Laura
This book was disappointing, I thought it would be cool. Some thoughts (maybe very light spoilers in these thoughts, so beware)
The whole premise - eating books - is weirdly not important. It literally never matters to the plot that they eat books. They could be vampires, or any other supernatural being or literally just a cult and it would have the same or more impact on the plot.
The “mind-eater” concept is essential to the plot....but book eater concept isn't? It should just be about a weird old cult-like human family who occasionally gives birth to a monster (the mind-eaters) and that would be more interesting.
The whole “collector” thing gets mentioned like 3 times and never revisited?
It's like The Handmaids Tale with random fantasy ethics concepts thrown in.
Some of the modern references felt really jammed in and didn't make sense to the plot. I.e.: 1) the asexuality scene seemed out of place, in the way it wa a handled by the characters...because it doesn't make sense that that would matter so much, in a society where people don't get to choose their partners anyway. 2) there is so much talk about Super Mario but then she says she got “killed by a mushroom”? I'm sorry, but has the author never played Super Mario? 3) Somehow these people can't cross borders because they don't have ID....despite being incredibly wealthy...like, teenagers acquire fake IDs every day, this is not logical. 4) idk man there were so many plot holes and awkward illogical moments I can't even remember. 5) when it was useful for the character to know information it was like “oh chill no worries she read about this” but when it was better for the plot for her not to know then she magically had never heard of normal concepts that she definitely would have come across in books... 6) human food is disgusting except...wine and ketchup?
The one thing I really did enjoy was how all the characters were basically the bad guy. Except the journalist.
Ultimately the plot was just really predictable and I didn't care about any of the characters, except her son a little bit.
Of the three of her books I've read I think this was my favourite. Station Eleven was fun, I really did not like Glass Hotel, and this one get the most self-contained, almost poetic.
Notes:
- feels like the author read a bunch of like “disturbing but cool” internet posts (death roller coasters, body farms) and/or watched too much black mirror, and then basically wrote fanfiction about it (plus covid).
- Ok we get it, if lots of people were dying, the funeral business might hypothetically become hyper commercial and trashy. Every story in this book is just repeating this same cynical concept with different examples.
- Occasionally there is some cool imagery but I'm not sure where everyone is getting the opinion that this is like heartbreaking good writing. Honestly every time there is a really cool concept or idea, the author then moves quickly away from it to some cynical and repetitive satire of how modern society handles death. I.e. some beautiful body horror descriptions of people's skin becoming transparent or glowing stars in their veins - briefly mentioned but not described in any detail.
- I feel like I am being mean about this book, there were some very compelling stories. The first four were actually all quite good. Although even by the end of those four I felt like some of the ideas were starting to be boring. Then the next ten just kinda blend together into a slurry of recycled concepts.
- The most interesting concept in this book (besides the pig) is the mystery of ancient body discovered in the first story with seashells from thousands of kms away. But then the story veers so sharply away from this until the final chapter. And then when this mystery finally is solved it's...pretty dissatisfying.
- All these ~surprise!~ connected characters (like you realize partway through one story that a side character in it is a main character from a previous story, or their child or whatever) seems like an attempt to make things more meaningful (or to be like, Cloud Atlas or something) but that only works if we actually feel deeply connected to any of the characters which I did not.
Basically just
2.5 ? Listening to this in an audiobook with a Scottish reader really saved it. This book felt like it would be better as a TV show (the plot was ok and so were the characters but the writing was really repetitive)
Picked this one up at the library without knowing anything about it and I'm so glad I did. A fairytale and a family story with really compelling depictions of animals and monsters...there is also a religious/spiritual element woven through that feels very natural.
All the time I was reading it I was imagining it as a Miyazaki movie or similar.
LOVED the art.
The plot was fun and morbid but a bit too...simple? It's like a parable or fable.
Read all in one sitting.
I had really weird dreams the whole time I was reading this book.
What can I say, I love a creepy fairytale-ish story with body horror and weird plants. Sometimes the pacing was weird and I felt like it for sure could have gone deeper but it was a fun ride.
- some of the horror elements in this were excellent. would love to read more pure horror writing by this author
- Some really beautiful imagery especially a few pages in chapter 24.
- one mystery was not solved and that I feel had the potential to make the book even creepier or more interesting and felt like a missed opportunity/I would have liked to know!! This is a spoiler so I will not say what it was
- definitely some indulgent and gaudy writing that is fun if you let it be or annoying if you want to be annoyed (this was fun for the most part although in a few parts made it drag slightly).
- did not realize before starting it that this is considered YA - nothing against YA but it explains some things.
3.5 stars. The story and characters are very powerful, and this topic is obviously so important. This book does a really good and nuanced job of showing multiple peoples' experiences in the aftermath of residential school. The variety of paths they take, while sometimes following similar patterns, is interesting. The way their traumas carry through in different ways is painful and compelling. I would definitely recommend this book for the educational aspect of it. I found it educational and interesting and I felt deeply for the characters.
The 3.5 star rating is largely because I personally did not love the structure or the writing style. I found the structure of moving from character to character to be a little bit confusing in the way it was done. At times it took me out of the story. The writing style in general just did not work for me at times. It may work for others: I've seen other reviews criticizing the dialogue, but I had no problem with the dialogue. For me it was something about the flatness of the writing, and the fact that sometimes we got these deep and intense inner thoughts and then other times the writing was very matter of fact and objective, and the transitions between those two ways of writing didn't feel smooth to me. The point of view is third person limited with occasional first person (used selectively, in specific parts of the book, but still felt awkward to me), but the frequent switching between different characters and following each one in third person felt awkward...especially because there was very little shift in tone between the different characters' sections, despite their differences in personalities.
2.5⭐️ rounded up.
Sort of like Saltburn if Felix was obsessed with Oliver back.
This book was almost really good, but is hampered by overly explainy writing (stop TELLING me how everyone feels all the time), weird pacing, and unconvincing chemistry between the two main characters whose toxic and obsessive relationship is the main driver of the plot.
I did like the unreliable narrator - for most of the book I wasn't even convinced the author realized how unreliable of a narrator Paul seemed, but at the end of the book it becomes clear.
This was a fun read but the twist/ending is a lot less exciting than you are led to believe it will be...and once you find out what it is, the rest of the book feels a bit lame.
Beautiful book to read in the springtime. Helen Macdonald calls us to notice small natural things and to learn from them (but not necessarily to learn what you expect to learn). I listened to the audiobook which is read very well by the author.
This book was a real surprise to me. Knowing the premise (dark side of suburbia, cracks in the nuclear family, etc) I felt that I knew what to expect. It was all that, but it does something deeper as well...living in suburbia is arguably not the problem in this book, but rather a backdrop for an exploration of two deeply unhappy people and their simultaneous contempt for one another and attempts to solve one another's unhappiness. Suburbia and disillusionment seem like symptoms of something larger. Of course aspects of the plot are very connected with a critique of 1950s familial expectations, especially for women, but in many ways this book from 1961 feels like it was written now.
For what it's worth it also reminded me of Gone Girl (but better, in my opinion).
Maybe the writing style was just not for me but it felt like the author took a fascinating topic and somehow made it extremely boring.
The subtitle of the book is “ufo culture and why we see saucers,” so I was expecting something of an anthropological study, personal stories and interviews with people and an in-depth analysis into why humans are obsessed with ufos. There certainly was some of that but a much larger percentage of the book is just essentially repetitive debunking of various ufology projects. The parts where she visits various ufo tourist spots are marginally more interesting.
Throughout the whole book the author is so openly smug and clearly believes she is smarter than most of the people she interviews.
Even in the parts where there are personal stories and descriptions of her conversations with people, she is often dismissive and flippant towards people's stories.
In one part, for example, she describes her conversation with a woman while the she and the woman eat at a diner. She continuously intercuts the woman's words with descriptions of how gross she (the author) finds the food the woman is eating. As if she wants us to know that she was so preoccupied with watching this woman eat something she doesn't like the look of, that she couldn't fully listen to her. And she wants to transmit that experience to the reader. Why??
I think the audiobook took this from a 4.5? to a 5 star book for me! The book was fun, and the narration of the audiobook is incredibly well done.
My notes:
- Is this Young Albus Dumbledore fan fiction?
- this is fun and cute. Predictable, but fun and cute.
- kind of like a hallmark movie (stiff business person travels to the country for work, finds love...)
- People in this book use the phrase “seeing as how” all the time...including in a formal business letter. Every character.
- This book is very cozy and cute while still having some stakes. Even though it's a little annoying I still want to keep reading.
- Ok the Young Albus Dumbledore fanfiction has intensified. This MUST be deliberate...
- People speak in idioms and “lessons” a little weirdly often in this book. I guess in the moments that they are talking with children it could make sense. But not between adults...“You are a fire, and they need to know how you burn.” ??
- Ok based on this scene towards the end of the book I can deduce that this author is a big fan of the movie Erin Brocovitch... “did you even read her report? Because I did.”
- The whole cultural appropriation criticism seems complicated and valid, and I'd like to read more about it. Seems like if the author simply had not revealed his “inspiration” he probably would have been a lot better off...
- I do wish the actual world building was more...existant. So many things just mentioned and not explored. Also this is somehow the second book I've read this year that establishes the existence of Hell/the Devil as unquestionably real, and does not explore the theological or societal ramifications of that at all. Like religion is still a maybe/maybe not thing? What do the non religious people make of the existence of the devil? Huh. Is Hell a geographic location or do you go there when you die? Unclear...
- Despite all this I would still say this is an enjoyable book. A fun quick read, very feel-good happy ending...pretty idealistic. But without being boring throughout.
A good old fashioned classic sci fi - fun, exciting, silly, intriguing, full of creatures and politics and planets.
I definitely want to learn more about the inspiration behind the world building and the religions.
One thing that sets this above a lot of classic science fiction I have read is how likeable and developed most of the characters are. Rarely if ever does a character feel like they are just there to deliver information or move the plot along. The number of likeable and interesting characters makes it much easier to get invested in the story.
The ending does feel a little hectic but by the time you get there it's very exciting to find out what happens so it works.
Dune: It's a good time!
Frank Herbert does so many writing things I usually don't like and yet consistently makes me care SO MUCH about the characters and enjoy the reading experience.
This book is about as satisfying as a cold cup of coffee. Do not believe the hype.
The concept has potential and the second story was better than the rest but still clunky writing. This author has never heard of “show, don't tell” and fees the need to constantly explain what characters are feeling instead of making it obvious through their words and actions, ie ‘”Goodness..” Kohtake said in surprise to the fact that it wasn't only those traveling back in time who had to follow annoying rules.' Also repetitive retelling of boring details, and random extremely mundane tangents such as encyclopedia entry style descriptions of Picasso's career or explaining what pregnancy is...
Up until right before the end I was going to give this 5 stars but the ending is so abrupt and unsatisfying.
Maybe 2.5 stars.
This was very underwhelming.
While I did not LOVE the Handmaid's Tale, I taught it to my grade 11 english class this year and it worked really well for starting discussions about a lot of topics, both conceptually and in terms of writing. The narration of THT is so introspective and slow while so much traumatic and intense stuff is happening around the narrator. The Testaments, on the other hand...did not do anything innovative or different. It reads like YA - and not the fun, dramatic, whimsical kind of YA that can be really worthwhile, but rather just formulaic and plot-driven. It's way less scary and oppressive feeling than the Handmaid's Tale, and the world-building makes way less sense. And despite being plot-driven, the plot doesn't even make sense? For example: It is never explained why it matters at all that Baby Nicole be the person the transfer the information? It would have been safer and easier if it had been any random person. In the final chapter there is some feeble attempt at explaining why anyone would entrust these tasks to 13 year olds, but it falls flat. Also we are just supposed to believe that as soon as this information was released in Canada, Gilead self-destructs? In the acknowledgements Atwood says "Totalitarianisms may crumble from within...or they may be attached from without; or both" but it is not explained how this would have led to falling from within? Maybe Canada would be more likely to attach when Gilead was weakened but if Gilead is so good at keeping Canadian media from its citizens why would they ever hear about this information release at all? I could go on.... I will say, the parts narrated by Aunt Lydia were the most compelling in terms of writing. Although the Aunt Lydia character here is quite different than in THT. If she was supposed to be read as an unreliable narrator that should have been a little more...highlighted? For instance showing her actions from the other narrators' perspectives. the Agnes narration was fine. The Daisy narration was terrible and read as very fake. Her manner of speaking/thinking did not seem tied to one particular age. Sometimes she spoke and acted like a seven year old, other times a twelve year old, other times a badly-written “rebellious” teenager.
Idk, the whole thing just felt kind of bland and obvious compared with the Handmaid's Tale.
Beautiful, heartbreaking.
And not what I expected.
I immediately want to reread this book...and read more of Ocean Vuong's poetry.
This book is beautiful and at times painfully relatable.
The audiobook read by Aoife McMahon was one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. She did an amazing job of depicting each character with subtly differences in voice, and reading so smoothly you are never taken out of the story.