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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
fast-paced
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
Quick read, pretty dark. I don’t know enough about the Bible to get all the references but they’re there
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow, what a read! A chilling, laser focused look at a society of young people facing ecological collapse. I’m not always big on present-day dystopia but this book handles it with such ease and attention to detail that I could not put it down. It also has some beautiful passages about mortality and collective responsibility to the world around you.
I did feel like the end was quite abrupt and left me with a lot of questions - who was the Owner? How did she know all that she did? What happened to Burl and the Angels? It left me wanting more, which I guess is a testament to the writing.
I did feel like the end was quite abrupt and left me with a lot of questions - who was the Owner? How did she know all that she did? What happened to Burl and the Angels? It left me wanting more, which I guess is a testament to the writing.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this a little more than I did, but I still appreciated the beautiful writing, allegory, themes, and disillusioned narrator. I just found some parts of the plot itself a bit too slow where it didn’t feel consistent with the mood of the circumstances. However, for such a short book with well structured sentences and descriptions, it didn’t matter too much.
A potentially interesting premise that doesn't stick the landing. Everything is clearly meant to be highly metaphorical, so none of the characters read like real people (the narrator appears to be sometimes 7 and sometimes 17. It's not clear if this is intentional or if the writers just doesn't actually know any teenagers) or react in ways that are really plausible. If you let go of how preposterous it all is and read it as basically a mythological story, it is more digestible.
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Ugh, I figured a National Book Award nominee with teenage protagonists in a doomsday scenario would be right up my alley, but this was painful. A biblical allegory combined with jaded, hypocritical teens, precocious children, and parents who have fallen straight into Sodom and Gomorrah. The book tackles issues of climate change, family disconnectedness, and wealth, but mostly presents adulthood as a sickness, a morally bankrupt condition. These teens swear they'll never be like their parents, but also want access to pot, cell phones, and swanky guest houses. The narrator's voice is so infuriatingly blase as the main character Eve that it's almost impossible to get into the book--I can't believe I listened to the whole thing.