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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Until the future
I wanted to love it, I really did. The general writing style is very much enjoyable, the plot is great and there are many instances in which I wanted to highlight meaningful quotes and post them onto my wall.
My critique is mostly for the first half of the book - in the middle it really picked up and I started to enjoy it a lot! But it took a lot of effort to keep going in the beginning, which is why I have to point out my „but“:
The chapters are mostly short. So, so short, that the reading isn’t fluid at all, it made it so hard for me to keep on reading since I was interrupted by chapter after chapter. Maybe other people will love that for convenience, but my autistic brain hated it, especially when starting the book. In the last quarter the short chapters made sense, I liked it there, but in the first half of the book it really was a piece of work to keep reading.
And: this is a love story for New York. All the hundreds of descriptions of streets, places, avenues, God knows what were irritating. If you are from New York and you know the city in and out, kudos to you, but for a person who never was and never will be there it gives you nothing but a severe headache. I don’t need to know the places in that sort of detail, I am not on Google Maps following the street names. It would be utterly fine to just describe where you are going and not the whole way there and where exactly it is so that an Uber driver would find the way.
Plus I have to add: I know cats can rarely get old, but with the description that the cat is in the now-time just as youthful as in the past-time is just not believable. Old cats are crusty and cranky, I have never seen a 20+ year old cat that didn’t look like it would collapse any second. I love cats, don’t get me wrong, I have two myself, I grew up with cats, I strive to become a crazy cat lady but my husband is kinda in the way for that to happen. My point is, if cats could live forever and be vital and healthy while doing so, I would want them to. But in this case the reader just won’t buy that Ursula is that old and still as youthful as the first day you met her. I‘d be more inclined to believe that the time travel actually happened than that the at least 25 year old cat is feeling and acting as fresh as morning dew.
So, with that being said, I wished for more. Or maybe less (descriptions of street names). I don’t really know, it sadly wasn’t as enjoyable as I hoped it‘d be.
It took me two weeks to read half of the book and then two days to finish it. I think that just shows how hard it was to keep going in the beginning. I am glad however, that I finished it, since it got so much better after the first half.
I wanted to love it, I really did. The general writing style is very much enjoyable, the plot is great and there are many instances in which I wanted to highlight meaningful quotes and post them onto my wall.
My critique is mostly for the first half of the book - in the middle it really picked up and I started to enjoy it a lot! But it took a lot of effort to keep going in the beginning, which is why I have to point out my „but“:
The chapters are mostly short. So, so short, that the reading isn’t fluid at all, it made it so hard for me to keep on reading since I was interrupted by chapter after chapter. Maybe other people will love that for convenience, but my autistic brain hated it, especially when starting the book. In the last quarter the short chapters made sense, I liked it there, but in the first half of the book it really was a piece of work to keep reading.
And: this is a love story for New York. All the hundreds of descriptions of streets, places, avenues, God knows what were irritating. If you are from New York and you know the city in and out, kudos to you, but for a person who never was and never will be there it gives you nothing but a severe headache. I don’t need to know the places in that sort of detail, I am not on Google Maps following the street names. It would be utterly fine to just describe where you are going and not the whole way there and where exactly it is so that an Uber driver would find the way.
Plus I have to add: I know cats can rarely get old, but with the description that the cat is in the now-time just as youthful as in the past-time is just not believable. Old cats are crusty and cranky, I have never seen a 20+ year old cat that didn’t look like it would collapse any second. I love cats, don’t get me wrong, I have two myself, I grew up with cats, I strive to become a crazy cat lady but my husband is kinda in the way for that to happen. My point is, if cats could live forever and be vital and healthy while doing so, I would want them to. But in this case the reader just won’t buy that Ursula is that old and still as youthful as the first day you met her. I‘d be more inclined to believe that the time travel actually happened than that the at least 25 year old cat is feeling and acting as fresh as morning dew.
So, with that being said, I wished for more. Or maybe less (descriptions of street names). I don’t really know, it sadly wasn’t as enjoyable as I hoped it‘d be.
It took me two weeks to read half of the book and then two days to finish it. I think that just shows how hard it was to keep going in the beginning. I am glad however, that I finished it, since it got so much better after the first half.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love time-travel books, especially when they are thoughtful (Time After Time, How to Stop Time) like this. It helps that I was also born in 1980 and lived in NYC in the late ‘90s (near Columbia Presbyterian, where Alice visits her dad). Emma Straub’s writing is warm and nostalgic without being cloying, it pays appropriate homage to the genres it borrows from, and there’s a sweet cat.
emotional
hopeful
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
This was a real delight; a warm, cosy story of the love between a father and daughter, and a Sliding Doors approach to time travel.
It wasn’t sickeningly sweet or overdone, it was heartfelt and didn’t take a negative approach to looking at the past, which I appreciated.
Alice and Leonard’s relationship was a joy to read.
There were some really gorgeous parts to this book, and I did shed some tears towards the end.
A really lovely time travel story that I would highly recommend.
It wasn’t sickeningly sweet or overdone, it was heartfelt and didn’t take a negative approach to looking at the past, which I appreciated.
Alice and Leonard’s relationship was a joy to read.
There were some really gorgeous parts to this book, and I did shed some tears towards the end.
A really lovely time travel story that I would highly recommend.
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes