I love how this chapter has progressed the story, so far. I'm surprised at how much has happened. The psychologist calling it a tower was weird. And the reveal of just how ominous the psychologist is was shocking. The fact that the tower is a monster. That the anthropologist was killed deep in the tower. The biologist becoming so open with the surveyor. The complete breakdown. All of this. It's crazy. Plus, I like how he's bringing character into the story. I was wondering whether and how that would happen. It's good to see her side of the story come in.
Yeah that is a great point. He's covering a lot of ground, and keeping the story moving forward even though it can be introspective at times. This is definitely a great book to study on how to make such a shorter story feel like it's doing a lot in the limited page count. While the chapters are on the longer side (50ish pages), they're encapsulated so well. They are definitive chunks of story with naming conventions that represent exactly what is going on. I know VanderMeer had lines on a chalkboard to represent the plot/pacing structure of each novel in a rudimentary way. I'll see if I can find the image.
@@JasonFuhrman I'm going through the discord channel now. Only up to chapter three, though. I'll probably read that one tomorrow. I have to comment on the criticisms of the biologist's decisions. To me, writing is the art of getting characters to do stupid/cruel/baffling things. The biologist was very trusting of the psychologist in the beginning. By the end, Vandermeer did an excellent job showing that this is downstream of her pathological fascination with investigating this tower. Her actions are justified by her character, and that is what I love.
Catching up on the chapters! 👀📖 and so much happens in this one..! from the story's progression with the tower, the psychologist, to the peek we get into the biologist's memories and mind... not related to the story itself, but there's this kind of "loneliness" that can be found in some character science fiction stories that just hits different 🤌✨ kind of reminds me of a previous read along from this channel, the narrator of "story of your life" from ted chiang... i really enjoy this kind of character explorations. Thank you as always for the in-depth video!! 😊💙
I'm about halfway through Acceptance, and Annihilation is still my favorite of the three. VanderMeer really keeps things focused in that story, and you're right, getting this kind of intimate and introspective POV is rare in science fiction. It makes it feel more real, which is a shame that most other science fiction novels don't go that direction. It's almost adding a literary angle to it, which only enhances the experience.
I'm slowly catching up. Man, this chapter was awesome, I'm hooked on the story. The more I read the less I like what they did in the movie. This book has an amazing eerie atmosphere. It's that feeling you get when exploring an abandoned building, you're a bit scared to go in, but at the same time very excited to check whats inside.
Catching up on Annihilation content now- great video! Helped me notice some things I didn’t pick up on. I confess as I didn’t realise it was a report on my first read I assumed it was all factual so it’s interesting to consider the unreliable narrator on a second go. It’s interesting how her identity is blending into area x but arguably her identity eroded even before she entered as her name was taken away. Great chapter and I love the sense of foreboding with the tunnel/tower. It was perfection!
thanks for checking it out after the fact! Some of my favorite parts of this are when she breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader. It really bring us into the story. She mentions she's journaling this a few times, but it's always after something has happened and she tries to justify her waiting to tell us in case we thought her state might cause her to be unreliable.
@@JasonFuhrman haha yes - finishing the other book has cleared the pathway! Yay that’s v cool re the fourth wall. Oh man I’m never doing audiobooks again - my retention is so much lower! Lesson learnt - Authority is going to be kobo all the way!
@@helenasf1782 I try to keep audiobooks to a minimum or dedicate certain books to them that might be easier to digest. Books that don't have a lot lurking beneath the surface. I listened to It Ends With Us on audio about 50% of the time, and found that simplistic style of writing easy to follow, plus it had a great narrator. But with The Southern Reach there's a lot more depth, a lot of things you need to infer, which is why I prefer reading books like this.
@@JasonFuhrmanyes that’s a really good shout. I found audio ok with certain fantasy fiction where it’s mainly about the action but you’re right it doesn’t work as well when there is subtext etc
i just finnished this chapter. i love how in depth the chapter. However, it's difficult for my analyse the meanings precisely because the chapter was so dense in content
It's a story that gives you very little at times, so it can be difficult to put it together, especially when a lot of this doesn't come together until the third book.
I love how this chapter has progressed the story, so far. I'm surprised at how much has happened. The psychologist calling it a tower was weird. And the reveal of just how ominous the psychologist is was shocking. The fact that the tower is a monster. That the anthropologist was killed deep in the tower. The biologist becoming so open with the surveyor. The complete breakdown. All of this. It's crazy. Plus, I like how he's bringing character into the story. I was wondering whether and how that would happen. It's good to see her side of the story come in.
Yeah that is a great point. He's covering a lot of ground, and keeping the story moving forward even though it can be introspective at times. This is definitely a great book to study on how to make such a shorter story feel like it's doing a lot in the limited page count.
While the chapters are on the longer side (50ish pages), they're encapsulated so well. They are definitive chunks of story with naming conventions that represent exactly what is going on.
I know VanderMeer had lines on a chalkboard to represent the plot/pacing structure of each novel in a rudimentary way. I'll see if I can find the image.
@@JasonFuhrman
I'm going through the discord channel now. Only up to chapter three, though. I'll probably read that one tomorrow. I have to comment on the criticisms of the biologist's decisions. To me, writing is the art of getting characters to do stupid/cruel/baffling things. The biologist was very trusting of the psychologist in the beginning. By the end, Vandermeer did an excellent job showing that this is downstream of her pathological fascination with investigating this tower. Her actions are justified by her character, and that is what I love.
That's a good way to explain it as well. Maybe you can convince Tactical Hotdog haha
Catching up on the chapters! 👀📖 and so much happens in this one..! from the story's progression with the tower, the psychologist, to the peek we get into the biologist's memories and mind... not related to the story itself, but there's this kind of "loneliness" that can be found in some character science fiction stories that just hits different 🤌✨ kind of reminds me of a previous read along from this channel, the narrator of "story of your life" from ted chiang... i really enjoy this kind of character explorations. Thank you as always for the in-depth video!! 😊💙
I'm about halfway through Acceptance, and Annihilation is still my favorite of the three. VanderMeer really keeps things focused in that story, and you're right, getting this kind of intimate and introspective POV is rare in science fiction. It makes it feel more real, which is a shame that most other science fiction novels don't go that direction. It's almost adding a literary angle to it, which only enhances the experience.
I'm slowly catching up. Man, this chapter was awesome, I'm hooked on the story. The more I read the less I like what they did in the movie.
This book has an amazing eerie atmosphere. It's that feeling you get when exploring an abandoned building, you're a bit scared to go in, but at the same time very excited to check whats inside.
Glad you're still with us. Yeah this is my favorite book of the three. They all have great things about them, but this one is the most memorable.
Catching up on Annihilation content now- great video! Helped me notice some things I didn’t pick up on. I confess as I didn’t realise it was a report on my first read I assumed it was all factual so it’s interesting to consider the unreliable narrator on a second go. It’s interesting how her identity is blending into area x but arguably her identity eroded even before she entered as her name was taken away. Great chapter and I love the sense of foreboding with the tunnel/tower. It was perfection!
thanks for checking it out after the fact!
Some of my favorite parts of this are when she breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader. It really bring us into the story.
She mentions she's journaling this a few times, but it's always after something has happened and she tries to justify her waiting to tell us in case we thought her state might cause her to be unreliable.
@@JasonFuhrman haha yes - finishing the other book has cleared the pathway! Yay that’s v cool re the fourth wall.
Oh man I’m never doing audiobooks again - my retention is so much lower! Lesson learnt - Authority is going to be kobo all the way!
Or come to think of it, it was prob the fever! Good thing I have your videos for a deeper look!
@@helenasf1782 I try to keep audiobooks to a minimum or dedicate certain books to them that might be easier to digest. Books that don't have a lot lurking beneath the surface. I listened to It Ends With Us on audio about 50% of the time, and found that simplistic style of writing easy to follow, plus it had a great narrator.
But with The Southern Reach there's a lot more depth, a lot of things you need to infer, which is why I prefer reading books like this.
@@JasonFuhrmanyes that’s a really good shout. I found audio ok with certain fantasy fiction where it’s mainly about the action but you’re right it doesn’t work as well when there is subtext etc
i just finnished this chapter. i love how in depth the chapter. However, it's difficult for my analyse the meanings precisely because the chapter was so dense in content
It's a story that gives you very little at times, so it can be difficult to put it together, especially when a lot of this doesn't come together until the third book.