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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Brilliant! A very British Distopia with a similar vibe to Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go a bit The Day of the Triffids too. Like if The Road was set in a nursing home! P D James pulls off the difficult trick of writing a compelling wanker, (think McEwan's |Solar ) Theo is a cold hearted, self centred tosser, he's horrid yet you root for him.
Read this because I remember loving the movie.
I think the movie does a better job of fleshing out the way the world works, how it looks, who is important, what the people care about.
The split dialogue of diary entries VS not doesn't appear to make any difference in narrative. It's like it was started with a different purpose or maybe a different ending in mind.
I feel like I need to rewatch the movie now to see if I actually liked it or not.
The IDEA of the book is really cool and a lot more could have been done with it in the novel.
I think the movie does a better job of fleshing out the way the world works, how it looks, who is important, what the people care about.
The split dialogue of diary entries VS not doesn't appear to make any difference in narrative. It's like it was started with a different purpose or maybe a different ending in mind.
I feel like I need to rewatch the movie now to see if I actually liked it or not.
The IDEA of the book is really cool and a lot more could have been done with it in the novel.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have been wanting to read this book for awhile because I love dystopian novels and the premise sounded so interesting. I only made it 50 pages in before giving up, and that was tough but I wanted to give it a chance. It’s SO slow and unnecessarily descriptive of the most boring things (like the main character’s summers as a child). I wanted to hear more about the world he was living in now, but I just couldn’t stick with this book long enough to find out. Also the diary entries are written like an obnoxious English professor instead of the History professor he was - I’ve never had to look up so many words while reading a book. It just felt like it was trying too hard to be written well, and it was still SO boring. Would not recommend.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I watched the movie ages ago and didn't remember too much about it, but I thought I enjoyed it. Regardless, this book was just meh, if that.
It could be the fault of my initial expectations, but the book was significantly less dystopian than I had expected... or wanted. Society was still in tact for the most part, along with some politicking. The relationships between characters, especially the main relationship that forms, felt so unnatural. There was just no chemistry; no development. Relationships were flat. The plot was slow to start. I just didn't really care much. More science would have been nice too.
It could be the fault of my initial expectations, but the book was significantly less dystopian than I had expected... or wanted. Society was still in tact for the most part, along with some politicking. The relationships between characters, especially the main relationship that forms, felt so unnatural. There was just no chemistry; no development. Relationships were flat. The plot was slow to start. I just didn't really care much. More science would have been nice too.
This was a very interesting premise and so I'm sad to not want to keep reading it: waaay too much description/detail in the wrong places that bogged down the pacing of the potentially exciting plot. Also, I did not see why the author chose to alternate between Theo's journal entries and a regular 3rd-person perspective that sounded very similar except for the pronouns. I've got my sights set on watching the movie to find out what happens in the story!