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lesnupi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
cyanide_latte's review against another edition
Ooooooookaaaaayyyyy, DNF'ing 2% because I can tell you just from the introduction(?) or prologue or whatever you call it alone, this guy's writing style is NOT for me.
leah_grace7's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
maajaa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kkwf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
luca_looselyreads's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
caitlyn1313's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ryanfreeman's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
giulietta1599's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bonesandmountains's review against another edition
5.0
This is the first book I've read from Ellis and all I can say is holy fuck. It took me a little while to get used to all the characters and places, but after around a third of the book, I was fully hooked and struggled to stop listening. I needed to know what was going to happen, to see the tragedy Bret kept hinting at unraveling - or, better, the tragedies, as there are many, and they almost seem to intertwine around Bret himself, threatening to swallow him until they do.
There is a killer in this book, and while that's surely one aspect that kept me holding my breath until the end, this is not a crime book per se. The killer - the Trawler - serves more than a purpose. He's a symptom and a product of a time and place. The media are paying attention, Bret is paying attention, but everyone else seems so numb about it all it's almost infuriating. It's girls Bret's age being targeted, and yet girls his age don't care, as they - and the boys alike - feel somehow apart from the rest, invincible and endless. So, yes, even though the serial killer is here, he's present and always occupying a place in Bret's mind, and he's sick and terrifying, he's not the point. He never fully enters the narrative the way I thought he would.
It's also a book about relationships, about growing up and changing and entering an adult world that simply doesn't give a fuck about you and how you feel. Bret can't wait to grow up, can't wait to leave high school behind and move on with his life, and yet he clutches at his friends' group like at the edge of a cliff and its slow but inevitable disgregation is devastating to him, destabilizing, and it's what pushes him over the edge toward the end. He thinks he's ready to let it go, at first, to abandon it, as he thinks he's ready to deal with adults that actually just want to use and abuse him, but he's just a boy. Not an innocent one, not necessarily, but eventually, just a boy. And he's not ready, and he'll never get the chance to be.
And there are many other themes in this book. There's obsession. Not only Bret's - toward the Tawler, toward Robert, toward the people he loves - but everyone's, like Robert's obsession toward Susan, the Tawler's obsession toward the God. There's the description of a generation of rich white kids who had no limits and no need for them, and that was left almost completely alone by their parents, free to indulge in drugs and parties and extremes. And there's LA, coming alive on each page of this book. I have never seen any of the places mentioned, but it must be amazing to read the book as a local.
About the negatives, well. I agree that this book is very long and often repetitive, but I didn't necessarily mind it. The repetitiveness actually fits with the fact that the protagonist is obsessing over many things and is also very often high. Besides, once I found out that originally the book was published in episodes as a podcast, I kind of understood why that was. Some editing would have made things smoother, of course, but I don't think it's a fatal flaw.
Still, the writing is incredible. It hypnotized me at times and chilled me to the bones during some parts. This book had no right giving me as much anxiety as it did.
And the ending? Well, I think it fits the theme. Tragic, upsetting, incomplete. Like many things are. And you are left wondering if what you read was truly what happened in the Autumn of 1981, if Bret has been honest with us, the readers, or if, as it was his habit, he embellished the story until it turned into something else. I suppose we'll never know.
There is a killer in this book, and while that's surely one aspect that kept me holding my breath until the end, this is not a crime book per se. The killer - the Trawler - serves more than a purpose. He's a symptom and a product of a time and place. The media are paying attention, Bret is paying attention, but everyone else seems so numb about it all it's almost infuriating. It's girls Bret's age being targeted, and yet girls his age don't care, as they - and the boys alike - feel somehow apart from the rest, invincible and endless. So, yes, even though the serial killer is here, he's present and always occupying a place in Bret's mind, and he's sick and terrifying, he's not the point. He never fully enters the narrative the way I thought he would.
It's also a book about relationships, about growing up and changing and entering an adult world that simply doesn't give a fuck about you and how you feel. Bret can't wait to grow up, can't wait to leave high school behind and move on with his life, and yet he clutches at his friends' group like at the edge of a cliff and its slow but inevitable disgregation is devastating to him, destabilizing, and it's what pushes him over the edge toward the end. He thinks he's ready to let it go, at first, to abandon it, as he thinks he's ready to deal with adults that actually just want to use and abuse him, but he's just a boy. Not an innocent one, not necessarily, but eventually, just a boy. And he's not ready, and he'll never get the chance to be.
And there are many other themes in this book. There's obsession. Not only Bret's - toward the Tawler, toward Robert, toward the people he loves - but everyone's, like Robert's obsession toward Susan, the Tawler's obsession toward the God. There's the description of a generation of rich white kids who had no limits and no need for them, and that was left almost completely alone by their parents, free to indulge in drugs and parties and extremes. And there's LA, coming alive on each page of this book. I have never seen any of the places mentioned, but it must be amazing to read the book as a local.
About the negatives, well. I agree that this book is very long and often repetitive, but I didn't necessarily mind it. The repetitiveness actually fits with the fact that the protagonist is obsessing over many things and is also very often high. Besides, once I found out that originally the book was published in episodes as a podcast, I kind of understood why that was. Some editing would have made things smoother, of course, but I don't think it's a fatal flaw.
Still, the writing is incredible. It hypnotized me at times and chilled me to the bones during some parts. This book had no right giving me as much anxiety as it did.
And the ending? Well, I think it fits the theme. Tragic, upsetting, incomplete. Like many things are. And you are left wondering if what you read was truly what happened in the Autumn of 1981, if Bret has been honest with us, the readers, or if, as it was his habit, he embellished the story until it turned into something else. I suppose we'll never know.