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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
I read this book because Joe had this in his first post on Instagram. My mission is to read all books featured in YOU Netflix series. I wasn’t disappointed. I liked the book. It was like I was processing so many possibilities at the same time and felt like missing out on some. Some were funny, some were serious and made me think if that can be possible, some were very bad. I liked the SUM story a lot because it’s true that we all are here with a motive and when it ceased to happen, we feel meaningless.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Unlike any story collection I've read before, and I never would have heard of it if not for author and booktuber Jen Campbell who recommended it. While it might seem like a grim topic at first, these short stories (and we are talking SHORT - most are only two to four pages) are each snapshots of what the afterlife could be, raising questions and possibilities in all directions. The collection is isn't necessarily religious, nor is it scientific - each piece simply poses "what if it were like ___?" and then spends a few pages exploring that possibility. Fitting for my current fall weather, I was captivated by this collection.
Needs to be read in small bites - one tale per day or so.
Really thought provoking tales of possible afterlives. My favourite was the title tale 'Sum', but there were a few that I've re-read a couple times as well.
I enjoyed this enough to renew it at the library 3 times, and then I bought the book.
Really thought provoking tales of possible afterlives. My favourite was the title tale 'Sum', but there were a few that I've re-read a couple times as well.
I enjoyed this enough to renew it at the library 3 times, and then I bought the book.
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
By the time I die, I think I will have read this over 100 times. My favorite.
There were some effective and thought-provoking vignettes, with a few flashes of excellent imagery (craving the episodic earth life "like a child hopping from foot to foot on the hot sand"), but the stories started to feel a bit redundant, like they were all rephrasing the same few themes about how human foibles and life's imperfections are lovable, how hard it is to understand different scales of existence, and imagining finite deities with foibles of their own (again, reflecting human foibles), or imagining that we're actually experiements gone somewhat awry in endearing ways. Although David Eagleman is deft enough with words, the fact that he's not a developed literary writer as much as an imaginative scientist shows--there wasn't much range in style or sense of intricacy in the ideas, despite their cleverness (I did appreciate the biological and technological details, which often succeeded in being whimsical as well) and sometimes profundity. Perhaps more of a disappointment was how uniformly white male middle class American the perspective was across almost all the stories (so many references to a generic female "lover"), and a lot of emphasis on ambition/achievement. I get that he's playing on stereotypes, and also is working within a certain style and audience (he's not trying to be Borges, or if he is, he pales in comparison), and maybe I'm missing the point.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A