote
asoftskeleton
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

Like death, college serves as a kind of escape hatch. But while death takes you straight to the morgue, college is a single rope dangling loose from the inescapable net of society. While in death everyone receives equal treatment, college is a place where certain people arrive covered in a layer of musk, a nastiness that they, in turn, smear onto others.

blurb
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

#Day2 of #Riotgrams: #YellowCovers! And for pride month these are all LGBTQ2! From the bottom: SFF by trans authors, 2-spirit anthology, butch/trans masc memoir, queer brown femme memoir, wacky queer short stories, black Caribbean lesbian novel, and Taiwanese lesbian coming of age novel. #QueerBooks #TransBooks

batsy Fantastic stack... Loved Kill Marguerite! 7y
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @batsy It was so great, right? So unique. 7y
batsy @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian Yes! Just the way she played around with form and structure, so great. 7y
27 likes3 comments
review
Redwritinghood
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image
Mehso-so

This book provides a very introspective look into the life of a college student who seems to suffer from depression and a lot of guilt over her sexuality. She struggles over her love for a woman who is very unreliable and is tormented by this. In the way of the very young, she can often come across as whiny or melodramatic. Still, this was an interesting look at how homosexual students in Taiwan in the late 80s dealt with societal pressures.

RaimeyGallant Sounds heavy. 7y
Redwritinghood @RaimeyGallant Yes, it wasn't a very happy book. 7y
54 likes2 comments
quote
Redwritinghood
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

The narrator of this book lives way too much inside her own head. It's a strange, sad place to live, too.

batsy "Lives way too much in her own head" & "sad and strange", that sounds like my kind of book ? 8y
saresmoore I can see why it would be a cult favorite and I tend to like sad & strange, but I can't decide if I want to keep reading it. It might be too melodramatic for my taste or maybe just too hopeless. 8y
Redwritinghood @saresmoore Maybe hopeless-it doesn't feel melodramatic to me. At least, not yet. I find it strangely compelling. She is definitely a unique character. 8y
Redwritinghood @batsy It is really different from anything I've read before. It is keeping my interest, though. 8y
49 likes4 comments
quote
saresmoore
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

"To this day, I've never understood my fear. Where does it come from? I'd been keeping my deviant sexual desires in check for most of my adolescent and college years. I reassured myself that I'd done nothing wrong. It felt like the fear was coming from inside of me. I never did anything to attract it, nor did I choose to be this way. I had no hand whatsoever in shaping the self that was crawling with fear..." ?

saresmoore "...Yet I grew into exactly that: a carnal being stirring the cement of fear with every step toward adulthood. Since I feared my sexual desires and who I fundamentally was, fear stirred even deeper fears. My life was reduced to that of some hideous beast. I felt as if I had to hide in a cave, lest anyone discover my true nature." 8y
Redwritinghood I picked this up already after just finishing the first notebook. She seems guilt-ridden about her sexuality. It's painful to read at times. 8y
saresmoore @Redwritinghood I was just going to ask how you were getting along with the book. It is painful, isn't it? And Shui Ling is such a pathetic character. The book is fascinating and frustrating and depressing and weird. 8y
Suet624 That's an awful lot of angst. 8y
saresmoore @Suet624 Isn't it, though? I'm really not sure how I feel about this book yet. 8y
53 likes1 stack add5 comments
blurb
Redwritinghood
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

Starting this one today. @saresmoore I know you're probably way ahead of me on this one, but I plan to read one notebook each day.

saresmoore Not way ahead of you. I'm taking it slowly, as I'm finding the reading experience to be a bit more—hmm, itchy?—taxing than I anticipated. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts! 8y
ReadingEnvy Ooh I have this one too. 8y
Redwritinghood @ReadingEnvy Want to join the buddy read? @saresmoore and I are reading currently. 8y
Redwritinghood @saresmoore I'm starting to see what you mean. I'm reading one notebook every 2-3 days at my current rate. It feels like I'm reading the thoughts of someone who is slightly deranged. 8y
saresmoore @Redwritinghood That's pretty much what it is. The introspection is almost certainly autobiographical, even if the story isn't. She was a troubled soul! 8y
53 likes2 stack adds5 comments
quote
saresmoore
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

The fact is, most people go through life without ever living. They say you have to learn how to construct a self who remains free in spite of the system. And you have to get used to the idea that it's every man for himself in this world. It requires a strange self-awareness, whereby everything down to the finest detail must be performed before the eyes of the world.

saresmoore Oh, yes. This is most refreshing on the heels of the epic fail of 8y
LeahBergen Ooo, I've been waiting for this one!!! 8y
saresmoore @LeahBergen I don't think I should make any assessments being only 13 pages (4 vignettes) in, but I'm really enjoying it so far! 8y
See All 14 Comments
Suet624 That's a hefty quote right there. 😁 8y
saresmoore @Suet624 So far, this little book is full of them! 8y
ElizaTodd I love this cover! 8y
saresmoore @ElizaTodd It's a beauty! I love the NYRB cover style, but this is a particular favorite. 8y
batsy Aaaah! I really want to read this! Lovely excerpt.. 8y
saresmoore @batsy I'm loving it. It's fiction, but not really, I think and that makes it even more poignant. 8y
shawnmooney Hmm, I read part of the LARB review of this and it sounds a little too post-modern, experimental, for my taste. I'll find that link again and post it below. 8y
saresmoore @shawnmooney It really is postmodern, bordering on post-postmodern as I think she was writing well ahead of her time. But is fascinating. There is a lot of introspective essay vignette (which is what made me compare it favorably to The Inevitable Gift Shop—it's like what I wish that would have been), but there's also plenty of story. Right now it's making me a little woozy with its gritty reality, but I can't look away. 8y
shawnmooney Thanks for the update! Depending on your final review, I will probably give this a try since we seem to be joined at the hip in terms of our reading taste… :-) 😍 8y
saresmoore @shawnmooney I think I certainly like it enough to finish, but I can affirm your hesitation. It's weird and not necessarily brilliant, but makes up for it with fierce honesty. It's certainly a good choice if you want to read to understand. 8y
67 likes1 stack add14 comments
blurb
Liberty
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

Really excited to read this. 🐊❤📚

Shvonne This book is on my wishlist. It looks really good. 8y
CoffeeK8 I 💖 the cover! 8y
Sue Sounds amazing! 8y
129 likes13 stack adds3 comments
quote
BookishTrish
Notes of a Crocodile | Qiu Miaojin
post image

❤❤❤

Lacythebookworm This book sounds so good! 🙌 8y
52 likes1 stack add1 comment