Reviews

1982, Janine by Alasdair Gray

ollieturbitt's review

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adventurous challenging dark funny reflective slow-paced
  • 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

5.0

cattytrona's review against another edition

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3.0

i want to start by saying that i think alasdair gray is unbelievably good. his books remind me why i care about books, write as if youre in the early days of a better canon, etc. 

however. i hated reading this. there was something so upsetting about the way horrible realities poked up through horrible fantasies. of course, of course, that’s testament to how effective the book was, but i’m rating my experience and whether i want to return to it, and i don’t.

i thought the fringe section was really interesting, unexpectedly topical.

harlenguin's review against another edition

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5.0

Really, really amazing

leewreads's review

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4.0

Wow

qualitamatic's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • 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

4.75

corduroyemmett_'s review

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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? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

monbie's review

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

linus_zheng's review

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

amberface's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

_dilliam_william's review

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challenging dark medium-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

2.5

This is a very odd book. I’m not sure if I’d recommend it to others. I’d maybe recommend it as the last Alasdair Gray book to read (so do ‘Poor Things’ then ‘Lanark’ then the short stories THEN Janine).

It’s a very odd reading experience, I like a book that has a weird and different perspective but the sexual content in this is pretty full-on. I also don’t really remember the ending. I was interested by the main character and the analysis of the Scottish middle-class but the book was super complex and I’m not sure if it’s worth going back through.