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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
His wife really never apologized for bashing his brains in and leaving a long scar on his cheekbone…. I was waiting and nothing from her. Zip. Girl.. apologize to that man for what you did to him. Idk about him but I could never get over the trauma she did to him if I was him, even if she was right about everything… just saying like uhhh therapy needs to be happening and divorce but we all know how that ended for Apollo’s daddy..
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
As another review said, started as Love, Actually, turns into Rosemary's Baby, and ends with a technology heist/Starless Sea combination.
Well written, but incredibly strange.
Well written, but incredibly strange.
A bad fairy tale has some simple goddamn moral. A great fairy tale tells the truth.
I have been putting off doing this review for the better part of a week because this book was just so good and I don't entirely know how to get that across with words. LaValle is very good at taking every day situations and turning them into something dark and fantastic, and actually for the first part of this book you might even think 'did I get tricked into reading some kind of contemporary romance/family drama type book' but as you continue there is a growing sense of unease that slowly creeps in... And then suddenly kind of smacks you in the face really. This book is separated into [I think] eight sections and the first four are 'first comes love', 'then comes marriage', 'then comes baby in the baby carriage', and 'shit. damn. motherfucker'. WELL THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.
I don't want to give too much away about the actual plot because I think it would take away from some of the creepiness, but LaValle has written a truly great modern fairy tale that confronts topics like family, race, and toxic masculinity and it was a delight to read. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes creepy modern fairy tales.
I have been putting off doing this review for the better part of a week because this book was just so good and I don't entirely know how to get that across with words. LaValle is very good at taking every day situations and turning them into something dark and fantastic, and actually for the first part of this book you might even think 'did I get tricked into reading some kind of contemporary romance/family drama type book' but as you continue there is a growing sense of unease that slowly creeps in... And then suddenly kind of smacks you in the face really. This book is separated into [I think] eight sections and the first four are 'first comes love', 'then comes marriage', 'then comes baby in the baby carriage', and 'shit. damn. motherfucker'. WELL THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.
I don't want to give too much away about the actual plot because I think it would take away from some of the creepiness, but LaValle has written a truly great modern fairy tale that confronts topics like family, race, and toxic masculinity and it was a delight to read. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes creepy modern fairy tales.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a strange book. It started off slow and lyrical and it meandered through tragedy and then became an action-fueled urban fantasy. I think I wish it had gelled a little more to itself.
CONTENT WARNING: (possible spoilers if you're unfamiliar with the namesake of this book)
Things to love:
-The writing. LaValle is very poetic with his word choices, even his raunchier paragraphs.
-The new dad feeling. It all felt very honest, all of the rituals and worries a dad who wanted to really be there for their kid would have, the fears and pride of someone who has no idea what they're doing, but is determined to do it the best they can.
-The mythology. An interesting blend of fairytale and modern magic realism, with the legends of families and the exploration of why we tell each other these stories.
-Exploration of injustice. Black or white? Man or woman? Immigrant or born here? Your perception or theirs? All of these change so many small things that can set off a chain reaction of consequences you couldn't foresee, but you can't escape. I loved this part of the book.
Things that fell apart a little:
-The pacing. Very inconsistent. It really felt like 2 or 3 books, the sections were all so separate.
-The build up. I didn't feel the parts of the story changing, they sort of just moved on when I wasn't looking, which, I suppose, is thematically appropriate. I didn't get the growing dread of the new parents. The revelations in fact still seem stilted and deus ex to me, because they were quite spontaneous. Even I, quantum leaper extraordinaire, couldn't keep up with their conclusions.
-The reunion. Ummm yeah, hi, Apollo, do you not remember that. Are we just not going to address that? And what about his wish? And how about all that shit that just happened??
It's possible, I suppose, that the telling is all very unreliable and shouldn't be taken at face value, in which case maybe that's fine. But taking it as presented is a bit of a tough pill to swallow, even assuming the fantastical parts are real. And if I'm supposed to have assumed the narrator unreliable, I'm afraid I don't have a lot of context clues to make that connection. It's sort of just an assumption based on what I think makes sense, which would be a bold thing for the author to rely on.
I'm not even sure if I liked it? I liked parts a lot. I think it could have been about 100 pages shorter and maybe one messed up relationship fewer, and felt more successful. As it stands, I, like Apollo, am wondering "why did he tell me this story?" and the answer just feels like the author needed to work through some stuff and had a mildly interesting "what if" as a launchpad. I'll give it an extra star for pretty words and a strong exploration of prejudice.
CONTENT WARNING: (possible spoilers if you're unfamiliar with the namesake of this book)
Spoiler
spousal abuse, body horror, murder, suicide, child abuse, death of a childThings to love:
-The writing. LaValle is very poetic with his word choices, even his raunchier paragraphs.
-The new dad feeling. It all felt very honest, all of the rituals and worries a dad who wanted to really be there for their kid would have, the fears and pride of someone who has no idea what they're doing, but is determined to do it the best they can.
-The mythology. An interesting blend of fairytale and modern magic realism, with the legends of families and the exploration of why we tell each other these stories.
-Exploration of injustice. Black or white? Man or woman? Immigrant or born here? Your perception or theirs? All of these change so many small things that can set off a chain reaction of consequences you couldn't foresee, but you can't escape. I loved this part of the book.
Things that fell apart a little:
-The pacing. Very inconsistent. It really felt like 2 or 3 books, the sections were all so separate.
-The build up. I didn't feel the parts of the story changing, they sort of just moved on when I wasn't looking, which, I suppose, is thematically appropriate. I didn't get the growing dread of the new parents. The revelations in fact still seem stilted and deus ex to me, because they were quite spontaneous. Even I, quantum leaper extraordinaire, couldn't keep up with their conclusions.
-The reunion. Ummm yeah, hi, Apollo, do you not remember that
Spoiler
your wife broke your face and burned you to destroy the thing you thought was your son??It's possible, I suppose, that the telling is all very unreliable and shouldn't be taken at face value, in which case maybe that's fine. But taking it as presented is a bit of a tough pill to swallow, even assuming the fantastical parts are real. And if I'm supposed to have assumed the narrator unreliable, I'm afraid I don't have a lot of context clues to make that connection. It's sort of just an assumption based on what I think makes sense, which would be a bold thing for the author to rely on.
I'm not even sure if I liked it? I liked parts a lot. I think it could have been about 100 pages shorter and maybe one messed up relationship fewer, and felt more successful. As it stands, I, like Apollo, am wondering "why did he tell me this story?" and the answer just feels like the author needed to work through some stuff and had a mildly interesting "what if" as a launchpad. I'll give it an extra star for pretty words and a strong exploration of prejudice.
Wtf was this??? Gonna give me nightmares, I'm positive. Review later.