The Unseen World

A little disappointing after The God of the Woods. The story is too drawn out. Lovely characters though. Still a very special writing voice.

This book draggeddddddddd.

I can see how all the elements were there, and I should have - at least - really liked this. Moore is a good writer, though could have used a tighter edit. I liked Liston. I liked Ada's early years with David. I liked the conversations with their “coworkers” in the lab, and her lab-education, and the early conversations with Elixir. I thought what I was getting was a family story where the father declines into Alzheimer's, and I even appreciated that aspect, as Ada tried to pretend that everything was fine, he was fine, everything was under control.

So I was so frustrated when the declining-health thing turned into family secrets thing, even though FINE, I guess David had a good reason for family secrets taking on a different identity. I was bored by Ada's school years. I would finally get invested in something only for the book to jump in time. I didn't think any of the chapters set after the 1980s were interesting or important, I just wanted to hang out in the '80s where the interesting things were happening. I was bored by most of the AI stuff, and I really didn't like the ending. (I thought about skipping the last 20 minutes of the audiobook, because I was soooo readyyyy to be done, and ... that wouldn't have been remiss.)

Bummed.

A mix of [b:Special Topics in Calamity Physics 3483 Special Topics in Calamity Physics Marisha Pessl https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442699779s/3483.jpg 910619] with some [b:Galatea 2.2 23001 Galatea 2.2 Richard Powers https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442696557s/23001.jpg 1682428]. A young girl grows up homeschooled and inside her Dad's natural-language-processing lab at Boston University. It's her coming-of-age story as this young shy nerd who suddenly needs to navigate same-aged kids, awkwardness and high school, when suddenly her father - her only family - is diagnosed with Alzheimer and slowly fades away, while also revealing a big secret about his mysterious past. Engaging read, well written, the emotional parts between Ada and her dad are touching. The reveal of the mystery is not as rewarding as expected. And the techy future she ends up in, not as exciting, but that might just be due to my own aversion of all things VR :)3.5

4.5 stars. This book completely sucked me in from page one. The characters were well developed and interesting. The story line, which involves a family “mystery” was unique and compelling and the ending was satisfying. Well written and highly recommended to readers who like literary fiction with an element of mystery.

Definitely on my “top 5 books I've read this year” list. Richly layered with wonderful characters in what seems like a coming of age tale but is so much more. Fans of East of Eden, Mad Men, and Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore will love this one.

Loved this book. One of my favorites of the year so far.

The author did a great job of pacing the novel back and forth through time to tell the story of Ada and David. Ada's character will stay with me for a while.

Couldn't read this book fast enough. I was so interested in the resolution of the mystery behind David's past.

I strongly recommend this book!