March Books

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The Dark Forest (黑暗森林) by Liu Cixin

I sped through The Three-Body Problem, the first book in Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t quite know why nearly a whole year has passed before I picked up the second book tbh. I really liked this one too and read it rather quickly, not as fast as the first one but we’ll get into that in a minute. Actually, let’s get into that now, this book had a massive flaw, the whole dream woman subplot.

I found Luo Ji’s whole romance storyline incredibly cringe-worthy, the idea of him dreaming of a woman and then her existing, in reality, is just stupid and a bit too Pygmalion for my liking, and it doesn’t add anything to the plot. If anything it just shows up Liu as not being able to write a decent female character. Although, someone on the r/threebodyproblem subreddit makes a compelling argument as to why this happens in the novel, and yeah I’m inclined to agree with them, however, that doesn’t excuse how badly written she is, like does she even have a personality? If anything she is just a glorified plot device and there to make a tongue in cheek comment on ‘the dream woman’ cliche.

But let’s forget about the bad because this book has some phenomenal moments, especially when it gets into philosophy and ethics. The whole Zhang Beihai storyline took an amazing turn and really demonstrated how far people are willing to go to survive! And the theory/metaphor of the universe being a dark forest is so disturbingly brilliant.

I also have to replicate these quotes from the book because I got chills reading them 😂

'If I destroy you, what business is it of yours.'

'Darkness was the mother of life and of civilisation.'

'Don't say where we are! Once we know where we are, then the world becomes as narrow as a map. When we don't know, the world feels unlimited.'

Can’t wait to finish the trilogy and read the mammoth tome that is Death’s End, and I will be reading this soon as I am in such a Sci-fi reading mood at the moment!

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi - Sága Book Club Review

This book is not like any other book I have read. I was mesmerised, and still am by how Emezi weaves her prose, it’s poetic and energetic, brimming with life. The story is fascinating and devastating in equal measures and I think I will have to re-read it another few times to fully grasp its complexity, or perhaps I never will as I am a white cisgender female. I also loved how Emezi explored African folklore and gender identity throughout the novel and I think this is the kind of book that needs to be taught in schools, it’s imaginative and informative so there are naturally lots of things to learn from its pages and so much room for analysis.

Ultimately, Freshwater is a book that will stay with you, but beware that some elements such as rape, suicide and self-harm may be a bit too much for some people as these themes are triggering, so if you haven’t read it yet or if you’re thinking of recommending it to someone bear that in mind. I think I have so much to say but I just can’t find the words to say it. I love when that happens with a book because that’s when you know that you’ve just read something remarkable, I also think that after mulling it over for a week or two I’ll be more coherent in my thoughts.

But right now, I’m going to hand it over to BBC Africa's Princess Irede Abumere and guest reviewer media specialist Yvette Uloma Dimiri.

François Ozon's Swimming Pool: The writer as voyeur

François Ozon's 2003 erotic thriller Swimming Pool follows Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) a successful yet dissatisfied crime novelist as she spends some time away from stuffy England at her publishers home in France.

Spoilers ahead…

From the get-go Morton is uptight and bizarre, her excessive consumption of yoghurt is rather uncanny, her interaction with a fan on the tube and simmering jealousy of a new writer is telling. She’s going to undergo a metamorphosis and become less stoic and boring by the end of the film. But how she gets there is going to be rather interesting.

Morton is also a voyeur, she watches Julie (the daughter of the publisher whose house Sarah is staying at) have sex with a random stranger one night and often finds herself watching her when she swims and also becomes irritated by Julie talking and laughing on the phone. A weird obsession grows. There's also a scene in Sarah’s imagination where the camera tracks the contours of Julie’s body as she sunbathes, it’s almost the male gaze at work but it’s actually Sarah’s gaze, her authorial imagination at work.

I feel like the writer as a voyeur is such an obvious yet intriguing trope in thrillers. I mean writers definitely have to be voyeurs to some extent, people-watching is a socially acceptable form of voyeurism. But a thriller always makes them a little more creepy, and to be honest, Rampling makes this trope work so well that it almost feels fresh again.

“When someone keeps an entire part of their life secret from you, it's fascinating and frightening”

However, this is when things start to get complicated, Julie reads Sarah’s book and invites the local waiter Frank (to who Morton has taken a liking) over to make her jealous, they party. The morning after a panicked Sarah sees the pool covered up with a lump in the middle of the tarpaulin. Is Frank dead? No, it’s just the inflatable lilo. This moment was done well, it was predictable but it still makes your skin crawl for the duration of the scene.

Unsurprisingly, Frank does actually turn up dead, the two women bury him and vow to get on with their lives, Sarah even has to seduce the gardener after he starts to inspect the grave they dug the night before.

But this is all a ruse.

The entire plot of the film is put into question when an emboldened Morton returns to London with her finished novel and announces to her publisher that she has signed with someone else to release the book. Upon leaving the office a young girl enters and is addressed as Julie and greets her father. The Julie in France is not the real Julie in fact she never existed at all!

What a brilliant twist. She’s just an over-imaginative and slightly perverse writer. The metamorphosis I mentioned earlier happens because she gets her inspiration back, she blooms again because she has written something that excites her. I love how Ozon weaved this narrative and for a while, I thought it was going to follow an obvious course but I was really pleasantly surprised.

Ozon himself said ‘Charlotte's character kept mixing fantasy and reality. Although in Swimming Pool, everything related to fantasy is part of the act of creation, so it is more channelled and less likely to end up causing madness. In terms of directing, I've treated everything that is imaginary in Swimming Pool in a realistic way so that you see it all – fantasy and reality alike – on the same plane.”

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So I think I have Aphantasia...

In recent years I’ve come to realise that I’m not quite normal.

Try this; imagine a horse. Can you see it in your mind? I can’t.

So, I know what a generic horse might look like, but I can’t actually see anything when I close my eyes and will myself to imagine it. For years I thought this was just normal and that people who could see things in their minds like my older sister were unique. It’s the kind of thing people don’t really talk about that much actually.

It turns out it’s the other way around, and there’s a name for what the weirdos (just kidding) like me have. It’s Aphantasia, and according to the Aphantasia Network, around 2% of the population have it! 😱

So what is Aphantasia exactly?

Everyone imagines differently, and some people have weaker images in their minds than others but, Imagination Blindness (the other name for Aphantasia) is the complete absence of visual imagery.

Basically, it’s like a turned-off TV screen when I close my eyes, absolute nothingness; I can’t manifest an image no matter how hard I try.

Remember that horse from earlier?

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What do you see? Let me know in the comments.

If you’re a 1, maybe you have Aphantasia too! It’s not a completely accurate test, but it does reveal how others see images in their minds.

I still can’t get over the fact that phrases like ‘mind’s eye’ or ‘I see what you mean’ never made me second guess that I was something of an anomaly. Perhaps I just thought they were random sayings like ‘A different kettle of fish’ and all those other weird English language phrases that don’t make any sense until you read about their origins on Wikipedia.

For an aspiring writer/film director, this kind of sucks, but I still have an imagination; I think I imagine in words and kind of like how AI scans through all the things it’s ever encountered to create something. I’m not sure; it’s all rather mysterious tbh.

Find out more about Aphantasia.

When Art meets Fashion

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When I heard that Uniqlo were doing a collaboration with the Louvre, I had a moment. Like I am obsessed with Art, especially the whole renaissance and baroque era, I just love it.

Somewhere in Italy in 2013. It’s hot and I’m looking up at the creation of man in a room packed to the brim, over an audio system a man says “Silenzio” intermittently in a monotone voice. I feel a rush of awe as I stare at one of the greatest artistic achievements in the history of man.

But is appreciating Nessus Abducting Deianeira problematic in itself, a painting in the male gaze depicting and romanticising male on female violence. Am I perpetuating the patriarchy by buying a T-shirt that portrays a woman in flight fearing for her life? Perhaps. That’s the problem with art, it’s open to interpretation and what once was normal and beautiful may no longer be.

But I can’t help but feel drawn to these paintings, I adore the craftmanship and the ethereal quality to them. And I must say the well-placed peach and roses in the T-shirt design give Deianeira back a bit of privacy and the omission of the centaur has to mean something. Am I looking into this a bit too much, maybe but when did I not overthink everything? It’s just a part of me, the constant questioning and analysis of thing can quite easily transfer the simple purchase of a T-shirt into a debate on morality….

Luckily in the myth that the painting is based on Heracles saves Deianeira from Nessus the centaur before he can have his way with her. What would a damsel do without her hero, aye? Fun fact for all the Disney Hercules fans out there, Nessus is the centaur that Hercules rescues Megara (aka the best Disney character ever!) from.

Either way, whatever the side of the argument that’s not really an argument your on, you can get the Uniqlo X Louvre T-Shirt here.