Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Recursion

Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Recursion by Blake Crouch

86 reviews

dunecello's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Thrilling and thought-provoking exploration into the philosophies surrounding what memory is, what time is, and who we are if not for our memory.
I did my dissertation in neuroscience on the cellular basis of learning, and was impressed by Crouch's convincing job of describing experiments that would be on the cutting edge of this field. As for the rest of the science in this novel, suspending disbelief is required, but is certainly worth it. Keeping track of what was going on was a good brain exercise and it paid off in spades as the story became more and more complex and the stakes became incredibly high. When things got crazy, I found myself flying through the pages in excitement.
This novel reads like an action movie, and I'd love to see it on the big screen. Anyone who enjoyed PKD's We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (Total Recall) and/or Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life (Arrival) should surely check this one out.

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isacarvalho91's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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josiah17's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I'm conflicted on a rating right now, so I'll roll with a 3.5.

The characters were great. Crouch seems to have mastered the ability to maximize characterization in a short page count and make you feel attached. The plot also keeps your attention. It's engaging in the way that it makes the reader ask questions and explores the concept of memory. But it also felt increasingly convoluted as I read. There's a certain point in the book (you'll know if you've read it) where things kind of explode and overlap. There's a lot to keep track of. And it feels somewhat overwhelming the more I read.

I'm also not sure how I feel about how suicide was handled in this book. It felt rash.

But even with those criticisms, Crouch still had me feeling emotional by the end of the book.

"Life with a cheat code isn't life. Our existence isn't something to be engineered or optimized for the avoidance of pain. That's what it is to be human--the beauty and the pain, each meaningless without the other."

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casualk's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tallywinkle's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

3.5

I enjoyed it over all. It's funny to me that I did end up finding a book called Recursion a bit repetitive. I think I will probably find this with Blake Crouch's writing in general cause I felt the same for Dark Matter, where it's got this really solid and fast paced beginning that kind of loses steam in the middle. I liked the ending of this book. I wasn't sure how he was going to wrap it all up and I thought it was pretty well done.

Crouch is very good at making the book feel like an action movie.

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