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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
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.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
slow-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
I don’t give a lot of five star reviews, but this book. I’ll need time to find the words.
I'll probably come back. I am just not feeling it right now.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes