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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
This is definitely an interesting book, but it felt a little too disjointed. I enjoyed it enough for myself, but it would be hard to recommend.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
History isn’t a tale told once, it’s a series of revisions
I love the way LaValle weaves the strange and unusual into a character's life story
I love the way LaValle weaves the strange and unusual into a character's life story
3.5? I wanted to keep reading it while it was happening, but now that it’s over and I’ve had time to reflect -
I liked the first part a lot (up until Rikers). I saw someone else’s review that said this was like three unrelated short stories forced into one book and that about sums it up. Additionally, there were a lot of loose ends that didn’t go anywhere and a few unanswered questions that are still bugging me, which maybe I just didn’t analyze correctly, but made me think “what was the point of including that?”.
Left it at 4 stars because I didn’t want to put it down, despite all my criticism above haha
I liked the first part a lot (up until Rikers). I saw someone else’s review that said this was like three unrelated short stories forced into one book and that about sums it up. Additionally, there were a lot of loose ends that didn’t go anywhere and a few unanswered questions that are still bugging me, which maybe I just didn’t analyze correctly, but made me think “what was the point of including that?”.
Left it at 4 stars because I didn’t want to put it down, despite all my criticism above haha
Dark and heavy at parts, but I loved the literary allusions and the exploration of relationships between parents and children, as well as the present and the past.
*3.5 stars*
this was good, i am tired and cannot think of anything better to say but yes would recommend, accomplished what it set out to do and boy does he know how to write a sentence and when to lean on the literary and when to lean on the realistic dialogue
edit - i’ve lowered this to a 3.5 star after sitting with it for a bit and discussing it with the person i read it with, just because we agreed that the third act doesn’t come together as seamlessly as we wanted it to, and while we loved what it was exploring, some of the ways it was executed then just felt like it was trying to do too much at once. still really liked overall, though!
this was good, i am tired and cannot think of anything better to say but yes would recommend, accomplished what it set out to do and boy does he know how to write a sentence and when to lean on the literary and when to lean on the realistic dialogue
edit - i’ve lowered this to a 3.5 star after sitting with it for a bit and discussing it with the person i read it with, just because we agreed that the third act doesn’t come together as seamlessly as we wanted it to, and while we loved what it was exploring, some of the ways it was executed then just felt like it was trying to do too much at once. still really liked overall, though!
Wow this book was ambitious AF and I thought really pulled it off. I guess it’s a horror fairy tale? Once again, I didn’t read the summary before reading. And I’m so glad I didn’t because it tells you too much and it was fun to piece it all together.
I’d just seen it recommended by authors I like and lists of good horror novels, etc. So I went in having no actual clue what it was about. And everything is going along nicely until 1/4 of the way through when the most horrific thing happens. It shook me for real; but if you read the summary, you could figure it out. I’m glad I got shook. Getting shook is fun. It’s a wild ride. I can definitely see people hating and being like dafuq did I just read? But I bought in.
I’d just seen it recommended by authors I like and lists of good horror novels, etc. So I went in having no actual clue what it was about. And everything is going along nicely until 1/4 of the way through when the most horrific thing happens. It shook me for real; but if you read the summary, you could figure it out. I’m glad I got shook. Getting shook is fun. It’s a wild ride. I can definitely see people hating and being like dafuq did I just read? But I bought in.
Book club book. I️ like that my book club makes me aware of books I️ might not otherwise read. I️ didn’t like this one.