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the_sunken_library's review against another edition
4.0
This is a novel of metamorphosis.
It begins with a hazy, lazy summer break where rich parents (eager for one last hurrah) gather with their children, children they are happy to drown out with booze and drugs and abandon to their own whims. The kids are more than happy to band together. They no longer need their dysfunctional mother and father figures - they are obsolete.
As they form their own micro-society you are subvertly introduced to the shape of the rest of the world. Talk of severe climate change, seed banks and "the end" is set to a backdrop more familiar to a coming-of-age Hollywood movie.
As a disastrous storm hits, a transformation occurs - a violent breakdown of society. The kids, separated from their adult minders, are forced to fend for themselves against gun slinging bandits. They have to face death, grief and a new world on their own. They replace their parents as those in charge, as those in control.
There are heavy allusions to nature, the damage the human race has done to the planet, the fact we have been too slow to acknowledge this and act, that the devastation cannot be reversed and it's the parent's generation that is at fault.
The Bible is discussed, an illustrated copy carried around by the narrator's brother. A figure, possibly akin to God, appears breifly to set things right. It's a fantastical jumble. It is unsubtle. It is beautiful and distressing.
The generation that could save the world didn't because they were too busy indulging themselves to notice it was on fire. When they realise it's too late, their children must face what they have wrought and learn to navigate this new world without their parents who are now so lost, they can no longer function. They shut down. They disappear.
This feels like a warning. Act now while we still can.
I did feel the end started to unravel and I was left adrift by the author. Sad. Hopeless.
It begins with a hazy, lazy summer break where rich parents (eager for one last hurrah) gather with their children, children they are happy to drown out with booze and drugs and abandon to their own whims. The kids are more than happy to band together. They no longer need their dysfunctional mother and father figures - they are obsolete.
As they form their own micro-society you are subvertly introduced to the shape of the rest of the world. Talk of severe climate change, seed banks and "the end" is set to a backdrop more familiar to a coming-of-age Hollywood movie.
As a disastrous storm hits, a transformation occurs - a violent breakdown of society. The kids, separated from their adult minders, are forced to fend for themselves against gun slinging bandits. They have to face death, grief and a new world on their own. They replace their parents as those in charge, as those in control.
There are heavy allusions to nature, the damage the human race has done to the planet, the fact we have been too slow to acknowledge this and act, that the devastation cannot be reversed and it's the parent's generation that is at fault.
The Bible is discussed, an illustrated copy carried around by the narrator's brother. A figure, possibly akin to God, appears breifly to set things right. It's a fantastical jumble. It is unsubtle. It is beautiful and distressing.
The generation that could save the world didn't because they were too busy indulging themselves to notice it was on fire. When they realise it's too late, their children must face what they have wrought and learn to navigate this new world without their parents who are now so lost, they can no longer function. They shut down. They disappear.
This feels like a warning. Act now while we still can.
I did feel the end started to unravel and I was left adrift by the author. Sad. Hopeless.
izywithonez's review against another edition
4.0
Good book, vaguely haunting, not amazing not horrible. Not much to say
dars's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mitskacir's review against another edition
3.0
Adding to my list of books I read but didn't understand. This book had a very Moonrise Kingdom vibe to it, from the children running away from incompetent parents, the freak storm, and all the white people (there was one, maybe two, non-white people mentioned, but their ethnicity had little to no impact on their characterization - if I wasn't explicitly told, I wouldn't have any way of knowing - and everyone seemed white-coded. I was a bit wary of the only character of Asian decent (adopted) being described multiple times, scathingly, as having "old banana breath" or as a "banana". I'm not sure if this was an intentional racial slight, or if the author was oblivious. If it was used consciously, I'm not sure what the point was). Despite all this, it was an enjoyable book - the children were written very convincingly, speaking and thinking like teenagers I know. I need to think more about the literary symbolism between Biblical disasters and the modern ills described in the book (mostly climate change): they seemed pretty straight-forward, but I have a feeling they merit more attention.
bugtickle's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25