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elysareadsitall's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
I really thought I would love this book and was highly anticipating it. First, I'll say what I liked. The author did a good job creating suspense on a writing level.
That's it. The suspense made me excited for the reveals, but I don't have the words to explain how disappointed I was in the reveals. The characters are bland. The men are unbelievably stupid to the point that the plot becomes implausible. The White Alice chapters are weird and seemed like a different book. When it all comes together, it made no sense.People were left on purpose for decades to prove Americans should be able to own that land? WHAT?! HOW?!
Then there are the issues in the book. The theme is "Men bad. Ladies good." It focuses on how men do what they want, when they want, and therefore, they should die. There's no nuance of privilege in there. It's just a black and white divide between men and women. This book is supposedly climate change fiction, but the setting is just Earth with a changed climate; there's no explanation of how it got that way, how it could be changed, lessons to learn about climate change, or any kind of actual commentary about it. The characters (all white except the main character who is white/Korean) randomly say that it's bad that land was taken from the First Nations people, but there's no representation of First Nations people or lessons/consequences/commentary about the stolen land. It's not enough to state issues; they need to be explored in a nuanced way to make it interesting for fiction.
I don't relish ripping a creative work apart publicly, but this is bad.
That's it. The suspense made me excited for the reveals, but I don't have the words to explain how disappointed I was in the reveals. The characters are bland. The men are unbelievably stupid to the point that the plot becomes implausible. The White Alice chapters are weird and seemed like a different book. When it all comes together, it made no sense.
Then there are the issues in the book. The theme is "Men bad. Ladies good." It focuses on how men do what they want, when they want, and therefore, they should die. There's no nuance of privilege in there. It's just a black and white divide between men and women. This book is supposedly climate change fiction, but the setting is just Earth with a changed climate; there's no explanation of how it got that way, how it could be changed, lessons to learn about climate change, or any kind of actual commentary about it. The characters (all white except the main character who is white/Korean) randomly say that it's bad that land was taken from the First Nations people, but there's no representation of First Nations people or lessons/consequences/commentary about the stolen land. It's not enough to state issues; they need to be explored in a nuanced way to make it interesting for fiction.
I don't relish ripping a creative work apart publicly, but this is bad.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, and Sexual violence
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