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lilifane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is basically a short story collection in which each story is connected to the others in some way. These might be just little references to things we've read before, or deeper connections you only figure out later. And that's actually my favorite sort of short story collection.
All of these stories were also connected by recurring themes. Most prevalent life, death and grief. But also love, family and friendship. Additionally, very story was tied to a pandemic outbreak at the beginning of the book and how this event influenced the way people live and die in the future. The stories itself were little glimpses in the lives of their protagonists. We only get to see a small part of a specific time in their lives, and to me, every story felt very personal and intimate. You see how these people struggle, but also change the lives of others around them in small and big ways.
But it was definitely a very bleak and depressing read for the majority of the book. With a little bit of hope sprinkled into it. It was hard to read sometimes, and it took me longer than expected, just because I needed breaks to do something fun in between the stories.
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ineedmorecoffee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I loved this book. I really, really loved it. Somehow it manages to magnify individual lives and span across multiple universes, tied together by spider webs. It’s left me feeling reflective about life, death and family…it’ll hang around in my consciousness for a while.
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
christynhoover's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
It was part dystopian and part speculative fiction. Eventually I recognized that descendents of earlier characters were appearing in the story line so it unfolds as a collection of connected stories over maybe a 100-year period in the course of the book.
The most interesting part was that there is what I'll call a novel micro-organism that causes a worldwide pandemic (called "plague" in the book) that was generally fatal and how individuals dealt with mortality knocking at their door So a kind of story for/of our time! But by midway or so in the book the storyline is in the AFTERMATH of the plague with individuals looking back on it, etc.
There was a thread of a focus on LOVE --characters making it a point to TELL others that they love them and, in some cases, characters expressing REGRET at NOT telling someone that they loved them. That softened the tone of the book for me.
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
horizonous's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Car accident, and Murder
annagerman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I liked it at first, but gradually it started to feel very "one-note".
I didn't really connected with the novel-as-interconnected stories concept.
The writing was very simple, nothing memorable. Many of the sci-fi concepts were banal and uroriginal. Most of the characters were plain and insignificant, they blended into one for me.
The atmosphere was really good, and there were a few touching moments, but they lacked gravity and felt a bit like melodramatic tear-jerker (i.e. dying robo-dogs, dying children, dying telepathic pigs).
I feel like it had more potential, like it was too ambitious and could have been better if it was scaled down and focused deeper on 2-3 main plot points and characters.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, and Death of parent
trishalah_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide
mathy_coffees_n_midnightreads's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
madzsmiled's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
lexispike's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
anni_swanilda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Medical content
Minor: Cancer and Sexual content