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spraffy's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
pixe1's review against another edition
2.0
This is not something I would normally read, except it made the ToB shortlist and to be honest, I don't really know what to think.
First, I feel like I was sucked in by the cover and a plot that promised lesbians during the apocalypse. But that turned out to be misleading. This book is really like 2 or 3 books in one. The first part of the book was pretty addictive but then all of a sudden the "apocalypse" factors in and it doesn't really work because all of a sudden the book turns META. This is a book about a writer that acknowledges the reader and it just felt jarring and divorced from the first part of the book.
Second, the main character is so unlikeable. Even during the section in San Francisco that I devoured, I actively disliked the main character and that really makes it hard to say I appreciated the book overall.
Third, it just felt like a lot of women's studies lectures were thrown in to plot. While I agreed with the ideas, they just didn't fit with the narrative.
I predicted this book would be eliminated in the first round of ToB and it was.
First, I feel like I was sucked in by the cover and a plot that promised lesbians during the apocalypse. But that turned out to be misleading. This book is really like 2 or 3 books in one. The first part of the book was pretty addictive but then all of a sudden the "apocalypse" factors in and it doesn't really work because all of a sudden the book turns META. This is a book about a writer that acknowledges the reader and it just felt jarring and divorced from the first part of the book.
Second, the main character is so unlikeable. Even during the section in San Francisco that I devoured, I actively disliked the main character and that really makes it hard to say I appreciated the book overall.
Third, it just felt like a lot of women's studies lectures were thrown in to plot. While I agreed with the ideas, they just didn't fit with the narrative.
I predicted this book would be eliminated in the first round of ToB and it was.
larrikindyke's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Book started strange, the character wasn't the most likeable initially, then the second arc of the book kicked everything into high gear and it became a wonderful read.
cuckmulligan's review against another edition
3.0
The hypothetical film adaptation of this is probably excellent. The book itself is Fine.
greghxc's review against another edition
4.0
Like so many of the last books on my list, several months with only a hundred pages down, and the remaining 200 in less than 24 hours.
I picked this up hastily from the recommendation shelf at the book store after reading a paragraph from the middle with zero context. I liked this all the way through, but after a bit of transformation at 1/3 - Book 2 - I was 100% in for wherever it was going to take me.
I picked this up hastily from the recommendation shelf at the book store after reading a paragraph from the middle with zero context. I liked this all the way through, but after a bit of transformation at 1/3 - Book 2 - I was 100% in for wherever it was going to take me.
synoptic_view's review against another edition
5.0
Strong vibes of this essay, which I think about often.
I have really been on an amazing roll of reading only really wonderful books. I am nervous now that I won't be able to keep it up!
I have really been on an amazing roll of reading only really wonderful books. I am nervous now that I won't be able to keep it up!
octavia_cade's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This is a dystopian scifi piece that in many ways feels barely science fiction at all. It's set in a world of environmental collapse, but for pretty much the entirety of the book there's no real indication that this is affecting anyone's life in any measurable way. The absence of plants and animals, for instance, has no apparent consequence on food supply, and the characters eat and drink and drug their way through the end of days with what honestly seems like limited engagement with reality. The first half of the book, especially, comes across much more as a story of a young queer woman engaging with drugs, alcohol, and sex on a near constant basis. I enjoyed reading it for the prose - which slides down very easily, but the characters and story didn't strike me as anything particularly special.
Then, halfway through the book, Michelle leaves San Francisco for Los Angeles, and the novel shifts into another gear. The apocalypse has arrived, and everyone has a relatively short time to live. There's no magic escape: death is coming on a vast scale, and mass suicides become the norm. Michelle's response to all this is calmer than might be expected from her SF dramatics. She goes about her menial job in a bookstore, in some ways coping much better than everyone around her, even when she starts sharing dreams with strangers. It's almost as if this overarching apocalypse is background noise to her attempts to get off the booze and write a book, and there's something so original about that presentation of disaster, something just plain interesting. That presentation, combined with the prose, meant that I read this in a single sitting. I didn't mean to - there's actual work I should be doing! - but, frankly, I just didn't want to stop.
Then, halfway through the book, Michelle leaves San Francisco for Los Angeles, and the novel shifts into another gear. The apocalypse has arrived, and everyone has a relatively short time to live. There's no magic escape: death is coming on a vast scale, and mass suicides become the norm. Michelle's response to all this is calmer than might be expected from her SF dramatics. She goes about her menial job in a bookstore, in some ways coping much better than everyone around her, even when she starts sharing dreams with strangers. It's almost as if this overarching apocalypse is background noise to her attempts to get off the booze and write a book, and there's something so original about that presentation of disaster, something just plain interesting. That presentation, combined with the prose, meant that I read this in a single sitting. I didn't mean to - there's actual work I should be doing! - but, frankly, I just didn't want to stop.
lpdx's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Drug use, Addiction, and Suicide
Moderate: Car accident
ikbenmerel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
3.25
Weird, yet intriguing