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eli_abroad's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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? It's complicated
2.0
Post-apocalyptic eco-fiction with obscure, unlikeable and/or uninteresting characters. Even though I was impressed by the skillful use of language throughout the novel and I appreciated the humor Joy Williams wove into it, the big picture was too surreal for my understanding or liking.
Thankfully, someone from my book club gave me a detailed, positive review explaining the wit and depth of the novel - it made me feel better about the time I spent struggling to get to the end. However, if the author did not effectively lead me to(ward) ruminating on the points, according to my book club, that the author was making, the experience of reading the novel was not worth the time spent doing it.
Thankfully, someone from my book club gave me a detailed, positive review explaining the wit and depth of the novel - it made me feel better about the time I spent struggling to get to the end. However, if the author did not effectively lead me to(ward) ruminating on the points, according to my book club, that the author was making, the experience of reading the novel was not worth the time spent doing it.
maneatingclam's review
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
undersea's review
challenging
dark
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.5
I feel like this is what it’s like inside David Lynch’s head. While I kind of enjoyed the weird style, I still don’t know what I read.
nicovreeland's review
3.0
I honestly was not sure whether to give this book 2, 3, 4, or 5 stars. The high points were great, but the connective tissue between those little moments was sometimes insufficient, and sometimes downright confusing. This is one of those books that presents its story obliquely, never deigning to let you know simply what's happening and who's doing what.
The flap copy teases a story that I would love, if only it was delivered:
"After Khristen's failing boarding school for gifted teens closes its doors, and she finds that her mother has disappeared, she ranges across the dead landscape and washes up at a resort on the shores of a mysterious, putrid lake the elderly residents there call Big Girl.
In a rotting honeycomb of rooms, these old ones plot actions to punish corporations and people they consider culpable in the destruction of the final scraps of nature's beauty. What will Khristen and Jeffrey, the precocious ten-year-old boy she meets there, learn from this baggy seditious lot, in the worst of health but with kamikaze hearts, determined to refresh, through crackpot violence, a plundered earth?"
My actual experience reading this book was one of disjointed confusion: I saw a plot with no momentum and eventually no climax or conclusion, fever-dream logic that undermines any sense of reality, and an author who's intentionally obfuscating what's happening in her story.
There's every chance I'm not the right reader for this book. Someone who enjoys this kind of labyrinthine fiction (and Williams's style) could probably spend months reading this book and loving it. As much as I liked certain moments in this book, I just didn't enjoy the experience of reading it.
The flap copy teases a story that I would love, if only it was delivered:
"After Khristen's failing boarding school for gifted teens closes its doors, and she finds that her mother has disappeared, she ranges across the dead landscape and washes up at a resort on the shores of a mysterious, putrid lake the elderly residents there call Big Girl.
In a rotting honeycomb of rooms, these old ones plot actions to punish corporations and people they consider culpable in the destruction of the final scraps of nature's beauty. What will Khristen and Jeffrey, the precocious ten-year-old boy she meets there, learn from this baggy seditious lot, in the worst of health but with kamikaze hearts, determined to refresh, through crackpot violence, a plundered earth?"
My actual experience reading this book was one of disjointed confusion: I saw a plot with no momentum and eventually no climax or conclusion, fever-dream logic that undermines any sense of reality, and an author who's intentionally obfuscating what's happening in her story.
There's every chance I'm not the right reader for this book. Someone who enjoys this kind of labyrinthine fiction (and Williams's style) could probably spend months reading this book and loving it. As much as I liked certain moments in this book, I just didn't enjoy the experience of reading it.
hannahpac's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Slow, switching timelines and characters. Not interesting enough for me to follow closer, almost gave up on the audiobook
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Death
hailbooks's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-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? It's complicated
3.0
you know I read this whole book and I still don't know what it was about... however the writing was so lyrical that I just kept reading! there were so many amazing quotes in this book and even if I didn't understand the plot or the characters this is still an amazingly writing novel! also S tear cover!!
elevyn's review
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
This was a great book - it reminds me of DeLillo’s White Noise and Haruki Murakami’s dreamlike writing. I know I didn’t read it close enough to get everything and look forward to another read in the future! I can’t wait to read more of her novels too..
swunderful's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
chillcox15's review
3.0
It's a case of "not you, me," but I think it's pretty easy for me to overdose on Joy Williams. I did it by trying to read all of The Visiting Privilege from front to back (I think that book is best enjoyed as a frequent companion on one's bedside shelf, dipping into it every once and a while, rather than plowing through.) I did it again here, but it's also a novel, shouldn't I be able to read it all and not get too overwhelmed? Maybe getting overwhelmed is the point?