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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In the time it took me to read a little over three hundred pages, I felt as though I lived another life. As our protagonist, the alien Adina, loved and learned and lost, I was right beside her journey, experiencing what I think will end up as one of my favorite books I've read in recent memory.
Beautyland is certainly different in style and presentation. The present tense of everything was initially jarring, but I quickly adapted and was enthralled by the simplistic, yet still deep and reflective nature of Adina's story. I was left with many answers and several questions, and though I find ambiguous endings to sometimes be frustrating or deflating, I still adored the journey I took through the life of an Earth-born alien.
If I had an issue with this book, it's solely that I wish a clearer sense of time was present. Cultural references and technological upgrades to Adina's life sometimes present themselves earlier or later than I expected, and it took a moment to 'catch up' as to where we were in the timeline. This is an very minor and picky point, however. Beautyland is a marvel, a deeply personal and almost haunting look at the sensations of being human, the feeling of other-ness, and the wonderful and painful connections we make and break with one another.
Beautyland is certainly different in style and presentation. The present tense of everything was initially jarring, but I quickly adapted and was enthralled by the simplistic, yet still deep and reflective nature of Adina's story. I was left with many answers and several questions, and though I find ambiguous endings to sometimes be frustrating or deflating, I still adored the journey I took through the life of an Earth-born alien.
If I had an issue with this book, it's solely that I wish a clearer sense of time was present. Cultural references and technological upgrades to Adina's life sometimes present themselves earlier or later than I expected, and it took a moment to 'catch up' as to where we were in the timeline. This is an very minor and picky point, however. Beautyland is a marvel, a deeply personal and almost haunting look at the sensations of being human, the feeling of other-ness, and the wonderful and painful connections we make and break with one another.
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved this one so much I had to go back and read the last few pages multiple times to savour the feeling
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Grief
This book is not particularly happy, with strong themes around alienation, loneliness, and grief. There is bullying that may resonate particularly strongly with individuals who are autistic and were bullied in ways they struggled to understand early on. Nearer to the end, there is additionally a very prominent section where the main character grieves both a pet and a friend's deaths with self-isolation, depression, lack of appetite, and more.
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Adina's alien status becomes parallel to the human experience. Her communication via fax an expression of poetry. She observes life as is goes by and as she grows up she chooses to engage, and finds her self alone.
slow-paced
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
This. Was. Terrific. Honestly one of the most enjoyable reads of the year so far for me, and I read it in one six hour sitting. I laughed. I cried. I reflected. The prose is GORGEOUS.
This novel is a mixture of science and psychological fiction... soooo... right up my alley. The novel spans the entirety of Adina's (main character) life span. She is an alien sent to Earth from birth to write to her superiors back on her home planet to describe the human condition and help them decide if life on Earth would be viable for them. Adina walks the line between feeling like a human girl and an alien completely out of place throughout the entire novel, which is something I think we all can relate to at different points of our lives. Otherness is a central theme of the novel, and an execution of that theme that rivals some of the greatest "outsider" type novels. Bertino explored a whole range of life experiences and emotions through the lens of a perfectly outwardly "normal" person: grief, longing, loneliness, joy, apathy. Just wow.
It's hard to put how much I love this novel into words, but Bertino, you have yourself a fan for life.
This novel is a mixture of science and psychological fiction... soooo... right up my alley. The novel spans the entirety of Adina's (main character) life span. She is an alien sent to Earth from birth to write to her superiors back on her home planet to describe the human condition and help them decide if life on Earth would be viable for them. Adina walks the line between feeling like a human girl and an alien completely out of place throughout the entire novel, which is something I think we all can relate to at different points of our lives. Otherness is a central theme of the novel, and an execution of that theme that rivals some of the greatest "outsider" type novels. Bertino explored a whole range of life experiences and emotions through the lens of a perfectly outwardly "normal" person: grief, longing, loneliness, joy, apathy. Just wow.
It's hard to put how much I love this novel into words, but Bertino, you have yourself a fan for life.