falon
this book was fine i guess. pretty much nothing happens the first 50-60% of this book, when the action picked up it wasn't particularly scary, and i felt absolutely nothing for these characters. honestly, i would recommend this more if you're a romance reader and want to try some horror, but otherwise there's no real reason to read this over any other book with similar concepts.
The writing was stunning, the structure was unique and like nothing i've ever seen before. the discussions in this were phenomenal and so well done. i have thought about this book every day since i've read it.
this was a really well written, well executed book, just not perfect for my tastes. i wish the little speculative element had come into play more and at different points in the story, and overall i just think that entire element was under utilized. however, this is an incredibly smart novel. it knew what it was saying and how to say it and all of the impactful, emotional moments really resonated. i have a few nitpicky issues, but those could've been intentional, though still detracted from my reading experience.
What was the point of this? Obviously, this book is very similar to Misery, but without any of the outright horror. It was distilled to watching a guy be laid up in bed, which is one of my least favorite things to read about anyway, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING happened in this book. None of the flashbacks were interesting, the antagonist was too illusive a figure to be menacing, and then it just ended. Probably didn't need to be a one star but I'm bitter.
I really liked the art style and how she chose to tell her story but it felt a bit scattered and like there wasn't a cohesive narrative. It was more of a collection of things that happened to her rather than a full story. There was a lot of things I wish I had learned more about like her relationship with her parents but I felt like I saw a lot more of things less important to the message, if that makes sense. That being said, I still had a good time reading this. I felt like I could relate to Tillie a lot and I felt like the art really added to the story and it wouldn't have been complete without it, which I like in a graphic novel.
i really really really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, i didn't. like, at all. the writing as good, but that's about all i liked.
this was so cute and whimsical. all the characters were fleshed our, the art was stunning, the world of being backstage with a magical twist was fantastic. i can't say enough good things about this.
i liked this more than a lot of people seemed to but the end really lost it for me. i had a good time with it but it was very predictable and not that special
This book genuinely surprised me. Although it has a relatively basic premise, it kept me very engaged and constantly wanting to continue reading it whenever I wasn't. Also, I didn't really like any of the main characters, but I still wanted to know what was going to happen, which is rare. Rachel was one of the most frustrating and uncomfortable protagonists to read, but she moved the story along and was intrigued, not by her, but what was going on around her. I'm usually pretty good at predicting endings, but I didn't guess the end to this until about 20 pages before the reveal. Over all, this book had its weak points, those mainly being the insufferability of Rachel, but it was an enjoyable read.
i liked this way more than i thought i would! it's a very classic story that doesn't stray too far outside the box, but i really enjoyed the father daughter relationship, it had some great twists and i felt like i could see this whole story playing in my head. i had a really good time with this one.
great concept but so poorly executed ended up very cheesy and predictable, stripped of real emotion and filled in with one dimensional characters and poorly written dialogue. it wasn't offensively bad and had parts i liked, but overall not for me
i was super intrigued and hooked by the first half of this book, but overall i wasn't rooting for any characters, the writing was a bit too basic and we moved through the story too fast for me to care about anything going on. there was one pretty good twist but tbh just watch rosemarys baby.
One of the best YA thrillers I've read! The characters were really well-written and interesting, as well as feeling like genuine teenagers. The podcast element was integrated well, and I think this was a very cleverly plotted book. There were so many threads to follow that it was able to throw me off but they never got tangled. The only reason it got a four star was because many of the chapters of Anna while she lived in Heron Mills dragged for me in a way that felt boring rather than suspenseful and it definitely could've been cut down in length.
I don't really know what to say about this book. It was all pretty bland and boring except for a couple of twists towards the end, although that final twist was fantastic.
This was a very creeping, slow-paced book that kept me intrigued despite it's slowness. I liked the characters and was interested to see what happened, and the plot twists were pretty good, but they didn't make me gasp or anything. A pretty good thriller but not my favorite I've ever read.
I really thought this book would be a new favorite and it just...wasn't.
Firstly, the good things about this book. Frederik Backman is clearly a skilled writer; this man knows how to put a feeling into a words, a fleeting moment captured in a way that seems to hold all of the meaning in the world. So many of these passages about parenting, love and loneliness were so beautiful and really moving. However, the actual story and characters is where this whole book went wrong for me. Everything was just far too outlandish all the time, from the way all of the characters interacted with the police to people reacting to a hostage situation. It wasn't outlandish in a fun way either; I was always irritated with how over the top every character had to be at all times. The tone was constantly switching from deeply emotional to campy and it made it hard to be invested in the characters. The characters are really the main problem I had with this book; I know that they're all mostly supposed to be unlikable, but I never got attached or invested in a single person in this book. They were written in such a way that they were so much of one character trait that they didn't feel like people, rather caricatures. The themes of this book and the general point the author was trying to make felt so heavy handed at times that it grated on my nerves. Also, there was a lot of attempts at humor that felt so distinctly boomer-y (cough the entire character of London cough) Overall, this book had so much potential but it never took off for me.
I feel like I might have gotten a different copy of this book from everyone else. I really don't understand why everyone is so head-over-heels for this book!
I found the writing of this book to be lackluster and amateurish, especially in every scene where Evelyn wasn't telling her story to Monique. It wasn't as glaring during those times I definitely enjoyed those parts much more. But every scene involving Monique seemed like the writing you would find in any low-rated romance novel in the back of the book store.
Honestly, Monique's sections of the book were so uninteresting and pointless until the last chapter the book wold be much better without them. I couldn't care less about Monique in the slightest.
Evelyn herself is carrying each of my three stars on her back. She is the only character in the entirety of this novel I could give two shits about. Every other character was flat and uninteresting, to be brutally honest. I didn't understand any of their motivations or personality in the slightest and I only saw them through their actions that I didn't understand.
That being said, Evelyn was absolutely wonderful. She is my favorite kind of character who is so unlikable simply because of her brutal humanness. She was a wonder to behold and I think it is because of her that so many people love this book like they do.
There's also a wonderful amount of representation in this book that I love and stand behind. However, Evelyn and the diversity is not enough for me to bump the rating of this book. If I did get an unedited copy of this book or something, someone please send me the actual version because I would love to adore this book as much as everyone else.
I really didn't like,,,anything about this book. There were no real twists or reveals that were interesting; pretty much every plot point or “reveal” can be guessed from the moment they're hinted at. The characters were all such bland, flat archetypes, the structure of the story didn't make any sense to me and all of the aspects of the cult were so stereotypical and cookie-cutter. There was nothing unique or interesting, the messaging while positive is so obvious and blatant and everything just felt over the top and contrived.
The first time I read this book in middle school, I thought it was incredible. Now, it's pretty insufferable. If it had been executed properly with more character development beyond incessant whining, it would have been great, but, sadly that didn't happen. I hated every single one of the characters besides the kidnapper, for fuck's sake.
Summer, to start off with, I had absolutely no sympathy for. She just whined and bitched and moaned in the least endearing way the whole book and was only focused on her boyfriend. Like, your family, do they matter?
Then Lewis, who I couldn't stand for even one second. I skipped over every one of his chapters because it was just filled with sappy love shit every other line.
The only vaguely interesting character was Clover/Colin, who at least had some depth, some mystery, some intrigue.
The writing in this was also horrendous. There's was no mystery or beauty to it; it was all tell and no show. all of the characters thoughts that were written were cringy to read.
All in all, this is a 1.5 star book. Clover earned that .5
Had a few good stories but for the most part they were very surface level. Most of the stories felt like they were trying to be deep but never got the full point across. The writing was quite juvenile and simplistic. The stories I liked, though, I really, really liked.
As with most contemporaries I've been reading, this book was very mixed for me. It was very different and unique from a lot of contemporaries I've read. It took a lot of the same tropes and things from this genre and made them unique and interesting and personal. The anxiety representation was also spot on and so fantastic. It was so genuine and accurate, and I also really appreciated how Jamie would get annoyed and frustrated. In books, the love interest is always this super tolerant guy who makes the heroine's panic attacks so much easier, but his frustration with Kiko was much more realistic and I loved that. Kiko had a very beautiful, if not predictable, character arc and her growth was great to watch unfold. Despite the fact that I haven't gone through the same specific things as Kiko, I really identified and connected with her. However, the actual plot was the same unrealistic and cliche bit where teenagers can just pick up and leave and do what they want without supervision and its very tiring to keep seeing something that could never really happen. I definitely had to suspend my disbelief with a lot of the events of this book. Sometimes the writing was really beautiful and other times it felt like the ramblings of an angsty teenager without any sort of style. I also wish that the friendship with Jamie had been explored more because we're just told how perfect they are for each other without ever really seeing it.