Reviews and Comments

I see this book in bookstores all the time and had it bookmarked. I didn't realize, but it's a queer trans story as well, and not a very long read! The author, Vivek Shraya, is a Indian Canadian trans woman. and multimedia artist. vivekshraya.com/projects/

I found this book recommended in an article by a library. The author is a Thai mechanical engineer from Texas who also writes children's books: so cool! It's nice to read something that's intended for middle grades every once in a while.

it was ok. some were good and made me want more. some were pretty uncomfortable and i couldn't wait for it to stop.

Started audiobook per apartment friend's rec

Wasn't interested

I listened to this book as an audiobook narrated by the author. I first learned about it in 2020 and watched "Why Trust a Corporation to do a Library's Job". I think this made me have a different impression of what to expect from the book. Some of it was information I was familiar with and some of it was new. It's also quite personal as others have noted. I was really surprised to learn about a side of Ello that didn't make the same impression on me when I was a teenager who didn't know about the drama that was happening around it. I think it'd be a book that would get along well with some friends, but I'm not sure what the person I'd recommend it to would be exactly. Perhaps something along the lines of someone who'd be interested in books like Blockchain Chicken Farm. It's the type of thing I feel like not enough of my peers know about.

I listened to this within a day and a half as an audio book. Without much background on Ada Lovelace, while I can't fact check the content from prior knowledge, I felt like this was a solid overview of Ada Lovelace's life as an introduction. The fact it's targeted for kids adds more joyful antics to the biography's narrative. It also doesn't gloss over Lovelace's difficulties with her health and family members to make her more palatable as I might have feared. Hearing about other aspects of her life humanizes her beyond her achievements. However, it also makes me wonder what traditional non-European cultures are not acknowledged in the computer science community as precursor's to Lovelace's idea of computer programming, such as through textile forms.

I learned about this book because the author came to my school freshman year. I didn't get one of the free copies they were giving out at the time, but it stayed on my mind and I saw it as an audiobook so I figured I'd check it out. Oh boy, what a journey, harder and harder to put down. If you're familiar with "The Overstory" by Richard Powers, you're introduced to several different characters with some common themes that link them to a major event—that is what came to mind when reading this book structure wise. I never finished "the Overstory" and I wouldn't compare the plot otherwise. For "There There", the final event, as well as things that happen to characters of various indigenous descent, all connected to Oakland, will sit with you for a long time. It's different from other books by indigenous folx, I've read with an emphasis on cultural loss/revitalization/reclamation in an urban context. It reminds me more of what I've heard from indigenous podcasts about current indigenous issues. I really enjoyed the role of grandmothers in this book as well.