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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
super charming, with a really great beginning and ending. Tough to keep up the energy throughout, but the narration is really funny with a light touch.
Very funny, very clever book. I read it because I saw it on a list of novels with unlikable female characters and I think it was particularly interesting in that regard. I also loved the way in which the novel seemed to meander, seemed to have no direction (like the main character), and then, all of a sudden, ended with a delicate touch right where it was supposed to. Definitely worth reading!
Would recommend: Probably not
At first, I really liked this book. The writing is smart and funny, and the protagonist was sort of flaky in an endearing way. There were a few good lines I appreciated, like the one that goes something like, "As ready as you are to grow, you can't fertilize friends to grow along with you."
However, around the midpoint of the book, there was enough coarse language and vulgar images that I was utterly turned off. The flakiness that garnered affection at the start grated me at the end, and I felt like the jacket copy about Treasure Island was completely misleading. I didn't feel like the protagonist developed at all until the very last page, and then I was left dangling. Very unsatisfying.
At first, I really liked this book. The writing is smart and funny, and the protagonist was sort of flaky in an endearing way. There were a few good lines I appreciated, like the one that goes something like, "As ready as you are to grow, you can't fertilize friends to grow along with you."
However, around the midpoint of the book, there was enough coarse language and vulgar images that I was utterly turned off. The flakiness that garnered affection at the start grated me at the end, and I felt like the jacket copy about Treasure Island was completely misleading. I didn't feel like the protagonist developed at all until the very last page, and then I was left dangling. Very unsatisfying.
Full of elements I typically love - an abhorrent main character, literary obsession, deadpan snarkiness, oblivious narcissism - but it overshoots the quirkiness quite a bit at the end. If I hadn't also read The Disaster Artist in 2018, this would be the funniest book I'll read all year. The thing is that Tommy Wiseau is real, whereas the narrator of Treasure Island!!! is a well-constructed figment. Interested to see what Sara Levine writes next.
What a weird little treasure of a book! It's a ridiculously quick read with short chapters and a lot of dialogue, and it's hilarious. The lead character's obsession with Treasure Island is manic, but also, somehow, relatable.... endearing even? I adored the author's choices at the end of the novel, and the ridiculous ironies presented with Jim Hawkins. Really well done, perfectly thought out, and truly a delight. My only regret is that it was over too quickly.
dark
funny
fast-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
This was possibly the least likeable protagonist I've read in a long time. Once I got into her rhythm, reading it was an absolute delight.
dark
medium-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
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was not what I expected. I should have known from the exclamation points.
It's nothing like the broad-horizoned, adventure-filled escapade I imagined. It's almost sarcastic. Out protagonist is filled with adventure-chasing ambitions upon reading Treasure Island, yes, but not in the way expected - her choices are more self-sabotaging than world-opening, and her attitude doesn't help. She's hard to like, if you read this too earnestly, so you have to take it for what it is: an ironic look at what it can be to be BOLD and INDEPENDENT and HORN-BLOWING (I'm forgetting one). Be careful how you set yourself free... you might actually be locking yourself in. (It's hard to be independent in our society; if you don't have a job, you end up relying on your boyfriend or your parents.)
High points are the parrot and the ending, which somehow I did not see coming.(okay, so I'm not surprised I didn't see the stabbing part coming, but the intervention seemed obvious, once I realized that's what was going on.) The voice and writing throughout is great, pitch perfect for the story that's being told. And it's pleasantly short.
It's nothing like the broad-horizoned, adventure-filled escapade I imagined. It's almost sarcastic. Out protagonist is filled with adventure-chasing ambitions upon reading Treasure Island, yes, but not in the way expected - her choices are more self-sabotaging than world-opening, and her attitude doesn't help. She's hard to like, if you read this too earnestly, so you have to take it for what it is: an ironic look at what it can be to be BOLD and INDEPENDENT and HORN-BLOWING (I'm forgetting one). Be careful how you set yourself free... you might actually be locking yourself in. (It's hard to be independent in our society; if you don't have a job, you end up relying on your boyfriend or your parents.)
High points are the parrot and the ending, which somehow I did not see coming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Blood
I don't know what this book was about or who it was for. I don't think it was funny enough to justify the extreme unlikeableness/sociopathy of the main character (and, really, the secondary characters aren't all that great either). I guess it's supposed to be satirical? Maybe I'm just not familiar with what it's satirizing.
The only reason I finished this book was because it was short and I was on an airplane. It gets two stars instead of one because whatever this book was supposed to be doing, it was clearly doing it on purpose, so I've got to give the author credit for that.
The only reason I finished this book was because it was short and I was on an airplane. It gets two stars instead of one because whatever this book was supposed to be doing, it was clearly doing it on purpose, so I've got to give the author credit for that.