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coconutelfs21's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
4.0
secre's review against another edition
4.0
This is nothing like I thought it would be and yet I really enjoyed it. Gabriel as a character should be fairly detestable and yet somehow I actually found him quite engaging. A man at the top of his game, multi millionaire hedge fund banker; has no empathy for anyone other than himself. Gets diagnosed with a brain tumour; has six months to live, no cure.
Brain tumour creates emotional liability or lability if you want to get technical; Gabriel starts crying at the drop of a hat and falls for a musician. It goes from bad to worse and he creates an entire new world for himself that he thinks she wouldn't despise. But somewhere along the lines he gains a conscience and the two versions of himself become strangely merged.
Split between high life banking and Occupy protestors, this strikes a strange balance between being funny and serious, flippant and touching. It is nothing like I had expended but it was well worth the read and one I would happily recommend. It's not about the 99% by and large but is still highly empathisable with which is strange but agreeable.
Brain tumour creates emotional liability or lability if you want to get technical; Gabriel starts crying at the drop of a hat and falls for a musician. It goes from bad to worse and he creates an entire new world for himself that he thinks she wouldn't despise. But somewhere along the lines he gains a conscience and the two versions of himself become strangely merged.
Split between high life banking and Occupy protestors, this strikes a strange balance between being funny and serious, flippant and touching. It is nothing like I had expended but it was well worth the read and one I would happily recommend. It's not about the 99% by and large but is still highly empathisable with which is strange but agreeable.
snazzybooks's review against another edition
5.0
Reviewed on www.snazzybooks.com
This has swiftly jumped into one of my favourite books of the year. It’s heartfelt without being too emotional and so well written. I started reading and was completely hooked!
The story follows hedge fund manager Gabriel, who really lives the typical rich lifestyle – and doesn’t really seem to care about anyone apart from himself. He’s well aware of this, and to be fair he doesn’t pretend to be anything he’s not, but he really doesn’t give seem to give a damn about anything apart from his own comfort and happiness. The book starts with him just having been diagnosed with a brain tumour, which gives him only a few months to live – you’d think this would immediately change his outlook on life, but as we begin the story it really hasn’t changed him... or so it seems.
The characters are SO brilliant; though Gabriel is one of those people you know you should hate, he’s got a real charm about him. Perhaps this is because we see inside his head and see the way he thinks about everything; some of his thoughts really made me laugh and others made me feel really sad. However, the novel manages to avoid swaying into overly emotional territory, despite the nature of the story. Still, I felt pretty damn emotional by the end of the book. I really loved Caitlin's dry sense of humour and the depictions of Gabriel's greedy workmates; they rang quite true to life - or at least how I'd imagine people like that to be!
The Empathy Problem is beautifully written and manages to avoid being cheesy or clichéd, which I feel is a real achievement. Gavin Extence includes plenty of wit and manages to avoid the novel feeling like it’s preaching at you; it makes you think without forcing you, and I hugely enjoyed it. To me, this novel was pretty much perfect – whatever genre you enjoy, I strongly advise you to read it now!
* Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing a copy of this novel in return for an honest review *
This has swiftly jumped into one of my favourite books of the year. It’s heartfelt without being too emotional and so well written. I started reading and was completely hooked!
The story follows hedge fund manager Gabriel, who really lives the typical rich lifestyle – and doesn’t really seem to care about anyone apart from himself. He’s well aware of this, and to be fair he doesn’t pretend to be anything he’s not, but he really doesn’t give seem to give a damn about anything apart from his own comfort and happiness. The book starts with him just having been diagnosed with a brain tumour, which gives him only a few months to live – you’d think this would immediately change his outlook on life, but as we begin the story it really hasn’t changed him... or so it seems.
The characters are SO brilliant; though Gabriel is one of those people you know you should hate, he’s got a real charm about him. Perhaps this is because we see inside his head and see the way he thinks about everything; some of his thoughts really made me laugh and others made me feel really sad. However, the novel manages to avoid swaying into overly emotional territory, despite the nature of the story. Still, I felt pretty damn emotional by the end of the book. I really loved Caitlin's dry sense of humour and the depictions of Gabriel's greedy workmates; they rang quite true to life - or at least how I'd imagine people like that to be!
The Empathy Problem is beautifully written and manages to avoid being cheesy or clichéd, which I feel is a real achievement. Gavin Extence includes plenty of wit and manages to avoid the novel feeling like it’s preaching at you; it makes you think without forcing you, and I hugely enjoyed it. To me, this novel was pretty much perfect – whatever genre you enjoy, I strongly advise you to read it now!
* Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing a copy of this novel in return for an honest review *
jackbooks's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
sandravs102383's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
abiofpellinor's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a complete cover buy, I won’t lie. I bought it and The Universe Versus Alex Woods because of their beautiful covers, however, I ended up really loving VS so I was excited for this one!
We follow a man who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour, and it’s located in the part of his brain that impacts emotions. Gabriel works in finance, he has loads of money and anything he could ever want, all because he doesn’t care about people. At all. He’s not spoken to his dad in years and the closest he’s gotten to a woman is when he hires a prostitute for a night. This tumour changes all of that.
I really enjoyed reading through Gabriel’s eyes and seeing how his mindset slowly altered about different people and scenarios. He’s not necessarily a likable character but that doesn’t mean that you don’t understand where he’s coming from and the reasons behind his actions.
Oddly enough, Extence manages to make you empathise with Gabriel and really understand how scary and confusing this time must be what with his body and mind changing from the tumour and its treatment. I didn’t love this book quite as much as VS but I really did enjoy it and I think it’s a great book.
From my blog: autumnofpellinor.wordpress.com
We follow a man who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour, and it’s located in the part of his brain that impacts emotions. Gabriel works in finance, he has loads of money and anything he could ever want, all because he doesn’t care about people. At all. He’s not spoken to his dad in years and the closest he’s gotten to a woman is when he hires a prostitute for a night. This tumour changes all of that.
I really enjoyed reading through Gabriel’s eyes and seeing how his mindset slowly altered about different people and scenarios. He’s not necessarily a likable character but that doesn’t mean that you don’t understand where he’s coming from and the reasons behind his actions.
Oddly enough, Extence manages to make you empathise with Gabriel and really understand how scary and confusing this time must be what with his body and mind changing from the tumour and its treatment. I didn’t love this book quite as much as VS but I really did enjoy it and I think it’s a great book.
From my blog: autumnofpellinor.wordpress.com
morgansandrae's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
tsap's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
deemakb's review against another edition
2.0
At least until 50 pages before the book ended, I felt like I could give it credit for at least going in a different route than what is expected out of a book with this premise. But nope. It went exactly like how I thought it would go.
I really couldn’t dislike the main character or the love interest anymore, even after the “redemption arc”.
Not to mention the outright racism and ignorance of the main character that (while I understand was a part of his villain thing) kept just nagging at me while reading the book but wasn’t addressed or corrected at all by the end. When writing a character that’s racist against very misinterpreted minorities, I personally think the least you can do is set the record straight about what your character said that is false and what the truth actually is, or you could easily choose another minority for your character to be racist against.
I really couldn’t dislike the main character or the love interest anymore, even after the “redemption arc”.
Not to mention the outright racism and ignorance of the main character that (while I understand was a part of his villain thing) kept just nagging at me while reading the book but wasn’t addressed or corrected at all by the end. When writing a character that’s racist against very misinterpreted minorities, I personally think the least you can do is set the record straight about what your character said that is false and what the truth actually is, or you could easily choose another minority for your character to be racist against.
niamhellen's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Gaslighting, Medical content, Stalking, and Toxic relationship