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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I picked up Gwendolyn Kiste's The Rust Maidens expected a steampunk tale of young women pushing back against the system (you know the punk in the name) what I got instead was beautifully crafted dark contemporary faery tale set in an industrial wasteland of America's Cleveland. Of Phoebe returning to the city she had left 28 years ago but just as "cold as a broken promise, and just as cruel" to help her mother pack the last bit that remains of her childhood home.
But its the story of five teenage girls, 28 years ago and their changes and the reactions of all those around them told through the voice and eyes of their contemporary at the time Phoebe.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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:
Yes
i want to turn into rust only to realise that the rust is a pedagogical metaphor to the people around me, showing them that even i, a teenage girl, have hopes and dreams
ok in all seriousness i love this new favourite book
ok in all seriousness i love this new favourite book
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Creepy, sad, and strange.
Spoiler
Perhaps the oddest part of this book is the way it never gives us anything of Phoebe's life from 18 to 46. We know she left home, and that she didn't go to Case Western, but nothing else - and nothing from those 28 years, more than half of her life, seems to have made any impact on her at all. She doesn't seem to have left anything - or anyone - behind to return to Cleveland in the 2008 part of the story. This makes her seem almost as alien as the Rust Maidens - like she's been held in abeyance all this time, frozen and waiting. I don't know what to make of it, any more than I know what to make of the rest of this haunting story.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's exactly the kind of book I love, it's strange and weird and odd things are going on that are hard to explain. It's probably not for everyone, but I can't get it out of my head which means its a 5 star for me.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I kind of wish this had been more of a novella as I felt it dragged just a little bit in the middle but I still really enjoyed it and thought it was really unusual which I love.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Like The Virgin Suicides if the Lisbon girls told their own story and were also afflicted by a strange disease and also it's not that tragic and actually very lovely and hopeful?