Adam

Three stars because I shed a tear, the concept of this book is genius and it was a nice, easy read.

Not more because... well, nothing much works. The characters are very cliché and they had little to no chemistry. We know they'll end up together because this is a romance book, but really I didn't see why. It all felt very unrealistic and sudden to me.

The plot is great and tension is high until the ending but the prose really has nothing special. The story is meant to be deep and all, except it just repeats that you need to live life to the fullest, making the dialogue feel stilted and unnatural in the same breath.

I was really intrigued by the concept of Death-Cast, which is a genius idea for a dystopia and science-fiction in general, but there was little world-building around it. Who created it? How does it work? What would happen if someone lived alone in a mountain, with no phone? Do they live forever? Is there really no way to avoid death? Is it possible everywhere or is there one set thing that will kill you? We know nothing of it.

One positive aspect was the point of views of side/background characters, which did bring a bit more clarity to the functioning and impact of Death-Cast. Not much, but it was better than nothing. I also really liked the intersections of Mateo and Rufus' stories with these strangers'. I'm a sucker for all the “cameos” in the book.

On another note, Mateo's death was very unexpected, which is really nice, for a change. It would have been better had it been handled in a different way, though. It fell short for me. It was supposed to be this devastating moment, yet I only cried for a second because it was so anticlimatic.

Part of this indifference probably also comes from the fact that I didn't feel very attached to the characters and that Mateo in particular annoyed me. Don't get me wrong, I'm an anxious person as well, and I don't blame him for that, but he made quite selfish demands and decisions for someone who claims to « have lived for everyone ».

I suppose my expectations were too high, considering how popular this book is and how many people found it devastating. Still, this a nice book, quick to read and intriguing.

This book cracked my heart open in the best way possible. Everything was handled with so much care, and it's so obvious how much the author loves these characters that you just can't help loving them too. I might have shed a few tears reading it, happy or sad, I couldn't tell you, I don't know myself. But the exploration of grief, self-harm and self-discovery was beautiful, as was Daya slowly opening herself up to people.

Minus 1 star because I had a hard time getting into this book at the beginning and for the sentences “This is why I don't hang out with chicks. So damn sensitive.” which really threw me out of it. Like wow, I thought Daya was grieving, not rude and sexist!

I'm usually not a fan of Tal Bauer's books, but I quite liked this one, it was a pleasant surprise! But... it's still Tal Bauer. So much mushiness it's hard to find the story interesting or realistic.

I had a hard time choosing how many stars I should rate this but in the end I decided it didn't matter as much as what I was going to write.

This book held, without a doubt, the goriest descriptions I've ever read, though I didn't find them scary, necessarily. They were too clinical for that, too detached, which I found a good thing. Surprisingly, it didn't make me doubt Louise's love for her husband, quite the contrary. His body and what it lacks don't matter nearly as much as the man itself.

I read this with a weird kind of fascination that I can only think to describe as not being able to take your eyes off a car crash and studying it with your head tilted, unable not to notice the beauty of its horror. Really, I found the prose gorgeous. Every word was cherrypicked, every sentence turned inside out to craft precise and impacting evocation.

If you are one of those people who scope out reviews before opening a book and you can stand (body) horror, I encourage you to read this. My words will make more sense to you then because this is not a book you can speak of with someone who hasn't read it. Maybe it is not even a book you can speak of with someone who has.

2.5 étoiles

Malheureusement, je ne peux pas dire avoir aimé ce livre. Le début était intéressant malgré le fait que le style d'écriture soit plus semblable à celui d'un documentaire que d'un roman. Cependant, même en avançant dans ma lecture, je n'ai pas réussi à développer d'empathie pour Alma, que j'ai trouvée égocentrique, ou développer un intérêt pour l'intrigue, qui ne commence réellement qu'une cinquantaine de pages avant la fin.

Cette fin m'a d'ailleurs semblé vraiment invraisemblable, surtout comparée au reste du roman, qui est très réaliste et terre à terre. J'ai trouvé le lien entre la décision d'Alma et sa vie personnelle très fragile et les conséquences de ses actes ridiculement minuscules, que ce soit dans sa vie professionnelle ou personnelle. Enfin, qui aurait le culot de pleurer auprès de sa fille après avoir tué son fiancé? Alma, apparemment. Et l'homme qui l'a conduit à commettre cette faute grave car elle refusait de renoncer à l'affaire ou à sa liaison est l'amour de sa vie? Mais bien sûr.

Néanmoins, en ignorant cette conclusion que je trouve désastreuse, cela reste une lecture (relativement) agréable et informative. Il était intéressant de découvrir le quotidien de ces gens auxquels on ne pense pas, qui prennent les décisions autour du terrorisme. Reste que l'on frôle l'islamophobie...