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xta_07's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
How I feel about this book can best be summed up by a quote from the prologue:
“I make art, sometimes I make true art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life.”
This little novel was truly a work of art, silly, scary, and beautiful all at the same time. This has to be the most charming book I’ve ever read that’s been categorized as a “horror novel”.
“I make art, sometimes I make true art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life.”
This little novel was truly a work of art, silly, scary, and beautiful all at the same time. This has to be the most charming book I’ve ever read that’s been categorized as a “horror novel”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Death
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, and Suicide
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
mekanikastone's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicide
goldenslug's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Death, and Suicide
ramreadsagain's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
I was surprised by how good and readable this was, after struggling with the slow-paced slog that was American Gods last year.
The illustrations are beautiful and really add to the atmosphere created by the mesmerising prose. I’m also impressed by the massive sense of nostalgia this book managed to cause: even though our main character grew up in a different era to me, Neil Gaiman really nailed the experiences of a bookish youth who struggles to understand other people. I also loved the hints at frustration over how differently younger siblings are often treated lol.
The world this book created is so good, Lettie and her ‘family’ are so interesting though I do feel like some of their ‘magic’ was quite conveniently not explained at times.
My only other complaint is that our main character is a bit of a blank slate at times without much special about him, especially as he grows. Though I do believe this may be the point lol. We grow up to become an adult we would not have understood as a child.
The illustrations are beautiful and really add to the atmosphere created by the mesmerising prose. I’m also impressed by the massive sense of nostalgia this book managed to cause: even though our main character grew up in a different era to me, Neil Gaiman really nailed the experiences of a bookish youth who struggles to understand other people. I also loved the hints at frustration over how differently younger siblings are often treated lol.
The world this book created is so good, Lettie and her ‘family’ are so interesting though I do feel like some of their ‘magic’ was quite conveniently not explained at times.
My only other complaint is that our main character is a bit of a blank slate at times without much special about him, especially as he grows. Though I do believe this may be the point lol. We grow up to become an adult we would not have understood as a child.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Animal death and Death
Minor: Body horror, Confinement, and Infidelity
abrdoodle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Death and Grief
fanchera's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, and Infidelity
dudsquad's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I only marked it down by half a point as I felt some descriptions went on in a droney manner which at times made me want to put the book down but I persevered and I’m glad I did.
I like how despite your questions not really getting answered at the end the book wraps itself up where it doesn’t matter what you do and do not know for you can never know everything. You are really put at ease in this way feeling satisfied with the journey the story took you on.
Neil human has a way of writing for adults so they feel like a child. I felt like a 7 year old reading by the light of my torch under my covers when I got immersed in this book. He has a phenomenal way of gripping you. This is only the second book of his I have read and I cannot wait to read more of his work.
I like how despite your questions not really getting answered at the end the book wraps itself up where it doesn’t matter what you do and do not know for you can never know everything. You are really put at ease in this way feeling satisfied with the journey the story took you on.
Neil human has a way of writing for adults so they feel like a child. I felt like a 7 year old reading by the light of my torch under my covers when I got immersed in this book. He has a phenomenal way of gripping you. This is only the second book of his I have read and I cannot wait to read more of his work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Death and Suicide
cameron_cassidy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Death, Suicide, and Car accident
koberreads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Disclosure: I am a male of 20ish of age. And this is my first book by Niel Gaiman. I heard of this author before in the movie and Netflix series that are made, which were inspired by his books.
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"[Gaiman's] mind is a dark, fathomless ocean, and every time I sink into it, this world fades, replaced by one far more terrible and beautiful in which I will happily drown." —New York Times Book Review
I decided to read the book after reading this quote above and felt the truth of what the author quote said after reading it. I, too, would happily drown in this world.
------------------
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Short review: (Non-spoiler)
- What did you like or dislike?
- Lettie
- I experienced great serendipity(unplanned fortunate discovery.) when I realized this was the book where Niel's famous Goodreads quote came from "I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else."
- His words are too relatable to bookworms like us. And I love it.
- And it is no surprise that after reading that quote in the Goodreads app loading screen, I decided to read one of his books. I was lucky to discover this quote in this book on kindle unlimited.
- This book is one of those rare books that terrifies the shit out of me. Even Stephen King never terrifies me like this. Stephen King's freaking clown monster is just a clown to me. And compared to the monster here, that clown of Mr. King is like the unfunny clown in a 5-year-old Bday party. Not even scary but annoying.
- Octavia Butler was the first one who truly scared the shit out of me. And now, the second Niel.
- The writings of Neil are both prose and poetry at the same time, and they describe both the mundane everyday things and the magic perfectly out of this world, entirely beyond one's comprehension, things that his dark but wise mind creates. And he weaves all of them, the mundane and magical, into one unified whole in the story. So at first, if you are not spoiled, you would most likely have difficulty understanding who the monster is, the normal person in the story. Or at least you would wonder what actually "are" the characters the protagonist is interacting with
- Mark Manson is right. Reading fiction is real because it delivers you to a place that would be totally out of your reach if you were not reading fiction. It trains your empathy and wonder, keeps your mind always open, and lessens the chances it becomes close and narrow as it tends to do as you grow older.
- The mystery of the "world hidden behind the mundane reality of our world" in the story is the kind of mysterious world you will never fully understand, yet you are happy with the story remaining a mystery.
- I have never been so intrigued and at ease with being in the dark about all that is happening in the book, just like our main protagonist.
- Like what Ginnie said: "You can't know everything," I thought the author was depriving us of a truth that we all deserve, but there is wisdom and ease in that. It helps you be at ease with yourself and not be pressured to know everything or have a need to do so.
- The sense of wonder and calm of our childhood days that we more or less lose as we grow older is being brought back to us through this lovely, dark, beautiful story of Neil that we are truly children inside a shell of overgrown, overconfident at the same time immensely self-doubting adult bodies.
- To whom would you recommend this book?
- 18 or above. Or a person able to handle family abuse and see the infidelity of parents and child abuse
- Why did you choose this rating?
- Because this is my new favorite magic realism novel
Quotes from the book (Non-spoilers):
"Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everybody.
"Nothing's ever the same," she said. "Be it a second later or a hundred years. It's always churning and roiling. And people change as much as oceans."
"Oh, monsters are scared," said Lettie. "That's why they're monsters. And as for grown-ups . . ." She stopped talking, rubbed her freckled nose with a finger. Then, "I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they. always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world."
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Long review: (Spoiler) - Better read this after you read the book because the mystery and the joy of not knowing are too good not to have while you are reading it. You will definitely be spoiled after reading this,
- Write everything you want to say
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My favorite quote but a bit of a spolier:
My favorite quote but a bit of a spolier:
She sat down on the bench on the other side of me, so I was flanked by Hempstock women. She said, "I think Lettie just wants to know if it was worth it."
"If what was worth it?"
"You," said the old woman, tartly.
"Lettie did a very big thing for you," said Ginnie. "I think she mostly wants to find out what happened next, and whether it was worth everything she did."
"She . .. sacrificed herself for me..... Did I pass?
“You don’t pass or fail at being a person, dear.” I put the empty cup and plate down on the ground. Ginnie Hempstock said, “I think you’re doing better than you were the last time we saw you. You’re growing a new heart, for a start.”
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By chapter 2, I am already in love with Lettie.
I am already deliciously confused with the Hempstock family. Hahaha and Lettie is the most mysterious and beautiful for me aha trying to figure out why the heck know certain things before hand. I too would not question at first how they knew what a suicidal man thought before he died. They either have foresight or able to sense whatever people thought but only those people within the vicinity of the Hempstock farmhouse.
------------
After reading Chapter 3, still deliciously confused about the Hempstock fam and the new happening of money giving being. I would like to stay deliciously confused as long as I can as I finish the book.
Lettie is a character that I always written in my head but never had the words to describe it. Her mysteriousness makes her red hear and freckles all the more attractive. I am so glad, I truly dont know anything about this book or it hasnt been turned into a movie or series (That I know off) to spoil me.
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What is Lettie? and her fam? hahahah dont tell me hahahaah
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The worm scene is damn terrifying.
I do think housekeeper ursula is a damn bear or a squid monster lady
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Ursala and the fucking hungry darkness birds (varmints) are all too fucking terifying
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Old ms hempstock - Gran
Is even scarier God damn hhahaha
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Infidelity