Reviews

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

badseedgirl's review against another edition

5.0

The Monsters of Templeton was hard to categorize. I finally decided it is magical realisim. Regardless of how you want to categorize it, I found the book to be a wonderful read.

Set in the current day, the author takes the reader on a trip through the establishment of the town of Templeton, using journals and letters written by and for the towns founders, the Templeton. There is all kinds of magical and supernatural elements interspersed throughout the novel. That is not really the focus of the story, but is much more of a character driven plot. So when these supernatural elements are introduced, they are much more disconcerting.

his was an engrossing read and a bit of a departure for me, but I found it well worth the time to read it.

lapoo99's review against another edition

2.0

Nice last page but you weren’t writing a great Russian novel so why did you have the amount of characters in one. Fuck.

amymarchlawrence's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

ir_sharp2's review against another edition

2.0

Ugh. Just. Ugh.

I picked this one up because I'm very visual with my choices, and this cover is graphically appealing. I don't even know how many times I've picked it up, read a chapter or two, and put it back on my shelf. Enough that I was VERY familiar with the first chapter and knew what was gonna happen before it did. This time I got 100 pages in and decided "Dammit, I'm gonna read this sucker." ....And then put it down for a week... And then made myself pick it up..... And then put it down for a couple weeks.... And today I picked it up out of sheer frustration at having carried it around so long for nothing.

Well, I finished it. It wasn't a **bad** story, but damn was it hard to stick with. I had to put ambient music in my earbuds cuz hearing the tv or even any songs with words would let me drift out. The sentences were....just....ugh.

Ah, there we go. This book was celery. You chew and chew and chew on it, it never gets any better than neutral at best, and you get nothing for the effort. At least celery burns calories....

beneduck's review against another edition

3.5

Not my fave LG, but definitely memorable and tasty. Fun to read her first novel - makes me appreciate her mastery of the form even more. My discipleship continues. 

gobby_gilbert's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

lwke's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

donxmore's review

The prologue is about the corpse of a lake monster being found (cool! mysterious!)
The rest of the book is about family drama (boring. couldn't get over the mc calling her mom by her first name. get back to the lake monster!!!!) 

ginamc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

jennie_cole's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0