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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A decent bit of fiction with some interesting ideas and experiments in format. The story it promised felt very different from what it delivered, was fairly disappointed with the direction it took in the end.
Thank you, Netgalley, for this digital ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and are unbiased.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this novel. When I first started reading it I found myself getting a bit of a [a:Jonathan Lethem|6404|Jonathan Lethem|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1539380022p2/6404.jpg] vibe. Very [b:Chronic City|6085191|Chronic City|Jonathan Lethem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348897861l/6085191._SY75_.jpg|6262015]. Then things started... shifting, twisting. Oh, that gyre.
I had some trouble with the fonts in the section that reminded me of [a:Mark Z. Danielewski|13974|Mark Z. Danielewski|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1567538753p2/13974.jpg]. I think this book would definitely benefit from being read in a physical form rather than digital and I intend to obtain a paper copy. This is ironic since one of the principle characters has a crusade against the digitalization of literature.
The ending of the book shifted into a trippiness worthy of Danielewski and the late [a:David Foster Wallace|4339|David Foster Wallace|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1580514295p2/4339.jpg]. I adore all of the aforementioned authors and I deeply enjoyed this book. I can't wait to pick up a physical copy when it is released on April 4th and write a more thorough review.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this novel. When I first started reading it I found myself getting a bit of a [a:Jonathan Lethem|6404|Jonathan Lethem|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1539380022p2/6404.jpg] vibe. Very [b:Chronic City|6085191|Chronic City|Jonathan Lethem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348897861l/6085191._SY75_.jpg|6262015]. Then things started... shifting, twisting. Oh, that gyre.
I had some trouble with the fonts in the section that reminded me of [a:Mark Z. Danielewski|13974|Mark Z. Danielewski|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1567538753p2/13974.jpg]. I think this book would definitely benefit from being read in a physical form rather than digital and I intend to obtain a paper copy. This is ironic since one of the principle characters has a crusade against the digitalization of literature.
The ending of the book shifted into a trippiness worthy of Danielewski and the late [a:David Foster Wallace|4339|David Foster Wallace|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1580514295p2/4339.jpg]. I adore all of the aforementioned authors and I deeply enjoyed this book. I can't wait to pick up a physical copy when it is released on April 4th and write a more thorough review.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
How many stars do you give a book that contains brilliance, and is endlessly entertaining, but that's ultimately unfulfilling?
Four, I guess, but it deserves both less and more. (Is that confusing? Maybe because I'm still spinning.) Too many twists, which if they'd congealed into something cohesive would have made this book one of my favorite reads so far this year. But I feel like the twists ultimately were twisted too far and into strands so flimsy that they just broke off and disappeared.
I still am glad I read this and let my mind twist along. And I immediately ordered [b:The Raw Shark Texts|144800|The Raw Shark Texts|Steven Hall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405099268l/144800._SX50_.jpg|938197] for more of this...It seems the pandemic and my own chronic illness and the craziness of the past few years and general state of the world have done something to my tastes, made me unable to enjoy reality because every day we're faced with TOO MUCH reality. Weird fiction like this is now my escape. Bring it on.
Four, I guess, but it deserves both less and more. (Is that confusing? Maybe because I'm still spinning.) Too many twists, which if they'd congealed into something cohesive would have made this book one of my favorite reads so far this year. But I feel like the twists ultimately were twisted too far and into strands so flimsy that they just broke off and disappeared.
I still am glad I read this and let my mind twist along. And I immediately ordered [b:The Raw Shark Texts|144800|The Raw Shark Texts|Steven Hall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405099268l/144800._SX50_.jpg|938197] for more of this...It seems the pandemic and my own chronic illness and the craziness of the past few years and general state of the world have done something to my tastes, made me unable to enjoy reality because every day we're faced with TOO MUCH reality. Weird fiction like this is now my escape. Bring it on.
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book starts so strong and yet it gets tangled on itself in the minutia of examining plot threads.
DNF @50ish%
This started off intriguing, but then just got...weird.
This started off intriguing, but then just got...weird.
“What is the world made of? Is it rocks and trees and rivers, or is it letters and pages and worlds? Do our questions make the universe? If it goes unobserved, does the universe even exist, or is it like a story in a book, a story that needs a readers eye moving over the letters to bring order and meaning, to cause the wave to collapse into a particle?”
I have no idea what just happened in this book…a lot of chaos…a lot of twists…but I did enjoy reading it and found whatever this book was about, very intriguing. Never read anything like it before.
I have no idea what just happened in this book…a lot of chaos…a lot of twists…but I did enjoy reading it and found whatever this book was about, very intriguing. Never read anything like it before.