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3.06 AVERAGE
3.06 AVERAGE
Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren meets Silent Hill. Intriguing idea with dislikable central characters. I probably would have enjoyed it more back when I was a disaffected youth, but as it stands, it's a story interestingly told but with little flair.
I'm rounding up here. This wasn't quite my cup of tea, but it was still about a 3.5 star book.
Something weird is happening in Spokane. People are disappearing, things that shouldn’t exist are calmly walking down the streets, people become melded into walls, ceilings, floors, each other… The city is quarantined, but Dean Walker, a dumb selfish 20-something-year-old, sneaks in with a camera to take the pictures that will hopefully make him famous. There he meets a bunch of people who stayed in the city for no viable reason, and falls in love with literally the first girl he meets. Then things happen that make zero sense whatsoever and left me wondering what possessed me to even read this book in the first place.
There was a good story, a good idea, hidden somewhere in there. We saw it appear a bit around page 250, and then again in chapter 19. The rest just felt like a collection of random events without heads or tails, no explanations or sense whatsoever, interspersed with characters getting drunk and/or high. There was no continuity to anything, threads would just fizzle out with no conclusion. When two characters disappear, nobody even talks about the possibility of trying to rescue them. They just get high and move on with their “lives,” such as they are.
Actually, it read as if Gropp wrote this during NaNoWriMo (the month where you have to write 50K words), going in with no plan whatsoever and publishing it as soon as it was over, with absolutely no editing.
Plus, there was altogether too much swearing. If it’s organic, I don’t notice it, but if it starts jumping out at me, it means there’s too much.
My review reads like this should get 1*, but I only give 1* to books that make me angry for some reason. This didn’t make me angry, it just made me sad that something so bad could get published–and actually win a prize!
If you like the idea of a city becoming ground zero for something terrible and mysterious, I recommend [b:Lexicon|16158596|Lexicon|Max Barry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356080172s/16158596.jpg|20077336] by Max Barry instead. Much, much better.
There was a good story, a good idea, hidden somewhere in there. We saw it appear a bit around page 250, and then again in chapter 19. The rest just felt like a collection of random events without heads or tails, no explanations or sense whatsoever, interspersed with characters getting drunk and/or high. There was no continuity to anything, threads would just fizzle out with no conclusion. When two characters disappear, nobody even talks about the possibility of trying to rescue them. They just get high and move on with their “lives,” such as they are.
Actually, it read as if Gropp wrote this during NaNoWriMo (the month where you have to write 50K words), going in with no plan whatsoever and publishing it as soon as it was over, with absolutely no editing.
Plus, there was altogether too much swearing. If it’s organic, I don’t notice it, but if it starts jumping out at me, it means there’s too much.
My review reads like this should get 1*, but I only give 1* to books that make me angry for some reason. This didn’t make me angry, it just made me sad that something so bad could get published–and actually win a prize!
If you like the idea of a city becoming ground zero for something terrible and mysterious, I recommend [b:Lexicon|16158596|Lexicon|Max Barry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356080172s/16158596.jpg|20077336] by Max Barry instead. Much, much better.
This book isn't what I thought it would be. It was an OK read...
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Spiders!
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wtf did I just read? This was like a hot fever dream of drama & cosmic horror. I'm left with way too many questions and a feeling of.... Confusion. I'm just confused.
It started with a good premise but the story focused more on the description of the city than the actual mystery behind it and it just got confusing. Most of the descriptions of the city reminded me of the movie Silent Hill. I could picture them but after awhile it got boring. I didn't understand why some people would stay behind in Spokane if they could voluntarily leave the city. It was also dumb for Dean to sneak into the city and not uncover the mystery behind it. I'm not sure if I even believe or understand what happened to the city. Wasn't it really mushrooms or is the end of the world? Towards the end of the story, I just didn't care. I would have loved to see the photographs along with the descriptions.
A very sad and depressing book. It painted a bleak world with people just trying to survive. The writing was good but I am still not sure how I feel about the last 1/4 of the book. It left me thinking hmm.
It was hard to get into with a disappointing ending. I liked the variety in the characters and it had really great descriptions. It had one sex scene, drug use and plenty of swearing, but if that doesn't bother you it's worth the read..
This has to be one of the most "silent hill -ish" books I've read in a while. Not a perfect book but pretty high up there. Very, very weird. They did a good job with describing photos in a way that didn't take away from the fact that you weren't seeing anything. Ending was was a bit confusing, but man what a ride.
Speaking of Silent Hill I think dude got the bad ending or maybe the bad+ ending. Maybe if I read it again the UFO ending will show up. c:
Speaking of Silent Hill I think dude got the bad ending or maybe the bad+ ending. Maybe if I read it again the UFO ending will show up. c: