Scan barcode
moocowimpi's review against another edition
2.0
This is a difficult book to review. There were parts that were excellent and other parts that were just plain confusing.
I really do not have much more to say. Give it a read and tell me if I am crazy.
I really do not have much more to say. Give it a read and tell me if I am crazy.
cwebb's review against another edition
3.0
Nicht ganz so gut wie The Road aber nicht schlecht
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/far-north-marcel-theroux/
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/far-north-marcel-theroux/
suzemo's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this. I liked it better than 3 stars, but it didn't quite hit the 4 star mark for me.
It's a first person narrative in a post-apocalyptic landscape. I tend to prefer first person perspectives in PA (and dystopian, which this is assuredly not) because seeing this world through the eyes of someone struggling through it makes it feel stronger much of the time.
There isn't a whole lot of plot, but the descriptions are wonderful and clean. This book is not overly wordy, doesn't have complicated language because it's told from the viewpoint of a survivor. Someone who saw the end of the plentiful times we lived through, but not really (Makepeace's family were living in the frontier of Far North trying to get away from the excesses of the society we live in now).
Makepeace Hatfield is the last of a survivor of a frontier town who ventures out to find something more. The landscape and life is somewhere between [b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320606344s/6288.jpg|3355573] (not as soul crushing and bleak) and Mad Max (though not quite as violent). The survival parts were interesting. Looking at how people who formerly lived in a time of plenty were faring and seeing how the more "primitive" lifestyles also fared was interesting.
I feel it is, in part, a cautionary tale of where we are heading with our excesses, over-population, and environmental destruction, It's interesting to me that I read this not long after [b:Parable of the Sower|52397|Parable of the Sower|Octavia E. Butler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312501210s/52397.jpg|59258], which takes place in what you can imagine was going on in the "civilized" lands while this is what's happening in the frontier.
There are a couple of odd turns, and there was even one thing that made me go back in the book to look for what I missed, which was a little jarring, but overall it was pretty decent.
It's a first person narrative in a post-apocalyptic landscape. I tend to prefer first person perspectives in PA (and dystopian, which this is assuredly not) because seeing this world through the eyes of someone struggling through it makes it feel stronger much of the time.
There isn't a whole lot of plot, but the descriptions are wonderful and clean. This book is not overly wordy, doesn't have complicated language because it's told from the viewpoint of a survivor. Someone who saw the end of the plentiful times we lived through, but not really (Makepeace's family were living in the frontier of Far North trying to get away from the excesses of the society we live in now).
Makepeace Hatfield is the last of a survivor of a frontier town who ventures out to find something more. The landscape and life is somewhere between [b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320606344s/6288.jpg|3355573] (not as soul crushing and bleak) and Mad Max (though not quite as violent). The survival parts were interesting. Looking at how people who formerly lived in a time of plenty were faring and seeing how the more "primitive" lifestyles also fared was interesting.
I feel it is, in part, a cautionary tale of where we are heading with our excesses, over-population, and environmental destruction, It's interesting to me that I read this not long after [b:Parable of the Sower|52397|Parable of the Sower|Octavia E. Butler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312501210s/52397.jpg|59258], which takes place in what you can imagine was going on in the "civilized" lands while this is what's happening in the frontier.
There are a couple of odd turns, and there was even one thing that made me go back in the book to look for what I missed, which was a little jarring, but overall it was pretty decent.
arielamandah's review against another edition
3.0
3.75. This was a very readable, fast-paced book. The story carries you along and there's a good narrative arc. The book has interesting perspectives on religion, and really, any hard-line beliefs. Clearly creative and engaging. This was one book, however, where I felt like the author didn't do a great job capturing the narrator's voice, and the disconnect between a male author and a female protagonist felt extremely stark. The parts of the book that were supposed to read "feminine" felt very forced and cliched.
Overall, I have few complaints - it was a quick read and a vivid story.
(spoilers - and complaints - ahead)....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I am SO tired of female characters who can only be tough if they endure a traumatic experience. Can't we be resilient without being raped or doused in acid? There were also so many throw-away pieces in which Theroux tries to "feminize" Makepeace that felt awfully awkward. There was a particular reference to the fact that she felt soft or empathetic to someone, and that she suspected it was due to her "woman-ness" (or some such)... eye roll. Can't we, as humans, also experience empathy and be kind? The way the book ended with her pregnancy was also a cop-out to me, felt rushed, and didn't seem aligned with the character we'd gotten to know throughout. It was as if Theroux wasn't sure how to wrap things up so he went down a cliched path.
Overall, I have few complaints - it was a quick read and a vivid story.
(spoilers - and complaints - ahead)....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I am SO tired of female characters who can only be tough if they endure a traumatic experience. Can't we be resilient without being raped or doused in acid? There were also so many throw-away pieces in which Theroux tries to "feminize" Makepeace that felt awfully awkward. There was a particular reference to the fact that she felt soft or empathetic to someone, and that she suspected it was due to her "woman-ness" (or some such)... eye roll. Can't we, as humans, also experience empathy and be kind? The way the book ended with her pregnancy was also a cop-out to me, felt rushed, and didn't seem aligned with the character we'd gotten to know throughout. It was as if Theroux wasn't sure how to wrap things up so he went down a cliched path.
coralrose's review against another edition
4.0
I'll admit, I was surprised in the third chapter when I realized that the first person voice I had started to get the swing of was not what I thought. I thought this book was excellently written. It was compelling. Living in Siberia, the protagonist lives a lonely existence which is turned upside-down by one chance accident and following act of kindness. A brutal world, an empty landscape, and yet the hope of human connection, of companionable love. In a way, this book was a nice counterpoint to Little Bee, about the strong love and friendship between women redeeming the unredeemable.
carlvjack's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book started out kinda interesting then around the halfway mark the book’s mood changed and it became something else. I knew around the 80 percent mark of the book that I was going to get an unsatisfactory ending which ended up being true.
saszito's review against another edition
4.0
Endlich mal ein Weltuntergangsroman so ganz nach meinem Geschmack. Kein Schnickschnack, kein Firlefanz. Schnörkellos und ohne viel Gedöns ist hier die Zivilisation so unprätentiös abgetreten wie sie es am wahrscheinlichsten tun wird.
http://vivaperipheria.de/frisch-gelesene-bucher-weit-im-norden/
http://vivaperipheria.de/frisch-gelesene-bucher-weit-im-norden/
cathyli116's review against another edition
3.0
i like sparse writing but not when it makes the plot confusing. and the ending. is theroux implying makepeace's child is some sort of reincarnation of ping? seems like an unfounded appeal to emotion to me
erika_is_reading's review against another edition
4.0
This was really amazing. Another post-post apocalyptic scenario: not about the actual event (Blindness) or about the immediate aftermath of rebuilding (Footfall), but really the world that comes next (Book of Eli, The Road, if I can mix my media). Central character was very well drawn, I thought, though Karl and I disagreed on the believability of the voice, my thinking was the reveal in the third chapter proves the writer knows what he was doing and wanted to prove that this was deliberately ambiguous and not poor craft. And with a name like Makepeace? Uplifting and hopeful, in a sense, I think, if the end of things makes people's best and worst natures come out, then the story tells us that there are no real surprises. History repeats itself.