Scan barcode
nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
why
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Confinement, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Blood, Cancer, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
kelsea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Post-pandemic book that was written just before COVID. I was interested in the conceit and thought it was well-thought out, but did not personally enjoy reading what is essentially a pandemic novel (personal preference, not a fault of the book). I thought the second half of the book really dragged - too much evangelical christian bus travel and psychotic cross-country chasing when I was hoping for more details of what society was like, and finding out what happened after they escaped the US .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Drug use
Minor: Infertility, Pregnancy, and Cancer
cowboylikestoread43's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Violence, Child death, Death, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Injury/Injury detail
theaceofpages's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
"She thinks, Oh, is that all? Is that it? Dying is hard. Living us hard. Death? Overhyped. First there was a person, now there is no person. She recognises that this is self-defence. She's just tired. Tired and numb, the sorrow woven through with anger. Worst friendship bracelet ever."
Cole, her husband and her son are visiting the USA. Starting in 2020 a pandemic sweeps the world and they find themselves stuck. While the effects may be minimal to those with two X chromosomes (simply flu-like symptoms), people with a Y chromosome (cis or trans) are getting a cancer that rapidly kills them. Cole's twelve year old son, Miles, is one of the lucky ones and she wants to get him back home to South Africa before the Department of Men or some other group takes him away from her. She pretends he's a girl (Mila) to sneak him around the country, while trying to plan an escape. Hopefully before he goes through puberty! Oh, and did I mention that her sister is after her too? Seeking vengeance.
When I saw this book I was immediately intrigued. There are many books where (fertile) women are in short supply, but men? Not so much. This isn't, however, some kind of breeder tale. Reproduction is actually forbidden for now until they figure out how to beat the virus.
There are so many parallels with how our own pandemic played out. The unpreparedness, the rapidly evolving science, way too many personal agendas fuelling misinformation, lack of hand sanitizer, and lots of fear, death, chaos and manipulation. I think this is part of what made this book so believable - we've already lived through a far milder version of it. And this doesn't seem to have been inspired by the pandemic either! The publication date was actually brought forward (April 2020) because of covid. I'm pretty impressed at how spot on she got it.
I absolutely loved the plot and the premise, but the book was a bit all over the place. The chapters were short and it switched between characters/time periods between each. I think it would have been a stronger book had we got to spend a bit more time in one place at a time. We meet a lot of interesting characters but everything is a little all over the place and things get kind of confusing. It's still enjoyable though!
I absolutely loved the interlude. It provided a natural way to show some of the science and what's happening elsewhere. Similar complacency at first with similar views to covid. Although here I think things spiralled much faster. I would have loved to have seen more of what was happening in South Africa, especially since Beukes is South African and has a good idea of how the government works/reacts to things. I would have loved to have seen how her writing panned out against what happened.
While events like this do force people to be strong, I feel like a lot of the characters were too okay. There's a lot of trauma that happened (and is still happening). While society is more restricted, everyone seems pretty normal? It could be because our narrators are a bit self absorbed, but I do wish we'd seen a bit more of the inevitable grief. There was this ever present sense of pain? despair? uncertainty? that permenaed covid. And the effects of this disease are far more devastating.
All in all, this was an enjoyable book. I'd recommend it to those who'd like to read about the bond of a mother and her son in the midst of a deadly pandemic (although they know they won't die). While not transphobic, it might not be for you if you are trans, especially if your family struggled to accept it. Cole keeps jumping between Miles (he/him and Miles' preferred identity) and Mila (she/her and the one she invented to keep him safe). Just something to keep in mind if you are considering picking this book up!
Cole, her husband and her son are visiting the USA. Starting in 2020 a pandemic sweeps the world and they find themselves stuck. While the effects may be minimal to those with two X chromosomes (simply flu-like symptoms), people with a Y chromosome (cis or trans) are getting a cancer that rapidly kills them. Cole's twelve year old son, Miles, is one of the lucky ones and she wants to get him back home to South Africa before the Department of Men or some other group takes him away from her. She pretends he's a girl (Mila) to sneak him around the country, while trying to plan an escape. Hopefully before he goes through puberty! Oh, and did I mention that her sister is after her too? Seeking vengeance.
When I saw this book I was immediately intrigued. There are many books where (fertile) women are in short supply, but men? Not so much. This isn't, however, some kind of breeder tale. Reproduction is actually forbidden for now until they figure out how to beat the virus.
There are so many parallels with how our own pandemic played out. The unpreparedness, the rapidly evolving science, way too many personal agendas fuelling misinformation, lack of hand sanitizer, and lots of fear, death, chaos and manipulation. I think this is part of what made this book so believable - we've already lived through a far milder version of it. And this doesn't seem to have been inspired by the pandemic either! The publication date was actually brought forward (April 2020) because of covid. I'm pretty impressed at how spot on she got it.
I absolutely loved the plot and the premise, but the book was a bit all over the place. The chapters were short and it switched between characters/time periods between each. I think it would have been a stronger book had we got to spend a bit more time in one place at a time. We meet a lot of interesting characters but everything is a little all over the place and things get kind of confusing. It's still enjoyable though!
I absolutely loved the interlude. It provided a natural way to show some of the science and what's happening elsewhere. Similar complacency at first with similar views to covid. Although here I think things spiralled much faster. I would have loved to have seen more of what was happening in South Africa, especially since Beukes is South African and has a good idea of how the government works/reacts to things. I would have loved to have seen how her writing panned out against what happened.
While events like this do force people to be strong, I feel like a lot of the characters were too okay. There's a lot of trauma that happened (and is still happening). While society is more restricted, everyone seems pretty normal? It could be because our narrators are a bit self absorbed, but I do wish we'd seen a bit more of the inevitable grief. There was this ever present sense of pain? despair? uncertainty? that permenaed covid. And the effects of this disease are far more devastating.
All in all, this was an enjoyable book. I'd recommend it to those who'd like to read about the bond of a mother and her son in the midst of a deadly pandemic (although they know they won't die). While not transphobic, it might not be for you if you are trans, especially if your family struggled to accept it. Cole keeps jumping between Miles (he/him and Miles' preferred identity) and Mila (she/her and the one she invented to keep him safe). Just something to keep in mind if you are considering picking this book up!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Addiction, Medical content, Gun violence, and Blood
Minor: Sexual content
readbycarina's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Blood, Cancer, Kidnapping, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking
Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, Gun violence, Misogyny, Drug use, Medical content, Trafficking, and Murder
Minor: Transphobia and Pregnancy
anitra2319's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Trafficking
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Car accident and Child abuse
syfylauren's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
So if your flaw is being male, then 100% its the main focus of this book. This story was akin to a tense dream, where you are constantly on edge, with the sense of being chased clinging to the back of every thought. It made the book hard to keep reading in the beginning, but it also made it all the more difficult to put down at the end. In my opinion, Beukes was able to pull off some of the best internal dialogue I've read in ages, weaving humour in at just the right moments, and did especially well with the morbid humour Cole develops from the events leading up to the start of the novel, or maybe that was always her sense of humour. Either way, Cole is funny, on top of every other emotion she goes through in the story. And I latched so easily into Cole's brain that Miles felt like my kid, and reading his chapters felt like I was following along as my son entered puberty, constantly feeling torn between the kid he was and the teenager he's becoming. Her sister Billie is someone you love to hate, and at times hate to love. Her f-you attitude jumped off the page. 100% entertaining, like the car chase you watch on Cops. I would probably enjoy partying with her, but would leave before the party got too out of hand, which would be entirely her fault. Would still love to hear about it the next day while we're both hungover and eating pizza.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Medical content, Gun violence, and Terminal illness
Minor: Transphobia, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, and Confinement
fionac326's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Violence
More...