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mcchonchie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death and Miscarriage
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Violence
bookmaddie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Cook writes beautifully and imaginatively of the natural world, and I appreciated her note at the end of the real lands that inspired her fictional creations. The whole experiment is quite interesting to read about. Cook has written a really great group of characters, and she explores the tensions that arise when you're with a group of people for so long, and then when that is disrupted by new arrivals. Her social observations are spot on, and she has quite the skill for building up the tension, even in situations that might seem somewhat insignificant.
Agnes really annoyed me in the beginning, when the story is narrated by Bea (whose narration I enjoyed most). I really don't like children characters who never speak and act kind of oddly with no explanation, and Agnes fit the mold for the first quarter of the book. However, when we read from Agnes' point-of-view, I found her much more interesting. Her narration, from the perspective of a child, adds a lot of mystery to this story, as there is a lot she doesn't understand about the social mechanisms of the group. Even so, Agnes is very observant and often picked up on things that the adults ignored. While I grew to enjoy her narration a lot, I do wish there had been more explanation of some elements. I was especially curious to know what happened to Bea, and get a final glimpse from her perspective, as she is the one who started this whole story.
Still a great read, and one I'd definitely recommend for fans of nature writing, slight dystopian reads, or any of the books I mentioned earlier.
Graphic: Death and Miscarriage
Moderate: Animal death and Blood
Minor: Death of parent
peachani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Excrement, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
babegladwaller's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Death of parent
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Death of parent
thechiaraface's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
4.75
I found this book captivating and utterly compelling, and yet I struggle to explain what I liked so much about it. The writing was stellar, but I definitely did not 'get' everything, there definitely were some deeper metaphors and symbolism that went right over my head. This book deeply explores a mother-daughter relationship pushed to its limits when they have to rely so much more on survival instincts versus the norms/constraints of typical 'civilized human society'. Both Bea and Agnes are fascinating characters to follow around, neither extremely likeable but their very different motivations are complex, well-developed, and just so interesting. The book was thought-provoking in how the story unfolded (not by spelling things out for you to think about) which I appreciated. This book made me really ponder human nature and motherhood.
I feel like this book has some similar vibes to The Hunger Games (just the first book) in terms of surviving the outdoors/wilderness and still having an outside force guiding the experience. I also haven't read Lord of the Flies in a long time (and remember distinctly hating it when I read it in high school because everyone was so awful), but this seems in the same vein of exploring human nature and group dynamics – although this book is more closely investigating motherhood/the relationship between child and parent.
In conclusion, I loved this book. I feel similar about this as I did about The Dutch House, I loved it but don't feel like I can adequately explain why. A couple warnings/caveats though: 1. this book doesn't really have a clear, satisfying ending - it's a pretty ambiguous, kind-of chaotic ending. 2. The book opens with a couple of death scenes (including a still-born baby), while these scenes aren't graphic or gratuitous in my opinion, the topic/details are not danced around. Overall, definitely recommend if you those caveats don't deter you.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Violence
katjoyphil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent
sarahs_shelf_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
There was one portion of the book were the passing got a little slow for me and I really wanted to know what was going to happen...but overall I think the pacing is done really well. It's medium to slow paced and the movement of seasons really dictates the pacing of the characters lives which I always find soothing (even though, as I said it is mostly a heartbreaking book). One thing I found super interesting is the use of maps in the story, I think that's something that has stuck with me the most after reading this book, and I hope to have discussions with people about it. And of course the mother-daughter relationship is at the forefront of this story. I don't have much to say about it except that it was amazingly well done and I marked so many passages about them.
Graphic: Death and Miscarriage
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
amressing's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death and Death
leekaufman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief