Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very well written with a unique narrator's voice. Highly recomomend.
This was just an all around strange book. I gave it an extra star just because it had such an original plot. I'm still not really sure what was going on, with all the psychic attacking and stealing faces of the deceased. It had it's moments, for sure, and I liked the protagonist, and I liked the emotional story line that went along with the suicide of her mother. But overall, I felt like this one had too much going on to be a truly great read.
Kind of goes off the rails in the last third of the book, but pretty fun up until then with some Murakami like flourishes of weirdness.
Curious. Handled psychic aspects (which I was concerned I may find cheesy) very well. There were a few moments where I had no idea what was going on, but that's OK... all fell back into place by the end.
It started slowly, but I was completely caught up in it by the 1/3 mark. I really enjoyed this, dark and creepy.
Sadly I have decided to abandon this, I enjoyed the first 25% or so but when I was half way through I realised I was lost and uninterested in figuring out why. A DNF for me
Did I understand this book? Not in the slightest. But it was still good!
This was so much fun! "Astral detective story" says the blurb and yup, that's pretty accurate. Weird, wacky and off-kilter.
it's a rare novel that captures the intensity and disorientation of certain deep connections with appropriate strangeness, darkness and humor. i think, perhaps, what julavits articulates here, in part, is the visceral experience of metaphysical moments (i.e., how it feels to intuit, to love, to grieve, to hide from ones emotions, to make oneself metaphysically sick) -- and in doing begins to create a language for emotions or experiences that, to my knowledge, don't yet have names, or at least, evade a shared, common language. the strangeness of this novel felt resonant, and challenging, and frightening -- all of which i seek out in great fiction -- all while avoiding comfort, which is such a narcotic, the temptation towards it an addiction, and which is so difficult to resist, especially when dealing with death & mothers.