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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book proves you should never judge a book by its cover. The cover is amazing. The premise is interesting. And this book is neither. The idea of a bunch of people stranded on an island who eventually get murderous was so good and this book was just so bad.
The main character was dull and over the top obvious and obnoxious. The idea that someone could run around calling someone a murderer on a podcast and not get sued is ridiculous. There was no subtlety or anything that made what she did feel remotely realistic or authentic. I think her awkwardness was supposed to be relatable but it too felt over the top. Also, most people don’t walk around calling people ugly to their face as part of normal conversation. They say it behind their back or in the heat of the moment. So the idea that people just walked around telling her she’s ugly was just weird, not something that made me feel empathy for her.
There was nothing about this situation that felt like it could happen after the initial stranding. Ah yes hundreds of people with access to the internet would definitely not call for help even though they had virtually no food, water or shelter.
Thankfully it was a fast read because otherwise it would have been a big waste of time.
The main character was dull and over the top obvious and obnoxious. The idea that someone could run around calling someone a murderer on a podcast and not get sued is ridiculous. There was no subtlety or anything that made what she did feel remotely realistic or authentic. I think her awkwardness was supposed to be relatable but it too felt over the top. Also, most people don’t walk around calling people ugly to their face as part of normal conversation. They say it behind their back or in the heat of the moment. So the idea that people just walked around telling her she’s ugly was just weird, not something that made me feel empathy for her.
There was nothing about this situation that felt like it could happen after the initial stranding. Ah yes hundreds of people with access to the internet would definitely not call for help even though they had virtually no food, water or shelter.
Thankfully it was a fast read because otherwise it would have been a big waste of time.
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
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed the other book I read by this author, The Mary Shelley Club, and between the cover and the comparison to Lord of the Flies for this one, I’ve had it on my TBR since I first heard about it. I didn’t get to it when it came out, but I was lucky enough to get a copy from the publisher for the library committee I am on. And once again I ended up being blown away from the uniqueness and craziness this author has given us. While at first I wasn’t quite sure, once the story got going, it really had a lot of twists and turns and unexpected occurrences. Now it may not be an exact retelling of Lord of the Flies, it has just enough little bits here and there that made it resonate with me since that has always been a favorite book of mine. Highly recommend this one!
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Goldy's writing style and voice, and this book did not disappoint!
This wants to be Beauty Queens by Libba Bray sooooo bad, please just go read that instead
Say it with me kids, satire without a purpose isn't satire at all. This book isn't saying anything, it's not doing anything. It's a concept, a blurb, and nothing deeper. You can clearly see the author saw a Fyre Fest documentary and wanted to mix it with Lord of the Flies but never dug any deeper than that. Fyre Fest is reproduced wholecloth including the ad with ""Hella Badid"" on jet ski, the FEMA tents, and the cheese sandwiches. Lord of the Flies is only used in a "I read it in sophomore English and only remember a couple scenes but none of the themes" kind of way.
Every character is detestable and we're led to believe our MC is the only 'normal' one but she's just as stupid as the rest of them but with the 'not like other girls' flavor of superiority complex while everyone else has the 'rich bitch' superiority complex. The MC is dumb enough to record a podcast where she verbally accuses someone of murder when there's only a scrap of cloth and four feet between her and said potential murderer.
The beauty of Beauty Queens is everyone starts off being portrayed as annoying and privileged but over the course of the story we see more depth in them and grow to enjoy them all while laughing at the satirical elements and silly over the top commercials. This book tries to do almost the same thing down to having satirical commercials but the two dimensional characters devolve into one dimension instead of growing and the commercials add nothing except cringe (seriously your brand is going to run a coupon code that directly says someone is a murderer???)
This is truly uninspired and lazy. Just go watch a Fyre Fest documentary and read Beauty Queens instead. Maybe even dust off your old copy of Lord of the Flies because I think people need a refresher on what that book is actually about....
Say it with me kids, satire without a purpose isn't satire at all. This book isn't saying anything, it's not doing anything. It's a concept, a blurb, and nothing deeper. You can clearly see the author saw a Fyre Fest documentary and wanted to mix it with Lord of the Flies but never dug any deeper than that. Fyre Fest is reproduced wholecloth including the ad with ""Hella Badid"" on jet ski, the FEMA tents, and the cheese sandwiches. Lord of the Flies is only used in a "I read it in sophomore English and only remember a couple scenes but none of the themes" kind of way.
Every character is detestable and we're led to believe our MC is the only 'normal' one but she's just as stupid as the rest of them but with the 'not like other girls' flavor of superiority complex while everyone else has the 'rich bitch' superiority complex. The MC is dumb enough to record a podcast where she verbally accuses someone of murder when there's only a scrap of cloth and four feet between her and said potential murderer.
The beauty of Beauty Queens is everyone starts off being portrayed as annoying and privileged but over the course of the story we see more depth in them and grow to enjoy them all while laughing at the satirical elements and silly over the top commercials. This book tries to do almost the same thing down to having satirical commercials but the two dimensional characters devolve into one dimension instead of growing and the commercials add nothing except cringe (seriously your brand is going to run a coupon code that directly says someone is a murderer???)
This is truly uninspired and lazy. Just go watch a Fyre Fest documentary and read Beauty Queens instead. Maybe even dust off your old copy of Lord of the Flies because I think people need a refresher on what that book is actually about....