Reviews

Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee

mimosaeyes's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I was really excited to read this book because of its premise. Main character who is drowning in debt takes a job to audit white-collar workers' dreams to make them more productive? Sounds like a great starting point for a sci-fi critique of late-stage capitalism.

Except that's not what this turned out to be. The story feels a lot... smaller, less ambitious, than what I expected and wanted. The main conflict ends up being interpersonal - based on a rather clichéd storyline, too - instead of taking shots at the system. It also hinges on a conflation of dreams with memories that went totally unjustified in terms of worldbuilding.

At the same time, the way the story is told is confusing. Jonathan Abernathy doesn't understand the import of a lot of what's happening to or around him. And because of the floaty sense of temporality crossed with the choppiness of the scenes, I didn't really know at first, either. Then when it started making more sense, I was just disappointed, as detailed in the above paragraph.

As for Abernathy's whole arc, I started the book assuming he was the hero. Once I realised, fairly early on, where his story was really headed, I was a little miffed but was along for the ride as I could see the point the author was trying to make with him about self-delusion as a way to cope in such conditions. My quibble is that, if your main character isn't going to be likeable in a traditional sense, surely there should be someone who is? But there isn't! Every character is just unpleasant, including the omniscient narrator. Maybe that was the whole idea- I can see the ends it would serve - but it's hard to pull off while still having the reader enjoy the book, and I don't think the author was successful in this attempt.

mrodgerson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

eliza_bangert's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

breadandmushrooms's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

lacewing's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

recycledwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I was excited by the premise of this book but found it didn't live up to my expectations. The characters were likeable but I didn't find myself engrossed in their stories.

The book is billed as a critique of capitalism. It somewhat lived up to this, it didn't really provide much hope in my opinion but it did point out in various ways how impossible it can be to get out of debt in modern day America through no fault of one's own.

everuth91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

flyingorcas's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

torts's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is

like what you'd get if you took Stranger Than Fiction's bumbling protagonist facing imminent death, with the existential dread and capitalist ennui of The Pale King and the surreal dystopian magic of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself and an element of the satirizing of racial and class-based displacement of They Cloned Tyrone and romantic memory-sucking of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and stitched it together with the undercurrent of deeply-unsettling-twin nightmares of Annihilation (the movie). But also

wholly its own thing.

vgk's review against another edition

Just not for me at this time. I was finding it quite depressing and anxiety-inducing, so I stopped reading at page 54.