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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
I was really interested to pick this up because the concept sounds similar to The Power. Now that women have all fallen asleep wrapped in cacoons and trying to cut them open wroughts death. What are the men to do?
Now it feels odd for two male authors to be tackling an issue that is centered on women.
This book definitely tackles moral questions of gender. Are men the cause of violence looking at history?
Certainly, the male characters in the story are hardly perfect and do cowardly and terrible things like Don Peters. My gosh, an example of a person who sees things the ways he wants to, blames others or explains away his crimes.
But some are honourable too such as Willy and Clint who despite his faults, stepped up to protect.
The story centres around the females of Dooling county in Appalachia. Like in Stranger Things, the women find themselves in an alternate dimension that is Dooling but destroyed and abandoned. Now they have a choice, should they return to the world with men or should they stay and make a life for themselves?
In other words, start again. Now this put them in the position of power.
The women have certainly progressed quickly from nothing and did so with no power struggles often seen in post apocalyptic stories when different groups meet. It seems that those issues stem from men.
But is it really so simple?
The reader explores the perspectives from multiple characters. Most interesting are the females such as Lila, the sheriff and the inmates are the correctional facility. The lack of freedom and getting used to incarceration changes perspectives and choices. The authors mention a few times that these women are victims of circumstance.
Is it really their fault?
Eve Black "Evie" was so enimatic and crazy. I almost thought she was Eve from the Bible. She was very confusing.
I thought the book raised interesting narratives that we can relate to or certainly I related to as a female. The ending was expected and yet rather open. But the story dragged at times. It was a really long book. Worth a read if you enjoy a story about flawed females and gender stereotypes.
A quote that felt tragically sad was:
"Mostly it was the sons, though, that drew them back. A new start for every woman in the world was goodbye forever to their precious sons and they couldn't bear that. This also made Evie's heart break, too. Sons killed sons. Sons killed daughters. Sons left guns out where other sons could find them and accidentally shoot themselves or their sisters. Sons burned forests and sons dumped chemicals into the earth as soon as the EPA inspectors left. Sons didn't call on birthdays. Sons didn't like to share. Sons hit children, choked girlfriends. Sons figured out they were bigger and never forgot it. Soms didn't care about the world they left for their aons or for their daughters, although they said they did when the time came to run for office."
Page 673 - 674
That hints to me of sacrifice on the woman's part. It plays into the gender roles that women should give in to others, put others needs above their own and be nurturing.
Now it feels odd for two male authors to be tackling an issue that is centered on women.
This book definitely tackles moral questions of gender. Are men the cause of violence looking at history?
Certainly, the male characters in the story are hardly perfect and do cowardly and terrible things like Don Peters. My gosh, an example of a person who sees things the ways he wants to, blames others or explains away his crimes.
But some are honourable too such as Willy and Clint who despite his faults, stepped up to protect.
The story centres around the females of Dooling county in Appalachia. Like in Stranger Things, the women find themselves in an alternate dimension that is Dooling but destroyed and abandoned. Now they have a choice, should they return to the world with men or should they stay and make a life for themselves?
In other words, start again. Now this put them in the position of power.
The women have certainly progressed quickly from nothing and did so with no power struggles often seen in post apocalyptic stories when different groups meet. It seems that those issues stem from men.
But is it really so simple?
The reader explores the perspectives from multiple characters. Most interesting are the females such as Lila, the sheriff and the inmates are the correctional facility. The lack of freedom and getting used to incarceration changes perspectives and choices. The authors mention a few times that these women are victims of circumstance.
Is it really their fault?
Eve Black "Evie" was so enimatic and crazy. I almost thought she was Eve from the Bible. She was very confusing.
I thought the book raised interesting narratives that we can relate to or certainly I related to as a female. The ending was expected and yet rather open. But the story dragged at times. It was a really long book. Worth a read if you enjoy a story about flawed females and gender stereotypes.
A quote that felt tragically sad was:
"Mostly it was the sons, though, that drew them back. A new start for every woman in the world was goodbye forever to their precious sons and they couldn't bear that. This also made Evie's heart break, too. Sons killed sons. Sons killed daughters. Sons left guns out where other sons could find them and accidentally shoot themselves or their sisters. Sons burned forests and sons dumped chemicals into the earth as soon as the EPA inspectors left. Sons didn't call on birthdays. Sons didn't like to share. Sons hit children, choked girlfriends. Sons figured out they were bigger and never forgot it. Soms didn't care about the world they left for their aons or for their daughters, although they said they did when the time came to run for office."
Page 673 - 674
That hints to me of sacrifice on the woman's part. It plays into the gender roles that women should give in to others, put others needs above their own and be nurturing.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
This book somehow reminded me of horror books I used to devour as a kid, and unfortunately, not in a particularly good way. The story had its moments, but I felt like something was missing. The plot was centred around themes like gender roles and misogyny, and I could appreciate (be horrified by) the accurate examples of injustice and how they set the scene. Reality is a scary monster (even if the American reality can seem unreal from the outside).
"De sovende" (Sleeping Beauties) had potential to be a good horror story and a comment on our society, but there were some issues that I couldn't ignore. First of all: The story lacked genderqueer, trans and intersex representation. Really? In a story where all the women fall asleep and leave the men? That felt very wrong, and like a huge piece of the story was missing. Another thing: I wish the authors had dug deeper into what a world without women would be like. Also, I didn't get why the main villain had to be sexualised. And the ending fizzled out a bit, although that could be just me not caring much anymore. All in all, I liked parts of the book, but I expected a lot more.
"De sovende" (Sleeping Beauties) had potential to be a good horror story and a comment on our society, but there were some issues that I couldn't ignore. First of all: The story lacked genderqueer, trans and intersex representation. Really? In a story where all the women fall asleep and leave the men? That felt very wrong, and like a huge piece of the story was missing. Another thing: I wish the authors had dug deeper into what a world without women would be like. Also, I didn't get why the main villain had to be sexualised. And the ending fizzled out a bit, although that could be just me not caring much anymore. All in all, I liked parts of the book, but I expected a lot more.
What? I didn't hate the premise, but the predictable slow spiral toward the finish line, with constant additions of new, unimportant characters, and weird unnecessary plot devices made this a tough slog.
Started off well, but by the time I hit the 3/4 mark, I didn't really care any more, I just wanted it to be over. Too long, and as a lot of people have said, too many characters. Preachy woman vs men, and then in the last few pages, one of the main characters has a black vs white crisis of conscience. Choose your message and stick to it. Disappointing.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What would happen if all the women in the world went to sleep? That’s the theme that this book extensively covered, and it covered it well. Initially, it felt like character overload. However, with that proves to be beneficial because King was able to explore multiple different possibilities with these characters. I adored the character Evie and thought the audiobook narrator voiced her in a way that made this all-knowing persona come off airy and likable. Idk if I’d recommend this book if you haven’t read anything else by King, but otherwise I’d say this book is well worth the time
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
tense
fast-paced
I've found this a hard review to write. There were times as I was reading that I was really unsure about this book; where is it going? What the hell is going on? However, I ended up really enjoying it, overall. It plodded a bit in some parts and I took a couple of breaks from reading which worked really well for me.
There are a lot of themes in this book: good vs evil, the different ways people react to fear and how this can impact their judgement, equality and gender issues, domestic violence, abuse.... the list goes on and it was certainly a very 'full' book. There are also about 2 million characters but fortunately I'm quite good at remembering who is who! There is a handy list at the front detailing all the characters which was useful at the beginning. I loved a lot of the characters and I hated the obviously evil ones and there were a few really bad apples.
Sleeping Beauties is a bit of a bonkers book but very enjoyable, genuinely scary at times and a good story of acceptance, forgiveness and appreciation of the ones we love and sometimes take for granted.
There are a lot of themes in this book: good vs evil, the different ways people react to fear and how this can impact their judgement, equality and gender issues, domestic violence, abuse.... the list goes on and it was certainly a very 'full' book. There are also about 2 million characters but fortunately I'm quite good at remembering who is who! There is a handy list at the front detailing all the characters which was useful at the beginning. I loved a lot of the characters and I hated the obviously evil ones and there were a few really bad apples.
Sleeping Beauties is a bit of a bonkers book but very enjoyable, genuinely scary at times and a good story of acceptance, forgiveness and appreciation of the ones we love and sometimes take for granted.