Lisa
Sad to say it, but not my thing. Loved Just Kids and M Train so much and this one lost me from the start.
Pretty ok 20 spooky minutes at a time via audiobook before bed.
Have I told you how much I love my Libby App yet? It's the best.
Normally I'm not a fan of this style of writing because unless you're a master, it easily comes off gimmicky. It was so well done by Michael Ondaatje in Coming Through Slaughter and the Collected Works of Billy The Kid that I never really needed to read another book in this format.
This was perfect for listening to 20 minutes at a time before bed via Libby (best app discovery ever). I am curious to see an actual copy of this book to see if the photos referenced in are present or how it was put together in general.
Calling fans of Beowulf and Grendel, this is a must read. If I was still a literature teacher I would certainly devise a unit on all three of them.
I really loved the approach and character development as well as the post apoplectic feel to it.
In a sea of books that have been ok or pretty good lately, this one stands out as one of the best books I have read in 2021.
I am really into getting the books on Libby so when I am too sleepy to read a book in my hands but not ready to admit defeat, I can stay in the world of the story as I fall asleep. The audiobook was an amazing accompaniment to my real book experience.
Let's just say that it wasn't the best choice read for someone who hired trauma cleaners less than two years ago to handle a narrowly averted tragedy in their childhood home.
What's that saying, too soon? Yup it was too soon.
That being said, this book was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I really did like it, as dark as it is in many places, it was always balanced by the shining resilience of its main subject.
First off, literally no prepper says TSHTF in conversation, using instead the more impactful and much easier to say, “when the shit goes down”.
Secondarily, any applicant who closes her college essay with “That's why I want to go to college” should be automatically denied and their English teacher/counselor fired.
I just can't with this book.
I feel really conflicted about giving this book a star rating because of its level of violence - it's extreme towards women and that between the Texas Rangers and the indigenous peoples of Texas and Mexico. That being said, was a lot of it likely based on historical fact, yes.
The best part of the book is not just the continuance of Gus and Call's lives, personal and as now Captains of the Texas Rangers, but also the end of eras for the natives and the Rangers. The book ends just as modernity's door cracks open leaving everyone on the precipice.
Like Penny Dreadful but perhaps too many characters packed into one book. However, this is a series so....
This would have been 5 stars had I not been hung up on second person narration. The flow of this book was hands down amazing and by the end hit a fever pitch.
Sniff.... started pretty strong, slowing losing me along the way.
It was a let down to see many of the women now in power roles mirroring the worst in the patriarchy they sought to destroy. I was hoping for more than this take on human nature.
Second time reading in preparation for volume two finally dropping.
The story is multi layered and the art is stunning.
Can tell me why this book had to open like it did? Way to lose a reader in less than three paragraphs.
Ugh. Besides the obvious issues everyone else can state, the characters were flat and barely develop over the course of the novel. The plot misses out on developing background circumstances and weakly wraps up plot twists way too quickly when they could have been the most engaging parts of the entire novel. I was doubtful about reading it and after it reminded me how much I miss the library during Corona lockdown.
I honestly didn't expect to like this book very much and it really surprised me. Any book that can make me laugh out loud multiple times while addressing something as painful as the last weeks of dying parent's life is a win.
Parents getting old sucks and this book showed that there can be joyous moments. It also elegantly depicted the importance of placing your ego aside and accepting that parents are also just humans trying their best.
The Vampire
The Reporter
The Criminal
The Biologist
The Mechanic
The Hitchhiker
The Prisoner
The Villager
The Nephew
❤️
Had to read this again for the first time since high school because you know, Josh Brolin and Jason Mamoa will be in the new film release in October.
I will say that for me, the first 3/4 of the book is much more satisfying than the final 1/4, making the reading experience a bit of a let down the second time around. So much of what happened went by too quickly and would have been best served by taking time with it, or giving way to the second in the series.
I might pick up Dune Messiah on Libby for bed time stories time, but not any time soon.
The patterns are a total hassle to trace as they overlay each other and the directions are pretty sparse for a beginner at clothes making. I love the clothes, but feel less than confident to make them just yet.
I really loved Borne and was hoping to be swept up in this trilogy. Sadly it is being shelved away before finishing it.
