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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Loved the writing in this book and thought the first half set up a disturbing and dark twist nicely. Unfortunately, when the twist was revealed, it was hard to feel astonished because it was boring as hell.
mysterious
tense
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
What was the focus of this book? The initial build up to the mystery of the Centre was deliberate and fairly effective, but once the protagonist got what she wanted about a third of the way through, the book began to wander off on tangents like relationships, meditation, travel, privilege, peppered here and there with observations of feminism and race. The idea of sudden fluency was embraced momentarily in her ensuing success, then abandoned as she traveled to and fro. There were a couple of twists/reveals, but while they were momentarily shocking (I guess), they were oddly blunted once again by the vacillating attentions of the author.
The official description of this book describes it as "darkly comic." Perhaps I missed the irony, but the writing style was very earnest -- and in some cases clearly a vessel for autobiographical venting about the status of brown people, the casual arrogance of men, the contrast of privilege and poverty, and so on. Apart from some playful interactions among the characters, nothing struck me as humorous in tone.
There's nothing wrong with addressing these topics, but the book felt a bit more like an essay of things the author wanted to write about than a coherent and clever synthesis of these themes. It reminded me of RF Kuang's Babel, who tackled language, privilege, and race with a considerably more deft hand.
The official description of this book describes it as "darkly comic." Perhaps I missed the irony, but the writing style was very earnest -- and in some cases clearly a vessel for autobiographical venting about the status of brown people, the casual arrogance of men, the contrast of privilege and poverty, and so on. Apart from some playful interactions among the characters, nothing struck me as humorous in tone.
There's nothing wrong with addressing these topics, but the book felt a bit more like an essay of things the author wanted to write about than a coherent and clever synthesis of these themes. It reminded me of RF Kuang's Babel, who tackled language, privilege, and race with a considerably more deft hand.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism
medium-paced
This was good but it didn't go as deep and dark into thibgs as I thought it might would and was kind of waiting for. Still, interesting premise.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cannibalism
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism