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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I felt surprisingly calm reading this, considering there was a war going on his writing was lovely. I was promised and prepared for this to be an absolutely horrific and traumatic read, however I feel a little confused as though I have read a completely different book to others. I mean was that it? Is that the end?
This won a prize?
This won a prize?
DNF - I’ve tried twice to get into this book and after 1/4 of the way through I just can’t. I will try again next year.
I'm a sucker for dystopian fiction and a sucker for Booker prize winning books but this one I just couldn't get in to.
The writing felt very disjointed and maybe that was the point but it didn't work for me. I also couldn't connect with the characters and found them slightly irritating.
The writing felt very disjointed and maybe that was the point but it didn't work for me. I also couldn't connect with the characters and found them slightly irritating.
dark
emotional
sad
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:
No
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book definitely has a lot of merit but it just didn't click with me. I couldn't really get passed the lack of paragraphs and dialogue notifiers - it made it quite hard to read and I'm still unsure what purpose it served. Extremely grim story that made you really feel for the characters. Unfortunately it suffers because its so reminiscent of 1984 but nowhere near as good as 1984.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This isn't a story about totalitarian regimes or about surviving them, it is a story about Eilish Stack. And Eilish is not a particularly brave woman, which makes her a compelling character to follow in this context. The narrative very much focuses on the day-to-day occurences in Eilish's life, rather than making any broad political statements. In a novel about totalitarianism, this can be construed as a weakness, but I will never fault a novel for knowing its scope and staying within those limits.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated