Reviews

Pew by Catherine Lacey

chuckstafer's review against another edition

3.0

This was a miss for me. I was very intrigued by the mystery surrounding the plot of this novel and had seen many good reviews of it around the web so I was eager to give it a read and thought it would be a story that would lead to some crazy events or something. What I was presented with was a story about a small community thrown into confusion by the appearance of a mystery guest who progressively got more uneasy about their new guest, but that ultimately didn't really go anywhere. The slow-burning tension did build throughout the novel and seemed to be building to some big, cult-like ceremony that sounded like trouble, but ultimately it fizzled out into nothing. Kind of like a balloon that was being aired up but sprung a leak and slowly expelled all of it's contents and deflated.

The origin of the mysterious Pew was never revealed and I really think this story could have benefited from a longer "run time" to explore that more and could have really explored quite a few different ideas.

Ultimately, not a strong entry for me. The writing was good, I will give the author credit on that (and the audiobook narrator was great!) but from a story perspective, this just wasn't it for me.

maluce's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

mbmayo's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

johannaliest's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

samsteer's review against another edition

4.5

Loved it. Especially religious themes and conversations around value and identity. 

cchanna's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

pengenia's review against another edition

5.0

The number of people in reviews randomly assigning gendered pronouns to Pew when the author spends the whole book stressing that Pew has no concept nor want of gender is aggravating.

lwrenable_91's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A

2.0

I understand what the author was trying to say through this book (I think) but it just wasn’t executed well. There was a lot of build up for the end and nothing happened 

ninsiana0's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Read PEW by Catherine Lacey if you love not knowing, uncertainty, slowly uncovering, hiding, sleeping, secrets, drawing pictures, confessions, festivals, expectations, nothing, no one, mirrors, undercurrents, divisions, churches, bodies, dissociating & silence.

lemon_drop's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0