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kathleenww's review against another edition
3.0
A dsytopian adventure of sorts, this is the story of a family of the grim and rough Floridian future. The US has been ravaged by...who knows! The culture as we now know it has been flipped on its head completely, and nothing is recognizable. Even the language of the future has changed dramatically. Drug use ("fink") is normal and plentiful, although still recognized as harmful. Brothers Rowan and his twin brother Faron are living with their hardworking and apparently drug riddled mother, while their father rots in the Cuban "pens." The twins get into serious trouble. leading to the entire family being conscripted into becoming stone age astronauts.
This was not the book I expected it to be. I think Rotter is a decent writer, but the new language thing can be successful or a disaster, and here it was annoying. While the book was plenty long enough (ha ha), I never really got to know any character enough to feel invested and care. The story is being told to Rowan's daughter, but that conceit runs out of steam, and why do we care so much about his child anyway?
The book flap/description led me to believe this would be a totally different story than it was. I was often bored. This could have been much more than it was if the author had fleshed out some of the characters a little more. This just wasn't any kind of stand out. the seed for a great story was there, but it was somehow lost in the swamps of Florida where a good portion of this story takes place.
This was not the book I expected it to be. I think Rotter is a decent writer, but the new language thing can be successful or a disaster, and here it was annoying. While the book was plenty long enough (ha ha), I never really got to know any character enough to feel invested and care. The story is being told to Rowan's daughter, but that conceit runs out of steam, and why do we care so much about his child anyway?
The book flap/description led me to believe this would be a totally different story than it was. I was often bored. This could have been much more than it was if the author had fleshed out some of the characters a little more. This just wasn't any kind of stand out. the seed for a great story was there, but it was somehow lost in the swamps of Florida where a good portion of this story takes place.
zoes_human's review against another edition
2.0
More coming-of-age and less comedic than anticipated based on the book blurbs, but nonetheless good as I enjoy both.
I quite like the idea of a future in which science has become myth and Christianity is viewed as a cult. I love the relationship of the protagonist to his daughter - very genuine and feminist. I dig the writer's style and the way his words flow.
However, the book appears to want to be both comedic and profound. It falls slightly short of either for trying to walk the middle road I think. Not quite uproarious enough to be a humor book and characters just a hint too shallow for the genuine emotional connection I need for real substance.
Additionally, there were a couple of minor unanswered questions which pushed me out of the book universe and back into my own.Why the Van Zandt family again? I mean,yes, it was explained that they would be motivated on account of the whole don't want to go to jail thing, but the world hardly seemed to lack for a criminal element and they didn't come across as anything but ordinary in any other way. Also the motivations of Mr. Nguyen and gang in sponsoring the whole Orion project were vague and unclear.
Overall, a unique approach to both dystopia and coming-of-age which I enjoyed.
I quite like the idea of a future in which science has become myth and Christianity is viewed as a cult. I love the relationship of the protagonist to his daughter - very genuine and feminist. I dig the writer's style and the way his words flow.
However, the book appears to want to be both comedic and profound. It falls slightly short of either for trying to walk the middle road I think. Not quite uproarious enough to be a humor book and characters just a hint too shallow for the genuine emotional connection I need for real substance.
Additionally, there were a couple of minor unanswered questions which pushed me out of the book universe and back into my own.
Overall, a unique approach to both dystopia and coming-of-age which I enjoyed.
reallyrillo's review against another edition
4.0
Some parts were a little confusing to me but for the most part, I really enjoyed reading this. It is very sweet and has a sort of cute little ending.
**NOTE: This is a book that I won through a goodreads giveaway**
**NOTE: This is a book that I won through a goodreads giveaway**
sighants's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. Incredibly choppy. Not really my thing. Started reading it and then paused on it, only to rush to get it back to the library on time.
cnyreader's review against another edition
2.0
I received this book as an Early Reviewer. It is being released in April of this year.
Rowan and his brother Faron are poor and their father is in jail. Their mother is, well, broken and a drug addict. When Rowan and Faron mess up big time (they hijack a bus of old people and crash it into a tree in the abandoned zoo), the family is given a choice- be part of the crew who launches into space to Jupiter's moon Europa, or be sent to the Cuba Pens (jail). In this future version of the world, space exploration or even acknowledgement of other planets is just fairy tales and nonsense.
The beginning of the book is alright, learning about the family and their dynamics, but then, it gets too weird. Not like sci-fi weird, but trying too hard weird. The plot starts time-hopping, which it didn't do much of before, and things get all serious, which it wasn't really before, and Rowan goes from a scared kid to a grown up in way too little time. I felt like the book was trying to be too many different things- sci-fi, dystopian, quirky, adventure, coming of age- all at the same time and doing none of them well. Like the name thing. Florida becomes Floridy, Cape Canaveral becomes Cape Cannibal. It's supposed to be funny, but it falls flat somehow. Perhaps I'm the wrong audience for this book, but I wanted to enjoy it much more than I did.
Food: honey mustard. It's not sweet enough to be sweet and not vinegary enough for me to respect it as mustard. I don't enjoy it at all.
Rowan and his brother Faron are poor and their father is in jail. Their mother is, well, broken and a drug addict. When Rowan and Faron mess up big time (they hijack a bus of old people and crash it into a tree in the abandoned zoo), the family is given a choice- be part of the crew who launches into space to Jupiter's moon Europa, or be sent to the Cuba Pens (jail). In this future version of the world, space exploration or even acknowledgement of other planets is just fairy tales and nonsense.
The beginning of the book is alright, learning about the family and their dynamics, but then, it gets too weird. Not like sci-fi weird, but trying too hard weird. The plot starts time-hopping, which it didn't do much of before, and things get all serious, which it wasn't really before, and Rowan goes from a scared kid to a grown up in way too little time. I felt like the book was trying to be too many different things- sci-fi, dystopian, quirky, adventure, coming of age- all at the same time and doing none of them well. Like the name thing. Florida becomes Floridy, Cape Canaveral becomes Cape Cannibal. It's supposed to be funny, but it falls flat somehow. Perhaps I'm the wrong audience for this book, but I wanted to enjoy it much more than I did.
Food: honey mustard. It's not sweet enough to be sweet and not vinegary enough for me to respect it as mustard. I don't enjoy it at all.
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