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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
I wanted to love this, but I kept waiting to actually care about any of the characters (in a good or bad way)…and that moment never came. There were definitely stakes, I just didn’t care about anyone enough for it to matter.
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was not quite up to my expectations established from the excellent Luminaries—but it was also by no means a let down, either. It has got its finger on the pulse of the moment: intersectional polarizations of class and identity culminate into a pressure cooker type drama centered on a seemingly innocuous “anarchist” gardening collective, “invading” peoples’ property to plant. When a tycoon offers them solvency to “keep doing what they’re doing”, well things get complicated and spiral fairly quickly.
Read this mostly for the characters and themes, not the plot, and you’ll be pleased, I think. Everyone feels vibrant and deliberate, playing into the plot at key points, while fleshing out the ideologies. To some degree it requires that the characters be ideologues because of this, but actually, because there’s so much poured into them they don’t feel like condensed ideas at a macro level butting heads.
Read this mostly for the characters and themes, not the plot, and you’ll be pleased, I think. Everyone feels vibrant and deliberate, playing into the plot at key points, while fleshing out the ideologies. To some degree it requires that the characters be ideologues because of this, but actually, because there’s so much poured into them they don’t feel like condensed ideas at a macro level butting heads.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Read for a book group. Too dark for my tastes.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Whoops, finished this last week and never logged. Really, really liked this, more than I expected to. Great story here, unexpectedly tense.
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This may be a case of bad timing and me not vibing with the book and the writing style but forcing myself to push on because I might enjoy it more or it might pick up or my time is running out on the copy I borrowed from the library and it's already taken me over a week to read.
It starts off quite slow. Going on long, rambling, half page, sentences that by the time I reach the end I'd forgotten the beginning. That put me off a bit as I found it hard to focus a little and kept having to go back and forth. I also found the characters to be quite unlikable, which I think is the point, but it made me struggle a little more with connecting to them and caring about these long ass characterisations.
The mystery it builds up is interesting. I enjoyed the story. The end third was very good and the pace change up was appreciated but it didn't quite make up for the slog of the first two thirds for me. Reading this is a dedication, I really do love the themes of struggling environmentalism under capitalism and how much will these characters stick to their morales. I just personally couldn't get into this completely.
It starts off quite slow. Going on long, rambling, half page, sentences that by the time I reach the end I'd forgotten the beginning. That put me off a bit as I found it hard to focus a little and kept having to go back and forth. I also found the characters to be quite unlikable, which I think is the point, but it made me struggle a little more with connecting to them and caring about these long ass characterisations.
The mystery it builds up is interesting. I enjoyed the story. The end third was very good and the pace change up was appreciated but it didn't quite make up for the slog of the first two thirds for me. Reading this is a dedication, I really do love the themes of struggling environmentalism under capitalism and how much will these characters stick to their morales. I just personally couldn't get into this completely.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes