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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Kind of a shadowy/dreamy story with beautiful writing that fits the overall mood. An interesting retelling of a myth that captured my attention, but just a bit short of connecting with me 100%.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing style required an adjustment period, but I enjoyed it regardless. The tragedy was raw despite it being a rewrite of a classic tale.
DNF — Booker prize winning novel — just could not untangle all the rootless characters and time shifts. Probably a great book but I stalled on p 114 out of 264. Will try this again when I have an attention span.
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’m not really sure what the glowing reviews of this book are about. While the prose was at times beautiful and haunting, the plot and characters were mediocre and not fleshed out.
I felt that this story had potential and touched on interesting themes that made the Oedipus story more relevant to modern times. However, I didn’t personally feel that there was enough clarity to the way these topics were handled. Issues like postpartum depression and dementia were seemingly casually thrown around in ways that’s didn’t seem to have any cohesion. In particular, there seemed to be some glaring plot holes that took me out of the narrative.
Overall, it wasn’t a difficult or long read and I think people who generally like mystery novels might find this interesting or different.
1.75/5 stars for the plot but 3.75/5 for the writing, so I’ve rounded out to 2.75.
I felt that this story had potential and touched on interesting themes that made the Oedipus story more relevant to modern times. However, I didn’t personally feel that there was enough clarity to the way these topics were handled. Issues like postpartum depression and dementia were seemingly casually thrown around in ways that’s didn’t seem to have any cohesion. In particular, there seemed to be some glaring plot holes that took me out of the narrative.
Overall, it wasn’t a difficult or long read and I think people who generally like mystery novels might find this interesting or different.
1.75/5 stars for the plot but 3.75/5 for the writing, so I’ve rounded out to 2.75.
There isn't a lot to Everything Under. The plot is too thin and the characters too shallow to sustain a novel. With just twenty pages left to be read, I had become so ground down and uninterested that I almost stopped reading. I forced myself to finish it, and, in hindsight, I would have been better off putting it down and never picking it back up again.
Johnson is clearly a talented writer of prose and I admired much of her imagery and expression. Unfortunately, these writerly flourishes are mired in a book that felt overlong at just 260 pages. The occasional pretty sentence does not compensate for a book that otherwise feels void of life and direction.
Johnson is clearly a talented writer of prose and I admired much of her imagery and expression. Unfortunately, these writerly flourishes are mired in a book that felt overlong at just 260 pages. The occasional pretty sentence does not compensate for a book that otherwise feels void of life and direction.
Meh, not for me. It's new Ali Smith - flowery, ornte, middlebrow stuff. I am at a loss to identify with the sense of place thing - having *lived* right on that stretch of the river she supposedly describes.
Dark, haunting and unsettling. I loved the change in narrative and how the different timelines merged together.
I enjoyed the language, the writing is at times lyrical and beautiful.
The book blurb sets you up for a far different story.
None of the characters were well formed or likable and as such, I didn't care for any of them. Many parts of the book were distributing and unsettling. The timeline shifts quickly and constantly. All of these things combined made the book mostly unlikeable.
The book blurb sets you up for a far different story.
None of the characters were well formed or likable and as such, I didn't care for any of them. Many parts of the book were distributing and unsettling. The timeline shifts quickly and constantly. All of these things combined made the book mostly unlikeable.
Beautiful, clever and disturbing! I love the way Daisy Johnson writes, so evocative and innovative. I really felt and understood the characters and her descriptions of place transports me right there, but I also found the sense of foreboding and confusion unsettling, I just wanted to figure it all out and work out the timelines and what happened to the characters - which is a sign of a good narrative I guess!