Lindsey Ziegler

A road trip book about family. Which sounds super generic, but it is really good and well-written.

DNF

I was about a third of the way through this one and there was just nothing interesting in any of the characters or the plot (which, really, lack thereof).

Each character was at best a cartoon of them.

And the main character tried to be mysterious, to the point of being unknowable by the audience.

There was no healing here, no story about a dog and a woman, but a story about a woman grieving her friend. The main character is the man who died and he has no redeeming qualities.

Not what I was promised and nowhere near as good as that.

The characters in this book made me feel so happy. They were fully developed, even as they were developing their voices and their position.

Thoughtful and funny and sad and happy. Full of emotion and clear writing. Nora makes you feel like part of her life.

3.5 stars. The plot seemed to reach peaks a few times, which was strange. The main character was interesting and the stories referenced were unique for this style of book.

So much padding here. The story was good, but at about halfway, I was like, okay, wrap it up soon, please.

Couldn't finish it. A little too dated.

A compelling look at the love and shape of one family over the years.

Dark. Very dark.

I love the perspective and own voices point of view for a post-apocalyptic story.

I wished for a bit more of her own perspective or daily life in the White House, but overall, strongly written.

Strong main character, but the timeline felt a little off and some of the plot seemed to be missing.

Pretty good, but the characters could have been more fleshed out.

The first half of the book was a good memoir, but the second half was mostly about the charity and not the family.

The organization of the book was awful and there was no info actually given. It was written like fiction, without any historical context and history.

Way too much description. And the tone was just...off.

I enjoyed the other Atwood book I read better. This was told from the perspective of one person and while interesting, I felt like there was other information that could have been given to make for a better story.

While being predictable, it was well-written, with good main characters and very realistic plot.

Not much plot. There was also many time jumps, so many without wayfinding tools that I had no idea whether each section was the current timeline or the past or a totally different timeline. Nothing was highlighted or delved into that you couldn't get from an essay.

Strong characters, with a very plausible and scary premise.

3.5 stars.

At times heartbreaking and equally anger inducing.

There was no clear narrative and the book felt a little preachy at times, but overall full of good humor and personality.

I had been looking for this book for several months, if not longer. I could only remember a few details about it and thus, couldn't find it. Then I did!

Interesting story about the start of paleontology in the US and the difference between academia and public. Set during Custer's Last Stand and other important Native American history, an interesting read.

Too scary for me. I should've known from the first pages, but really, it was the Stephen King endorsement that drove me away.

Kya was a complex and interesting character, but some of the most interesting parts of her were revealed by Tate, whereas I wish that it would have been from Kya herself.

The story took a while to get its footing, mostly because the beginning was super sad.