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hmatt's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.5
The glow-up on this one is immense. And this review is very babble-y, sorry.
My initial read was in audio when it came out 2 years ago, and at that point I rated it 3 stars (switched to 3.5 when I moved everything to TSG because I couldn't get it out of my head). I don't think an audiobook quite does this one justice, though, at least for me. Even an ebook read this time was tough because there are SO many internal (and external) references throughout the text. I've literally been on a hunt for a secondhand paperback so I can transfer all my notes into a physical book.
The author recently added to her G*******s commentary on Station Eleven, and one of the topics she expanded on was how she puts a lot of ghosts in her works. She mentioned that there are tons of ghosts in this book, specifically, so of course I was hyperaware of them in this read and it was incredibly fun to pick them out (They aren't, uh, particularly subtle. But still). With Sea of Tranquility coming out, it also became so much more obvious how interconnected the universes in her works are. This is a theme that she starts to explore in The Glass Hotel and I'm eager to see it really fleshed out in SoT. Which I need to get reading, but I wanted to finish this one first.
I'm so glad I re-read this. I have just as much appreciation for the writing style and allusions to Station Eleven as I did on the first read, but I was really able to slow down and read closer this time. I think that's what this book deserves. It's big character studies and thoughts on parallel universes/alternate realities, and medium plot. Lots of fun literary things if you're into that.
Few quotes (of many):
My initial read was in audio when it came out 2 years ago, and at that point I rated it 3 stars (switched to 3.5 when I moved everything to TSG because I couldn't get it out of my head). I don't think an audiobook quite does this one justice, though, at least for me. Even an ebook read this time was tough because there are SO many internal (and external) references throughout the text. I've literally been on a hunt for a secondhand paperback so I can transfer all my notes into a physical book.
The author recently added to her G*******s commentary on Station Eleven, and one of the topics she expanded on was how she puts a lot of ghosts in her works. She mentioned that there are tons of ghosts in this book, specifically, so of course I was hyperaware of them in this read and it was incredibly fun to pick them out (They aren't, uh, particularly subtle. But still). With Sea of Tranquility coming out, it also became so much more obvious how interconnected the universes in her works are. This is a theme that she starts to explore in The Glass Hotel and I'm eager to see it really fleshed out in SoT. Which I need to get reading, but I wanted to finish this one first.
I'm so glad I re-read this. I have just as much appreciation for the writing style and allusions to Station Eleven as I did on the first read, but I was really able to slow down and read closer this time. I think that's what this book deserves. It's big character studies and thoughts on parallel universes/alternate realities, and medium plot. Lots of fun literary things if you're into that.
Few quotes (of many):
How have I come to this foreign planet, so far from home?
(I'll cry in a good way if this comes back in SoT)
What kept her in the kingdom was the previously unimaginable condition of not having to think about money, because that's what money gives you: the freedom to stop thinking about money. If you've never been without, then you won't understand the profundity of this, how absolutely this changes your life.
—what does it mean to be a ghost, let alone to be there, or here? There are so many ways to haunt a person, or a life—
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Classism, Suicide, and Stalking
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