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This book is solely responsible for reigniting my passion for reading fiction. I'm a voracious non-fiction reader, but fiction books that keep me engaged from beginning to end have been few and far between...until Mickey7.
Back in 2022, I picked this book up out of curiosity and in a very out of character moment for the 2022 version of myself, I bought it.
Mark my words: I devoured that book.
Soon after finishing Mickey7, I learnt that Bong Joon-ho would be directing a film adaptation of the novel, with Robert Pattinson slated to play the lead. I just finished watching the trailer and there is no doubt in my mind that this movie is going to be just as fantastic as the book.
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So what's Mickey7 about?
Part sci-fi action-adventure, part dramedy thriller set in the distant future, Edward Ashton's Mickey7 follows Mickey Barnes, well to be more precise, the 7th iteration of him. As part of a human expedition sent out to colonize Niflheim, a practically uninhabitable ice planet, Mickey has only one job to do:
Die.
Why? Mickey is an Expendable: a disposable employee who is tasked with doing all the dirty and downright suicidal jobs that could cost the lives of the other more coveted crew members aboard the mission. Whenever the current iteration of Mickey dies, a new clone of him gets regenerated with most of his memories intact. He's the closest thing to an immortal, or at least that's how the idea of becoming an Expendable got pitched to him. However, after having already died 6 times, Mickey7 starts to question his humanity and understand a bit too late why this was the only position with an open vacancy when he first applied.
During a regular reconnaissance mission, Mickey7 gets hurt and is left for dead. Except he isn't. When he makes it back to the colony, Mickey8 has already taken his place. The big problem: only one Expendable can exist at a time. Having multiple clones alive at once is punishable by death, and neither Mickey is willing to die unnecessarily just to let the other one live.
(There's more to this book than just the clone dilemma, but in an effort to keep this summary short and not spoil anything, this is a good cliffhanger to end on đ€)
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With that being said, if you want a delicious amuse-bouche of the story before the film comes out in 2025, give Mickey7 a read.
Sep 18, 2024
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I read this one a few weeks ago, but wanted to wait until I saw the movie before diving into my thoughts. Both start extremely similar, down to some exact word-for-word scenes, and the plot points are all the same, but the movie takes some creative license to show whatâs going on for the main characters mentally that the book doesn't. This works in favor for both the book and movie. In the book's case you're left guessing, confused, and trying to pick apart every tiny detail til the very end. The author is continuously sneaking small details/hints past you without raising alarm, and at the end I found myself looking back to see a whole different story. This isn't to say I didn't see the twist coming, but it was done in a way that left plenty of good stuff to pick apart after youâve finished.
Oct 2, 2020
âOh, that book.â Yes.
I feel like It is thought of more often as a concept of a book/story or dismissed with a âYeah, yeahâ rather than considered an actual thing you can sit down and read. Not that it is generally despised (other than *that* scene, and yes, I completely agree), but I feel as if so few people care enough to try reading it. And with its massively popular adaptation into the 2017/2019 films, the way It as a story is viewed by the public has completely changed, and todayâs tweens probably donât even know who the director of the films is, let alone Stephen King.
Last summer, I read this book. I started it at the beach at home, but on that fateful day, the waves crashed onto my familyâs belongings, taking with them a lunchbox of fruits and one flip-flop of mine (RIP). The next day, we left for a five-day trip, so I was stuck with a very old, very waterlogged, engorged, warped copy of the book. On the very long car rides over the next days, I knocked out over half of It, and spent scorching days by the pool doing the same. On the way home, I began to wrap it up.
When I got back, a hardcover was waiting in the mail for me. And with the last moments of my carefree summer days, I sat in the sunset with my brand new copy of an old story, living vicariously through 7 kids experiencing their last summer together. The red light of the fading yet radiant sunset shone onto my face, and the darkness settled in as I turned the last page.
I have never felt so many things at once. With me, I carried a palpable yet arguably unfounded sense of nostalgia endlessly afterward, and I felt as if I had lived through multiple childhoods and adulthoods in just one summer. I felt devastated and content, hopeless and happy. There is no one emotion I could tie to experiencing 1153 pages of It. Itâs just It. It amazes me that on my shelf is an entire world, embossed with the proud âFROM THE LIBRARY OF,â expectant, waiting to be reopened, re-experienced, relived.
This summer will forever be engrained in my memory, and although I say this as a young person, the summer I spent in Sequoia Tree Park amidst gargantuan trees and rolling mountainscapes is the summer I grew up with seven Losers, just trying to get by and go forth with their lives.
Jan 28, 2025
Top Recs from @verygoodvalentina
I adore finding a random video from like 2005 and reading through the comments the way a historian would examine an old manuscript from the 1700s. Are these people still active YouTube users? Or are they forgotten accounts? What did @jjlwis mean by "awww im gonna miss rob too!!!" ? Who even is Rob?? Anthropology in the digital age... so many questions... it's fascinating.
The important thing for me is not to add new comments. I feel like I'm disturbing an old archeological dig site and my sticky modern commentary will make the video crumble away into oblivion. More importantly, I don't want the algorithm to suggest the video to a bunch of people who will spam the comments sectionâ major yuck đ€ą
Jan 25, 2024
early 80s to early 2000s truck models are the perfect sizes imo. current trucks are transformer-sized behemoths that could easily crush normal vehicles into smithereens upon impact and i legit donât know how those things are even street-legal. also, idk if itâs their design, reliability or the nostalgia factor per-se, but thereâs a certain sazĂłn those older trucks have that newer ones donât.
2024 Ford F-150? đ€źđ€ą
1980 Ford F-150? đ«Šđ«Š
Feb 9, 2025
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with social media being this pervasive entity that has weeded its way into our daily routines for the past 20ish years (plus a global pandemic that really solidified those habits), many young adults today have spent a large amount of their lives living online. it has become the new norm and iâm not gonna pretend iâm above any of this because itâs so easy to fall into it (i am literally writing this rec on my phone whilst itâs a perfectly sunny day that i should probably go out to enjoy).
with that being said, in the larger scheme of life, being in your 20s is still in a weird way the beginning stages of your life. itâs a period to try new things, make mistakes, learn from them and develop an identity thatâs independent from the environment and people who raised you. though you can learn to do some of those things online, they donât hold a candle to actually experiencing those things for yourself in real life.
all in all, the best way to not sleep thru your 20s is to prioritize in-person experiences that allow you to get a better understanding of yourself and your values. whether that be getting your first tattoo, moving to a new city or country, exploring your personal style or taking up hobbies you couldnât or wouldâve never done as a kid, this is an important formative time to venture out and get a sense of who you truly are.
Sep 30, 2024