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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was put off by the heavy handed messaging throughout the book to the point where I questioned whether it was satirical at the start. I thought the characters might transform into people holding more nuance in their opinions and that the lack of subtlety would shift as they developed their political consciousness. That did not really happen. There was always a sentence that would spell out whatever message was associated with the scene. "She vowed never to lose sight of her mother's love again." Just so redundant after a whole scene examining their relationship and her choice to leave.
I think the setup and ideas explored are really interesting, but we skipped like 25 years of what this society actually ended up looking like? I think maybe this tried to tackle too many issues and ended up being more shallow than the author anticipated. The author did not really contend with what day-to-day existence in this society would look or feel like. Ava just behaves robotically and goes from work to home. Somehowthere were no deaths or assaults or sexual violence that whole time? That seems genuinely impossible. People are having sex all the time in this place and people are still people who have power over each other. It's wild not to contend with this because it feels like the author has not really engaged with what it would mean to create this society beyond the gender stuff.
The characters felt pretty flat, mostly making decisions that were convenient for the plot, not necessarily motivated by some internal sense of reason. Also, the way that some characters interacted and met through the story, but not all of them, was a confusing choice to me as a reader. Ava's journey through motherhood was incredibly jarring to me and felt mishandled. This woman wasforcibly impregnated without her knowledge and we just focus on how much she loves her kids?? and how large her maternal instinct has grown? I feel like the trauma of forced birth is wildly underrepresented here which is strange considering the feminist focus of the novel and the other discussions surrounding reproductive autonomy. And in all the reflection on cycle-breaking and motherhood at the end of the novel, she doesn't even grapple with the forced pregnancy and the 2nd baby she was forced to birth Even though it would be top of mind because she just learned about it. Just so strange. I think this whole book could have used more rounds of editing to tighten up the story, the pacing, the writing.
I think the setup and ideas explored are really interesting, but we skipped like 25 years of what this society actually ended up looking like? I think maybe this tried to tackle too many issues and ended up being more shallow than the author anticipated. The author did not really contend with what day-to-day existence in this society would look or feel like. Ava just behaves robotically and goes from work to home. Somehow
The characters felt pretty flat, mostly making decisions that were convenient for the plot, not necessarily motivated by some internal sense of reason. Also, the way that some characters interacted and met through the story, but not all of them, was a confusing choice to me as a reader. Ava's journey through motherhood was incredibly jarring to me and felt mishandled. This woman was
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
when you girlboss too hard
A world in the future in which climate change caused mass migration and made areas of the world inhabitable, the rich got together to create safe, isolated cities for the few lucky ones to have a "normal" life, unaffected by the weather of the outside world.
I guess the story is not too far-fetched...
This one in particular puts a feminist and queer spin on it. It made me reflect on some mental models and ideas I hold in my head. Made me think a lot about my feminism.
I see why other people are complaining that the characters do not have a lot of depth and that the interactions sometimes seem forced. It is true to some extent but did not bother me too much. Yes, it was kinda a romance / queer love book that was not an incredible original in its dialogues and relationship building, but my shallow self could live with it. I found the world and the ideas it proposed much more interesting, anyway.
I guess the story is not too far-fetched...
This one in particular puts a feminist and queer spin on it. It made me reflect on some mental models and ideas I hold in my head. Made me think a lot about my feminism.
I see why other people are complaining that the characters do not have a lot of depth and that the interactions sometimes seem forced. It is true to some extent but did not bother me too much. Yes, it was kinda a romance / queer love book that was not an incredible original in its dialogues and relationship building, but my shallow self could live with it. I found the world and the ideas it proposed much more interesting, anyway.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a dystopia for real for real. So power is power and love is love and that’s what makes the world go round even when climate change is trying to destroy the earth.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Rape
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-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:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated