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novi's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
if you like reading about time travel, you should read this book.
honestly i started reading this because i really like the first part of this book, which was of edwin, a pragmatic and woke guy from 1912. it was cozy. but this book is not cozy.
one of the things that i don't like from science fiction genre is the futuristic and desert-y settings. this book has it, that atmosphere was really thick in the year of 2203. it was so monotonous but after that it's fine. actually the part after that was where the actual plot was finally clear and i couldn't stop reading from that point.
there are twists and turns in this book, because the timeline of this book is literally not linear. some of the twists gave me goosebumps. i would say that to made those twists, there are some plot holes, and there are things that i still don't understand or not explained in this book.
but all in all it's a book about time travel that explores how that affect humans' lives, and "are we living in a simulation?". Some parts of the book got depressing (war, pandemic, imprisonment), which is not my favorite, but it's a literary so it's kind of a given, and this is a short book, so those moments didn't lasts very long, at least.
honestly i started reading this because i really like the first part of this book, which was of edwin, a pragmatic and woke guy from 1912. it was cozy. but this book is not cozy.
one of the things that i don't like from science fiction genre is the futuristic and desert-y settings. this book has it, that atmosphere was really thick in the year of 2203. it was so monotonous but after that it's fine. actually the part after that was where the actual plot was finally clear and i couldn't stop reading from that point.
there are twists and turns in this book, because the timeline of this book is literally not linear. some of the twists gave me goosebumps. i would say that to made those twists, there are some plot holes, and there are things that i still don't understand or not explained in this book.
but all in all it's a book about time travel that explores how that affect humans' lives, and "are we living in a simulation?". Some parts of the book got depressing (war, pandemic, imprisonment), which is not my favorite, but it's a literary so it's kind of a given, and this is a short book, so those moments didn't lasts very long, at least.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and War
heather_harrison's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Recommend if you want:
* Slow burn plot
* Interconnected characters
* Time travel
* Processing the pandemic experience
* Meta science fiction
* Slow burn plot
* Interconnected characters
* Time travel
* Processing the pandemic experience
* Meta science fiction
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Forced institutionalization, War, Death, and Abandonment
meganfletcher's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gun violence and Murder
Minor: War, Suicide, Death, Cursing, and Colonisation
norwegianforestreader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, War, Vomit, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexism
lex_y's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
xosirenox's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Death
Moderate: War, Grief, and Colonisation
quihi's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death
Minor: Suicide, Confinement, Gun violence, Murder, and War
haexelhasel's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and War
Minor: Murder and Suicide
corriejn's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: War and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, and Death
miller8d's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Emily St. John Mandel is the only author I’ve ever read as an adult whose writing is effortlessly legible— I don’t have to drag myself through the continuation of the logic, the story, the names and details. She is an incredible world-builder and crafts her books in a way that kindly takes all pressure off the reader to painstakingly translate the story as they go, and she does it without losing the substance nor the sophisticated chaos of the story. She includes unnecessary yet enriching details everywhere so that you never quite catch on to the endings (unlike so many stories that make me think “Oh, well, that must be foreshadowing something”). I had a complicated feeling of disappointment at the ending of the story: I was pulled to finish this book in two days because I was so excited to learn the explanation for the anomaly, and when I turned the final page, I said “Oh, come on” out loud because I did not feel like I got one at all in the moment. I found the twist exciting and sweet and logical but emotionally frustrating at first. But since I completed the book twenty minutes ago, I’ve realized I’m not actually disappointed because that is actually the most natural and truthful ending there ever could have been, and it rings true to the entire story, to the nature of time and space and boring explanations for exciting anomalies. It shines light on the entire hero’s journey and disarms us with a lonely sense of naked responsibility over the choices we make and especially over the universally lackluster inevitability of the logical consequences of the choices we make. I also really love how Mandel softly infused a strong clarity of anti-colonization and anti-cop sanity throughout the actions and beliefs of the lovable characters— refreshing to read a sci-fi/fictional/apocalyptic piece that doesn’t bury the lead of what evils are obviously leading us toward the darkness (colonization and cops, etc.), and refreshing to read any fictional book that pursues a leftist narrative through world-building and plot points, instead of just veering recklessly into harmful tokenization, superimposed racial dynamics written by a white author, and so on. I also just realized I liked the red herring of Vincent falling off into the sea— at the time, I was 100% sure she’d been teleported by the anomaly and that we must meet her later on. Fun to think that perhaps she did teleport somehow but that we’ll never know because Gaspery never knows. I loved this book.
Note: I pictured Gaspery as Jacob Wysocki from College Humor.
Note: I pictured Gaspery as Jacob Wysocki from College Humor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Death, Mental illness, War, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Deportation, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Body horror
Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, and Car accident
I’m quite a sensitive person and even I’d say that despite the content warnings for this book, it is not an upsetting read (at least for me). The mentions of upsetting topics are justified and unsurprising in the context of the book, and very rarely is any upsetting detail given for the sake of indulgent displeasure. The bits that did upset me were