⋙ Libro Gratis Brasyl Ian McDonald 9781591025436 Books

Brasyl Ian McDonald 9781591025436 Books

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Brasyl Ian McDonald 9781591025436 Books

I love Ian McDonald, he wrote one of my absolute favorite books in Evolution's Shore. I was really looking forward to reading this one but frankly I was disappointed.

First of all, the excessive Portuguese. I usually really like unusual stylistic choices, but his use of Portuguese crossed way over the line and became an annoying affectation. It felt pretentious, and didn't add anything notable to the book. If the point was immersion, there are far more skillful ways to do that and this choice was really ham handed.

And I don't think that McDonald had the authority to use that much of an actively spoken foreign language that he doesn't speak, in his novel. Sadly some of the reviews I've seen from native speakers have blasted the awkward phrasing and weird use. Could you imagine someone doing this with English? Wait, that exists, and we call it Engrish and it's terribly awkward. Why would it be good writing to do it to another language? I can see he had consultants, and I am sure he did tons of research but that frankly is not enough.

Although that would have been forgivable, just annoying, had the content of the book stood up. Sadly it did not. I found the characters fairly interesting, unlike some reviewers who hated the MC-- she was pretty hate able, and I'm a little worried that this is the only type of interesting female character McDonald seems to enjoy writing, but she was also kind of hilarious in her hateability and very self aware of her flamboyant flaws. So I actually liked her-- which is why i felt betrayed when certain character changes happened near the end of the book which felt completely out of the blue and nonsensical. There was no real build up to her change in character into the person she was at the end, she was just one way in one chapter and totally different in the next.

Also the plot is a sloppy mess. Eighty percent interesting ideas building up to a final twenty percent "oh god I have to make the novel end the way I planned, how do I get from here to there" and the answer was contrived and boring.

The multiple time lines that bothered other people didn't bother me, I liked them. Just the stuff above.

Anyways, a disappointment. I expected better.


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Brasyl Ian McDonald 9781591025436 Books Reviews

This was the first book by Ian McDonald I have read. The plot was interesting, even engaging at times. But the writing was horribly loose and overwritten, and especially in the beginning before I got used to large amount of Portuguese words scattered everywhere this was really, really slow read.
Why say something simply, when you can use a few flowery and long sentences without commas to say the same thing? -) This book didn't give me any need to sample something else McDonald has written. Second this years' Hugo nominated book I have read. At this time "No award" is still my first choice in the novel category.
The concept is interesting; although the writing is a bit chaotic. But the main problem was that if a writer intends to use words from another language to illustrate the narrative, he/she should always ask for support from native speakers, Brazilian Portuguese, in this case; although the writer thanks some Brazilian Portuguese-speaking people at the end, there are blatant errors which lead to the question "where they Brazilian Portuguese native speakers?".

And a note on the electronic version there was too much space between paragraphs; a single space would suffice, except for when there is a change of "scene".
This was a complex read but the whole thing has really stuck with me. The characters and their surroundings are fleshed out with intricate aesthetics and the premise continues to be thought-provoking several months later.
I loved this book, for so many reasons!

First off, I'm a native Irish speaker, from Galway, so when Quinn launched into the commentary of how language shapes mind, I was in complete sympathy.

Next, it seems like a bunch of authors (like this one) are jumping on the "multiverse" theme these days. Good for them. It's a fun thing to explore, and I enjoy what's coming out of it. Having earned a degree in physics, and having heard about the devil creating the interface, well, I just love the Q-blade.

Beyond that, well, I've been to Rio, love the city, and the chase scenes play out very true to life. I'm sure the author does Sao Paulo equally well.

Reading this book, and "Anathem", I am filled with hope that we'll have languages strong enough to describe (flip side solve) NP-hard problems within the next 20 years. How *that* will change us!

What a great world we live in. What a great book.

UPDATE (3/31/2010) The opening bit of this books now exists in the US, as the series "Bait Car."
I knew a lot of it was nonsense. In particular, his alternate timelines and his explanation of quantum theory; but I was more than willing to let it pass. It helped that Ian MacDonald made the background seem real. In fact, he did some research to make it seem, and it is the only action/adventure I know of with a bibliography. Of course, it also helped that he placed his tale in an exotic location.
This is my favorite of all of McDonald's works so far. He expertly weaves together three different stories in dramatically differing time periods but does this with such apparent ease and fluidity of language (including a lot of the Portuguese idiom) that the complexity of the whole work is illuminated but never overwhelming. Father Luis Quinn, an Irish Jesuit cleric sent by the Portuguese Jesuit authorities to "admonish" a fallen priest in the deep jungles of 18th century savage and slave-ridden colonial Brazil is also my favorite of all of McDonald's characters. Quinn, a huge strong paradox of a man with a dark past, asks only for a "task most difficult." He gets this and we get a brilliant read in return.
I love Ian McDonald, he wrote one of my absolute favorite books in Evolution's Shore. I was really looking forward to reading this one but frankly I was disappointed.

First of all, the excessive Portuguese. I usually really like unusual stylistic choices, but his use of Portuguese crossed way over the line and became an annoying affectation. It felt pretentious, and didn't add anything notable to the book. If the point was immersion, there are far more skillful ways to do that and this choice was really ham handed.

And I don't think that McDonald had the authority to use that much of an actively spoken foreign language that he doesn't speak, in his novel. Sadly some of the reviews I've seen from native speakers have blasted the awkward phrasing and weird use. Could you imagine someone doing this with English? Wait, that exists, and we call it Engrish and it's terribly awkward. Why would it be good writing to do it to another language? I can see he had consultants, and I am sure he did tons of research but that frankly is not enough.

Although that would have been forgivable, just annoying, had the content of the book stood up. Sadly it did not. I found the characters fairly interesting, unlike some reviewers who hated the MC-- she was pretty hate able, and I'm a little worried that this is the only type of interesting female character McDonald seems to enjoy writing, but she was also kind of hilarious in her hateability and very self aware of her flamboyant flaws. So I actually liked her-- which is why i felt betrayed when certain character changes happened near the end of the book which felt completely out of the blue and nonsensical. There was no real build up to her change in character into the person she was at the end, she was just one way in one chapter and totally different in the next.

Also the plot is a sloppy mess. Eighty percent interesting ideas building up to a final twenty percent "oh god I have to make the novel end the way I planned, how do I get from here to there" and the answer was contrived and boring.

The multiple time lines that bothered other people didn't bother me, I liked them. Just the stuff above.

Anyways, a disappointment. I expected better.