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beelzebex's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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
1.5
annasorr's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I have such complicated feelings after (finally) finishing Jackson’s novel this morning. I love a flawed protagonist, and Nora is about as flawed as they come— she’s neurotic, angsty, pretentious and prone to violence (or at least violent thoughts). The novel’s fractured structure and split (or perhaps not split?) narrative makes this one difficult to finish. I found the memoir segments about Blanche and Nora’s childhood to be the most readable. Unfortunately, reality frays to the point that the latter 100 pages of the novel are basically incomprehensible (at least to someone who does not want to spend hours outside of the novel deciphering its own philosophies). I wish that Jackson’s editor had been a bit more ruthless. The novel sits around 440 pages in my edition but only 200 were enjoyable to read. Still, I loved getting to know Nora and her neuroses and untangling her fractured self. It’s too bad that the novel’s structure was so illegible.
coralrose's review
3.0
I'm not entirely sure what I thought of this book. A book about a Siamese twin (nuclear fallout, naturally) who wants to murder her twin, whom she hates. I enjoyed the beginning, was puzzled in the middle and was thoroughly confused/disturbed by the solution. This is a book about identity and it has a well-crafted unreliable narrator, unfortunately, the whole narration is fragmented and crazy. I found it hard to follow, and while I understand that was a part of the construction of the character, I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have if I had been able to follow the story better.
hannahmason93's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- 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
5.0
ak97x's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Beautiful writing, but always fell short of greatness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Animal death, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Dysphoria, and Excrement
Minor: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, and Medical content
jdsatori's review
2.0
Rarely do I read a book that starts out slow, turns into something totally mind-blowingly fabulous, and then about 50 pages before the end crumbles into complete nonsense. She had a great story flying right along, then decided to get 'experimental' and lost me. What a prick tease.
sucreslibrary's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
2.5
i was on board with this book for a good while. is it extremely overwritten? yes. are most of the characters incredibly annoying? also yes. but there was something in the beginning and in portions of later segments that i enjoyed.
honestly, this book is far longer than it has any right to be, and that definitely added to the low rating. there are sections of this book i was dragging myself through, waiting for it to get back to the plot i cared about. and then that segment wrapped up and i was dismayed to see there was still a hundred or so pages left that were even more meandering than the ones preceding it.
it skips around in time quite a bit, looping back and forth from the present to the past in a way that constantly threw me off. at different points of the book i preferred either the present sections or the past sections and was loathe to return to the opposite instead of continuing with the story i cared about. theres also so many organizations and groups that are created and name dropped that i had a ton of trouble keeping up with, plus certain minor events or characters that are called back to three hundred pages later that i'd already forgotten about.
i really tried to give this as much grace as i could, but in the end the last 150 pages dragged it down so much i can't give it a higher rating.
honestly, this book is far longer than it has any right to be, and that definitely added to the low rating. there are sections of this book i was dragging myself through, waiting for it to get back to the plot i cared about. and then that segment wrapped up and i was dismayed to see there was still a hundred or so pages left that were even more meandering than the ones preceding it.
it skips around in time quite a bit, looping back and forth from the present to the past in a way that constantly threw me off. at different points of the book i preferred either the present sections or the past sections and was loathe to return to the opposite instead of continuing with the story i cared about. theres also so many organizations and groups that are created and name dropped that i had a ton of trouble keeping up with, plus certain minor events or characters that are called back to three hundred pages later that i'd already forgotten about.
i really tried to give this as much grace as i could, but in the end the last 150 pages dragged it down so much i can't give it a higher rating.
dreamofbookspines's review
3.0
Reread review: this is a confusing mess of a book that falls solidly between 3 and 4 stars. I love the premise, but Jackson gets too caught up in elaborate prose to make much headway on plot advancement. The twists are fantastic, and I loved getting to know Nora (and, to a much lesser extent, Blanche), but I wanted more. I wanted more world-building, more elaboration on the characters' stories, just...more.
There was so much promise in this novel, and in the unique story, but it got bogged down in about 200 pages too much of nearly unreadable prose that was too out there to add anything to the actual book. I wish the editor had been far more ruthless and told Jackson to stick to the story, because there's definitely something there. If you skim over large sections of it, and only read the story bits, it's totally worthwhile. Otherwise, this book is kind of a chore.
There was so much promise in this novel, and in the unique story, but it got bogged down in about 200 pages too much of nearly unreadable prose that was too out there to add anything to the actual book. I wish the editor had been far more ruthless and told Jackson to stick to the story, because there's definitely something there. If you skim over large sections of it, and only read the story bits, it's totally worthwhile. Otherwise, this book is kind of a chore.
_fallinglight_'s review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Stalking, Racial slurs, Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Mental illness
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
jessalynn_librarian's review
2.0
After the book sat on my shelf, unread, for months, I finally gave it a chance and really enjoyed the first 300 pages or so. It was clever, and interesting, and I had no idea where it would go. I'm not sure what changed after that 3/4 mark, but once the 'will she or won't she?' question resolved itself, I could've cared less. I itched to have it be OVER. Only by stubbornness did I finish the book and toss it down with relief. I think that part of the problem was that I didn't like Nora, and I lost interest in reconstructing her childhood, and at times the story was sacrificed at the altar of clever language.