Scan barcode
ifoundcallie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Very reminiscent of Stephen King, particularly “Under the Dome”. If you liked that, you’ll love this. For people SOLELY looking for a thriller or commentary on race/social class, turn elsewhere…this book intentionally subverts the expectations of those genres.
I love how the omniscient narrator stingily portioned out information, which shamefully left me feeling the same desperate NEED for information that the book was critiquing!
There are a few times in this book where the writing could use some trimming/adjusting towards purpose—the heavy emphasis on certain carnal images felt self-righteous and cheap for the rest of the story. Honestly, this is the only thing that keeps this book from being a “perfect” book for me. This pitfall is reminiscent of Stephen King’s writing, again, which makes sense knowing that the author reread Pet Semetary while editing this book. I can only read so many descriptions of bored and worn out married couples “tumbling into the only comfort: of flesh smacking against flesh” or teenage male characters and their detailed descriptions of “spit-in-hand, spurting release”, or adult men who are dumbstruck by their unexpected “large load of vitality and youth long gone”. I felt disappointed every time the book swung back to these tropes, faithfully. Yawn.
There are many passages/chapters in this novel that blew me away and can easily stand on their own as brilliant pieces of art. I would love to sit and analyze some of the turn-of-phrase, allusions, and imagery handpicked by this intelligent author. I was giddy with annotation, and this book rewards you for paying attention to these nuances of craft. Overall, I’m so glad I was recommended this book. It itched an “am I spiraling and paranoid or is the world ending” scratch that is often not done well.
Bravo, Rumaan Alam.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Colonisation
emory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The writing, while seeming unnecessarily ornate at the beginning of the novel (before the narrative reaches its point), is gorgeously poignant and haunting. My only complaint is the writing sometimes tilted into purple, with words clearly added only to show off the vocabulary of the author ("alee" to describe the inside of a Starbucks?), and the strange fixation and return to sex and what sex could metaphorically represent for these characters. Annoying, but not damning, and worth slogging through for the story itself.
The use of dramatic irony of knowing what is really happening while the vividly human portagonists stumble through figuring out what is going on, their dynamics with and what they owe to one another, and what course of action they have to take carries the novel to it's gut wrenching relevance and takeaway. A story couldn't be more frightening in the current climate of knowing how bad it is, knowing society's place perched on the edge of disaster, that something's about to give. Alam's masterful prose wanders through the particular scenario of a family finding out you can never really look away.
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, and War
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, and Murder
The book is about an apocalyptic scenario that is very realistic and claustrophobic.alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
nytefall_library's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
This book was sold to me as a type of apocalyptic story that would be like a thriller and mystery with tense moments and a murder mystery feel. I don’t feel like I read that book. The adult characters in the story are horrible - all of them. They are arrogant, rude and so self absorbed to think they’re the most important people when they’re not. The children are the only ones to act as their age and the least annoying characters in this book. Amanda and Clay are beyond strange and when they meet the owners of the house I honestly didn’t know the story could get worse. G. H and Ruth are just as rude and selfish as Amanda and Clay - also who drives out of town to their holiday home knowing you have people staying there??? The subtle racism, fat shaming and sexism in the story was just so irrelevant to the whole story and some sentences were far too over descriptive and didn’t lend anything further to the story. The only interesting bit, where the story pace gets slightly faster and more interesting was right at the end. This is also where Ruth and Amanda started to act like actual human beings and not just a 2d version of themselves. If the rest of the book was like the last few chapters I may have rated this slightly higher. Also make sure you like abrupt endings because that’s all you’re left with. No answers - I just assumed they all died and the world ended.
Graphic: Terminal illness, Blood, and Vomit
Moderate: Sexism, Medical content, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming and Grief
waterlilyreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Racism and Sexism