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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
It's difficult giving a Leni Zumas book two stars after so much anticipation with Red Clocks. I love The Listeners, but unfortunately Red Clocks did not live up to its hype, nor did Zumas dazzle like before. I have hope for the next adventure to capture me as much as her previous work, but Red Clocks left me wholly underwhelmed. Other than the "mender," the characters felt flat, their dialogue forced, and chapter after chapter of asking the same questions became tiresome. This may have worked better as a short story, as the book length and chapter structure ended up feeling gimmicky. There are certainly important and timely topics covered in the story, but whatever intended message just felt tepid.
A scary exploration at what quite possibly could become our future. The audio narration was great, and the story was creepily possible, but as with a lot of feminist lit, I wanted more intersectionality.
(3.5-4 stars). I enjoyed the book overall, but there were a few sections in which I felt disconnected and distant from the characters. The plot and universe is set up very well, allowing the reader to experience it, while also seeing the similarities between the world we are currently living in and this futuristic setting.
I tried. I tried really hard to get into this book. I tried really hard to imagine myself in this world, under the circumstances of the US outlawing fundamental reproductive rights (which, sadly, feels imminent). But man, I could not get a grip on the writing style in this book. I found the story, if told in a different way, could have been very compelling, but the prose just took me straight out of the story every time.
Plus, the "excerpts" from the Biographer's (character) book felt disjointed and I felt didn't really add anything to the storyline.
Plus, the "excerpts" from the Biographer's (character) book felt disjointed and I felt didn't really add anything to the storyline.
A dystopian future where women don't have much say over their reproductive functions...meh. I'm just not sure this book said anything new about what has, at this point, become a pretty common theme. It was an easy read, but not particularly gripping or insightful.
Meh. The story was good, and interesting but the character I was most interested in left me with no real ending in sight.
Alienating writing style - I managed to push through but there were many times I considered DNF.
A little slow at times, an intriguing concept let down by a meandering plot. Each of the characters is interesting on their own, but I didnāt feel like they came together in any interesting ways, and the sideline of the polar explorer also never seemed to really slot in to bring illumination to the central plot. Iām sure weāll have many more dystopians like this one to choose from shortly, but this one isnāt too bad.
While I wanted to love this book I just didn't. I read quickly for the compelling plot, but couldn't seem to connect with the characters the way I knew I should. Perhaps it was the stilted writing style which erased their names? I also found myself skipping over the biographer's writings by the end of the book. Nonetheless, I could see myself re-reading this in a different headspace and liking it quite a bit more.