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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
"I'll race you to the sun."
What a story. A tale of friendship and agency written just a handful of years before the United States Supreme Court would strip the rights to bodily autonomy from its citizens.
So much of this hit home. The casual misogyny from blue collar workers, their treatment of "inconvenient" women. The inability to stop change in its tracks. The utter helplessness of watching a friend suffer. It all came together to build an inescapable frustration that didn't let up and left me crying over the credits.
Kiste has crafted such full characters. Our protagonist, Phoebe, is an incredible being: courageous, willing to speak her mind, but still so full of guilt and shame. She is so obviously a hero, yet she suffers the same as the rest of us. Plagued by self-doubt in two timelines, she is both relatable and inspirational. I would kill to get a coffee with her--or a thermos full of whatever she's knabbed from her parents' liquor cabinet!
All of the characters feel this developed. The rust maidens themselves are all three-dimensional, and never does it feel overwhelming. You're sucked into this world, an almost dystopian view of Cleveland, filtered through the eyes of those trapped in it. Lesser authors would struggle to build this feeling over a thousand pages; Kiste succeeds in 250.
I can't wait to read her other stories!
What a story. A tale of friendship and agency written just a handful of years before the United States Supreme Court would strip the rights to bodily autonomy from its citizens.
So much of this hit home. The casual misogyny from blue collar workers, their treatment of "inconvenient" women. The inability to stop change in its tracks. The utter helplessness of watching a friend suffer. It all came together to build an inescapable frustration that didn't let up and left me crying over the credits.
Kiste has crafted such full characters. Our protagonist, Phoebe, is an incredible being: courageous, willing to speak her mind, but still so full of guilt and shame. She is so obviously a hero, yet she suffers the same as the rest of us. Plagued by self-doubt in two timelines, she is both relatable and inspirational. I would kill to get a coffee with her--or a thermos full of whatever she's knabbed from her parents' liquor cabinet!
All of the characters feel this developed. The rust maidens themselves are all three-dimensional, and never does it feel overwhelming. You're sucked into this world, an almost dystopian view of Cleveland, filtered through the eyes of those trapped in it. Lesser authors would struggle to build this feeling over a thousand pages; Kiste succeeds in 250.
I can't wait to read her other stories!
He disfrutado este libro, pocas veces me he encontrado con una historia oscura, inquietante y bella al mismo tiempo. Para mi, lo mejor de todo, son los múltiples temas de transfondo: el significado de al alcanzar la madurez, el rechazo al diferente, el conformismo de la sociedad, la soledad… pero también el poder de la mujer, la rebeldía, la sororidad, la amistad inquebrantable e incondicional.
I know I didn’t give it much of a chance but if I that annoyed that quickly, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the book.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
Oh my God. This book. This BOOK. Atmospheric, gritty, sharp as broken glass. The girls are as sharp as broken glass. The girls who have too much ambition and want, the girls who survive abuse, the girls who are punished for their 'condition' while the father 'ruins' more girls without rebuke, the girls who are forcibly tied down by an empty and patriarchal religion, the girls who are forgotten and judged and 'embarrassing.' And this town-Cleveland seen through the eyes of someone whose life depends on the grit, on the chemicals, and who is brought low by that same manufacturing. Pray for the Rust Maidens.
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nothing happens, from beginning to end. It reads like a vague short story that got turned into a novel. The descriptions of the Rust Maidens are great...and that's about it. There are no scares here, very little atmosphere, and a whole lot of characters not telling each other things to keep the plot going. It alternates between flash backs (the 80s) and the present, but there's almost nothing to distinguish the two time periods. The MC doesn't change or grow one iota from her 18 year old self to her 46 year old self. She's whiny, apathetic, and grumpy the entire time.
I almost DNF because nothing changes from page to page. I decided to stick it out since the book got so many rave reviews. Then you get to the end and the big reveal is the opposite. Not much happened and it's not worth slogging through the chapters to find out. You could read a chapter from the beginning, the middle, and the end and have the entire story, without missing anything.
I've read good short stories by this author in several anthologies, so I was really surprised that this was such a flop. I won't be pursuing the authors other works. Too bad!
I almost DNF because nothing changes from page to page. I decided to stick it out since the book got so many rave reviews. Then you get to the end and the big reveal is the opposite. Not much happened and it's not worth slogging through the chapters to find out. You could read a chapter from the beginning, the middle, and the end and have the entire story, without missing anything.
I've read good short stories by this author in several anthologies, so I was really surprised that this was such a flop. I won't be pursuing the authors other works. Too bad!
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes