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alyce6d980's review against another edition
3.0
Starting this review off with a disclaimer: I’m not sure I’m smart enough to really understand this book, so I’m not really surprised that I didn’t enjoy it all that much.
The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day tells two stories in one, which is impressive considering it’s just over 150 pages. When we first meet Maisie she wakes up on her birthday to an empty house. Heading downstairs and looking for her parents, she opens the front door to discover nothing. Through the window she can see the neighbour’s houses and the front lawn, but when the door is open there is nothing but blackness. Blackness which begins rapidly devouring Maisie’s house.
Then Maisie wakes up. She goes downstairs and begins celebrating her birthday with her family. You think it was all a dream, until the next chapter throws us back with Maisie, who is in turmoil and desperately trying to work out what is happening.
There is a huge twist in this book and I don’t want to ruin it, so I’m not going to get too specific in this review, but I can tell you that this story might have been the longest 150 pages I’ve ever read. I thought we were going to be able to fly through it in less than an hour, but basically every time we switched between the Maisies I found myself feeling distracted and restless, and I couldn’t stop putting it down and doing other things. This might be because I don’t have a very scientific brain and psychics is one of the most exhausting subjects – not only am I not very scientific, but my spatial awareness is little-to-none – so if I’d known how much of this book would focus on Maisie’s love of the sciences I probably wouldn’t have picked it up.
It’s very intelligent, and if I’d read it when I was younger I might have enjoyed it a bit more, but it just went completely over my head.
That being said, I loved seeing a female middle grade character who was so interested in science! Perhaps if I had read this at a younger age it might have sparked more interest for the subject, and it’s definitely good to encourage young girls to develop a passion for STEM.
I did think the ending let the book down a little bit – it dampened what was a powerfully impactful story – but I’ll let you make your own mind up on that one.
This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Blogger.
The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day tells two stories in one, which is impressive considering it’s just over 150 pages. When we first meet Maisie she wakes up on her birthday to an empty house. Heading downstairs and looking for her parents, she opens the front door to discover nothing. Through the window she can see the neighbour’s houses and the front lawn, but when the door is open there is nothing but blackness. Blackness which begins rapidly devouring Maisie’s house.
Then Maisie wakes up. She goes downstairs and begins celebrating her birthday with her family. You think it was all a dream, until the next chapter throws us back with Maisie, who is in turmoil and desperately trying to work out what is happening.
There is a huge twist in this book and I don’t want to ruin it, so I’m not going to get too specific in this review, but I can tell you that this story might have been the longest 150 pages I’ve ever read. I thought we were going to be able to fly through it in less than an hour, but basically every time we switched between the Maisies I found myself feeling distracted and restless, and I couldn’t stop putting it down and doing other things. This might be because I don’t have a very scientific brain and psychics is one of the most exhausting subjects – not only am I not very scientific, but my spatial awareness is little-to-none – so if I’d known how much of this book would focus on Maisie’s love of the sciences I probably wouldn’t have picked it up.
It’s very intelligent, and if I’d read it when I was younger I might have enjoyed it a bit more, but it just went completely over my head.
That being said, I loved seeing a female middle grade character who was so interested in science! Perhaps if I had read this at a younger age it might have sparked more interest for the subject, and it’s definitely good to encourage young girls to develop a passion for STEM.
I did think the ending let the book down a little bit – it dampened what was a powerfully impactful story – but I’ll let you make your own mind up on that one.
This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Blogger.
gavgav7's review against another edition
4.0
This was extremely bizarre but in such a good way.
Maisie wakes up on her 10th birthday to an empty house, and in fact, an empty universe! Outside of her house, there's nothing - just blackness. Then in the next chapter, Maisie wakes up on her 10th birthday, and everything seems fine, normal even. But it's the same day!
For some of this book, I was so unsure what to think of it. The first couple of chapters I wasn't feeling it too much, but then it got to chapter 3 and from that point on, I was super, super intrigued. This is a very short book (around 150 pages) but it packed quite a good story into it. I wasn't quite expecting what was happening and then when the penny dropped before something major did happen, it was a bit of a revelation. I did enjoy this little story about Maisie Day. It was touching and strange - a rather bizarre mix but it fits this kind of story well.
Maisie wakes up on her 10th birthday to an empty house, and in fact, an empty universe! Outside of her house, there's nothing - just blackness. Then in the next chapter, Maisie wakes up on her 10th birthday, and everything seems fine, normal even. But it's the same day!
For some of this book, I was so unsure what to think of it. The first couple of chapters I wasn't feeling it too much, but then it got to chapter 3 and from that point on, I was super, super intrigued. This is a very short book (around 150 pages) but it packed quite a good story into it. I wasn't quite expecting what was happening and then when the penny dropped before something major did happen, it was a bit of a revelation. I did enjoy this little story about Maisie Day. It was touching and strange - a rather bizarre mix but it fits this kind of story well.
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