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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
luckyyou's review against another edition
2.75
The parts I liked the most were the philosophical musings on the true state of the world and power, and how power manifests and what people do with it, why they want it, what they would devolve into without it. This kinda does end up feeling like a book that is so much about how the protagonist contends with the different forms of power in his life. He starts completely powerless and ends completely powerless and in the middle he swings back and forth between trying to strive for power and fighting against conventional forms of power. Ultimately the whole narrative is fairly nihilistic and bleak, reminded me a bit of how I felt while reading No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai and Candy by Mian Mian. No matter what you do you're pushing someone else down to get it. The protag's development feels equally nihilistic, he has one moment of trying to better himself then slips back once he's no longer on the hook to go back to prison. He remains a completely aimless person who runs from discomfort but can't figure out how to run towards anything. Form-wise I felt it was a little too meandering for my taste, and the internal philosophical dialog parts, the parts I was most engaged with, don't happen enough to buoy the rest of the story for me. There are some parts that are so detailed but don't feel purposeful, and I felt like switching the POV didn't add much for me. Sometimes was a little bit of a slog to get through. I liked the expressions of nihilism and the meaning of power, but overall did not hit for me as a whole cohesive story.
genre_fiction_is_literature's review against another edition
1.0
This is such dreck. The publisher should be forced to replant the trees used to print such an empty story.
Even through its weak writing, disjointed pacing and tissue-paper thin plotting, the racism, sexism, and homophobia (not used for the sake of creating a character) shines brightly. There are no character arcs, no one grows or changes at all. It contains drastically unbelievable portrayals of every female character. They are all liars or whores, it’s like the author never encountered a woman in real life. This book is devoid of cohesion and contain no discernible plot. It's like five bad stories smashed together into one horrendous book. Why do teenagers act and talk like middle-aged gangsters?
As we hate read and come to the end the simplest, most elementary ideas are presented as deep insights.
If someone calls this Dostoyevskian or compares it to Crime and Punishment throw your drink in their face.
Even through its weak writing, disjointed pacing and tissue-paper thin plotting, the racism, sexism, and homophobia (not used for the sake of creating a character) shines brightly. There are no character arcs, no one grows or changes at all. It contains drastically unbelievable portrayals of every female character. They are all liars or whores, it’s like the author never encountered a woman in real life. This book is devoid of cohesion and contain no discernible plot. It's like five bad stories smashed together into one horrendous book. Why do teenagers act and talk like middle-aged gangsters?
As we hate read and come to the end the simplest, most elementary ideas are presented as deep insights.
If someone calls this Dostoyevskian or compares it to Crime and Punishment throw your drink in their face.
jheeter6's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Complicated
- Loveable characters? Complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sha66areads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bonytarba's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
decu777's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A very fast-paced and crude account of the lives of two teenagers and subsequent young adults who grow up directionless in the 60s USA. Despite having a very strong start and point of culmination, the conclusion felt paradoxically inconclusive. Full of musings on life and even some bits of philosophy, the ending remains relatively open, symbolic of how the main character interpreted the journey of his life.
Although not a tragic ending at a surface level, Jack ends up right where he started, completely solitary in a world which doesn't cater to the lower classes, making the framing of the narrative circular. The lack of real consequence for most of the characters presented in the story paints a very accurate picture of the inner workings (or lack thereof) of the juridical system in 1960s America, which transfers the feeling of frustration very accurately to the reader.
Although not a tragic ending at a surface level, Jack ends up right where he started, completely solitary in a world which doesn't cater to the lower classes, making the framing of the narrative circular. The lack of real consequence for most of the characters presented in the story paints a very accurate picture of the inner workings (or lack thereof) of the juridical system in 1960s America, which transfers the feeling of frustration very accurately to the reader.
ruminating_blayne's review against another edition
3.0
I can see so many interesting and progressive narrative choices made for the time, but the nihilism was oppressive to me making it hard to read and hard to pickup again. The writing was too sparse for me making the prose choppy with too much telling.
literaryjunk's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty rough and bleak and masculine, but not in a false showy way, there was a fair bit of tenderness too