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mbelle97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
content warning: cults, religious zealotsmelissafrench's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape
adammuly's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Suicide, and Violence
belgian_fantasy_fan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual assault
berodatheelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
pacifickat's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
A lot of disappointed reviewers seemed to want this book to be more than it was, the plot to follow a traditional post-apocalyptic road narrative, with characters fighting for survival in a dystopian landscape punctuated by violent encounters. However, Mandel seems to resist these expected devices, focusing instead on how humans are connected across time and space, nature and technology, and generations. The pandemic in this story demarcates a divide between past and present, a clear before and after. But, is existence more than our perceived notion of time and oir relationship to pivotal moments in history? Does a web of interconnectivity carry through all existence even when we cannot perceive it, even when the world seemingly ends? What is this reality we’re living in? Is it patterned beforehand, or only when looked at it in retrospect, like a forest ecosystem growing organically together? Can meaning and beauty miraculously arise out of mundanity and messiness? Is being briefly and beautifully alive and part of a cosmic whole enough of a miracle in itself? Do we make stories, or do the stories make us? What exists because of us, and what exists outside of us?
It’s complicated.
This seeming magic encircles and envelops conscious existence, but goes unnoticed by the humans navigating the complexities of the pre-pandemic modern world, or fighting to survive in post-pandemic reality. A repeated element of looking upward to the sky when faced with death carries throughout, perhaps searching for sufficient meaning or beauty when survival is not guaranteed and everything finally falls still. Is this akin to the sublime moment the actress dissolves into Titania on stage, her stained wedding gown becoming the adornment of a magical fairy queen?
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry
fkshg8465's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Abandonment
quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and Suicide
nicolescottwv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Infidelity and Pandemic/Epidemic
oriana095's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Death and Infidelity
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury