Clay
The story really starts 500 pages in. The relevant characters interact and the switch of perspective is great. Before that, it is everything that is hot in literature right now. Multiple storylines over thousands of years. You could put a family drama mystery into the story and it would be everything that has 5 stars right now. If you like that, this is your book.
Overall I liked this book, but I thought it was boring. I don???t regret the time I spent reading this book, but I am also glad that I skipped whole paragraphs and ends of pages. This book is an experience, but I wouldn???t recommend it to my friends.
It took incredible writing skill and hubris to weave the four short stories together with the thinnest of threads. Everyone is dumped out of their descriptive quagmires into their respective endings without any semblance of conclusions. I didn???t learn anything because there was nothing at stake. One character completely changed where she was in the universe and nothing happened after that.
Thanks for reading
DNF @50%. I can???t keep reading something that I can???t explain the plot halfway through. This has all the right elements for SF. They are compelling in a synopsis, but the author doesn???t differentiate the characters or make me care.
This is both entertaining and a solid reference. When I am stuck I will go back to chapter 53 and do those exercises.
Do you remember in 2007 when you were 24 and your frontal lobe was still developing? Probably not. That was the year you went to see the movie Into The Wild. When you left the theater that day you were changed, you were dead set on packing up that old JanSport backpack from high school and hitchhiking to Alaska to find yourself. Everyone would call you Daffodil Tramp and no one would hold you back, especially your corporate-sell-out of a father who paid for college where you developed your mild drug addiction.
Do you remember watching Into The Wild, in 2013? Your brain finally grew some wrinkles and decided to participate in some executive functioning. At thirty you wanted to stay inside, struggle at work all week, and maybe drink beer all weekend with some video games. You didn???t want to hike around with bears in the Alaskan wilderness, and then (spoilers) die an agonizing death alone.
Breakdown is the book for you, today, at 41! Your brain kept growing and everything you hold as truth has changed because of those damn people on the internet or the idiots in Washington. This book is your invitation to once again say F-you to everything and pack up your corporate branded OGIO bag and say goodbye to your crappy life.
This book is wonderful. You are wrong when you say it is bad. You should be happy that you hated this book because obviously you value the life that you possess. Everyone else is going to the woods.
DNF 85 pages. I flipped to where my bookmark sat and read the paragraph. I asked myself do I care about any of this. My answer was no. Do I hate sci-fi? Do I speculative fiction? The answer might be yes.
Okay let???s talk about The Professor.
The greatest parts of this book were the few glimmering moments that The Professor took the stage. He was handsome, sage, and he had a backstory that everyone knew except the reader. He was a font of perfectly timed Shakespeare quotes. Was he an ageless spirit that roamed the world and ultimately landed in Ashland where he became the head detective and the first person called to every crime scene. And biggest of all, was he seducing the main character???s mother?!
How do I care about Juliet with a pure talent like The Professor playing the understudy? I wanted to follow him around, see what his life is like. He might not mechanically wake up every morning and bake what seemed like thousands of pastries. He wasn???t going to care about $12 missing from the cash register, go through the failing finances of his family bakery, and subsequently give away what felt like hundreds of baked goods to the firefighters. And what was with the forest fire? Was it trying to mislead the reader? Was the author warning us about climate change and how it affects our beloved Shakespeare festival? Either way The Professor could be in the pantheon of great detectives: Poirot, Holmes, Fletcher. But alas his story was second to Juliet and her boring life.
If the only way to learn more about The Professor is to read another Ellie Alexander book then I will stick to dreaming about what could have been.
Another anecdotal business book that tells the same stories as every other anecdotal business book.
I searched ???quirky cozy mystery??? and someone recommended this book. Sure enough, the first 10 pages dabbled in fun dialogue and silly analogies. After that, the author must have abandoned rewrites and editing because there were plenty of errors, typos, and sentences that were place holders for the next rewrite.
If this is how to start a 6 year 10 book series, then all of the aspiring writers out there have a chance for success.
DNF @ 30% it wasn???t bad. It hit too close to home. I???m still hurting from lockdown.
If you charge too much for sweaters, straight to Breach.
You undercook fish, right to Breach.
You overcook chicken, also Breach.
You make an appointment to the dentist and don???t show up, believe it or not, straight to Breach.
The plot is great. I cared about the characters. I respect the self imposed challenge of making Breach happen. After I got over the odd names and rules the middle bit of the book was great.
I don???t recommend this book. Whoever compared it to Kafka is a dolt.
I just finished watching The Gentleman and I was still hungry for more of that Guy Ritchie banter/ heist/ story structure. Reddit recommended this book and I question if they read what I was reading. The problem is that this is a classic telling instead of showing book. I could have skipped the 2 to 3 chapters the described math to me. The pages of military grade lists were imaginative with some funny jokes but where were the stakes? The surface to air missiles launched from Prancers horns, went off right next to the characters, and did no harm, was a good indication that the guns were their for people to get excited about mentioned them.
I read some other reviews before writing this one. The one and two star reviews cover much of what I am feeling. The one thing that I must add is that around 550 pages I abandoned ship. I didn???t care about any of the characters I didn???t care about their futures.
You know those times when you agree with everyone because you don???t want to sound stupid?
This is amazing and meditative. For all of those writers out there, could be a really interesting writing exercise. I imagine you are regaling an even more self indulged) Elon Musk, who is perched on a throne lashed to the back of a cyber truck with your ideas for the rural rebuilding of Silicon Valley.
How many elevated fish tanks will the city have? Elon asked?
There will be enough to make this city statistically better than all others.
This is just more terrible story telling. Read Malcom Gladwell of you want the same exact classical psychology research studies told in an entertaining way.
DNF @50% Maybe I???m not a Sci-fi guy. I lost steam about halfway when nothing happened for a hundred pages.
DNF @50%. This broke my spirit: ??? Times move slowly when you???re waiting for something good, so naturally the days fly by as the dreaded ball approaches.??? The premise is a 30 something???s fever dream. Plot consists of a MadLibs style melange of popular teen movies. Do you relate to going to school? Do you want to wear a leotard and train with others in an arena? Do you relate to being part of the downtrodden class? Do you instantly accept your higher position in life when the ruling class makes you one on them? Do you fall in love with anyone that is slightly decent to you? Are super powers and a secret underground revolution the only way you can fight against the upperclass?
If you said yes to all of these, this book is your jam.
It is a fun book of you haven???t seen or read anything. It will be a great movie series???get Anya Taylor-Joy, Ansel Elgort, and Tom Holland.
Thanks for reading,
Clay
DNF ~50%
The author did not write this book for me. Even if I???m not the target audience, stories should have compelling characters, stakes, and honest prose.
Can a workaholic Big City woman who playfully makes a list of ways to experience small town life be a compelling character? Sure, just like the English Colonial Empire she heard stories about a far off uncivilized land that she can easily integrate, take what she wants, and improve it to her civilized standards.
As a main character, Nora is passive. She is a slave to the list, her sister, the man she hates, any man with good forearms, and an uninteresting client that Nora blows off all the time. I don???t care what happens to Nora. She is easily replaced with anyone who is horny, has a bad reputation, and can follow directions. I guess that is supposed to be me as the reader. I???m Nora! I???m the one with electricity that runs up and down my spine! I???m the one that follows the list and goes skinny dipping in the dark. Big City Nora wasn???t uptight she was acting tough because just like the rest of her life she is doing what everyone around her tells her to do.
Honest prose is easy to evaluate. Does the author think the audience is an idiot? Does she put in the time and effort to trick me into feeling like I???m living in Nora Imperialism? Not really. The meta-ness of a writer writing about a book agent that is helping a writer write a book extends into ever aspect of the book within a book. I believe waving your hands and screaming ???this is a romance novel trope??? as your characters perform romance novel tropes is lazy and it says you think the reader is an idiot.
