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willowthebitchette's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
stanuris's review against another edition
3.0
Cooles Thema, seltsam umgesetzt. Acht Terranauten werden für zwei Jahre unter einer gewaltigen Glaskuppel eingeschlossen und testen das Leben in einer neuen Ökosphäre. Ein Drittel des Buches dreht sich nur darum, wer was mit wem hat und irgendwie sind alle auch noch unsympathisch oder handeln komisch. Die zweite Hälfte des zu langen Buchs ist jedenfalls besser, da schafft Boyle abwechslungsreichere Konflikte.
ctep's review against another edition
3.0
I was quite eager to get this book in my hot little hands and was quite surprised to know that it was told from alternating points of view. You basically get 3 characters: Dawn, Ramsay and Linda.
The beginning of the novel we get the run down of the characters and the positions available in the actual E2 enclosure. I really wished with all the nicknames and job descriptions that there was a chart to reference. I know the author thought it will help legitimize the characters if they have nicknames and the like but it just complicated the characters more instead of adding depth. The from there it came off as Dawn was the shallowest of the characters. There was no real fire, no depth in her plight, so when she decided to spend extended time in E2 I wasn't sold. On the other hand her supposed best friend Linda was really whiny and I couldn't wait to get past her chapters.
I enjoyed the book but I felt that we didn't get a real exploration of the world, or the true purpose behind it, and there's no one I would really recommend it to at its 600 pages.
The beginning of the novel we get the run down of the characters and the positions available in the actual E2 enclosure. I really wished with all the nicknames and job descriptions that there was a chart to reference. I know the author thought it will help legitimize the characters if they have nicknames and the like but it just complicated the characters more instead of adding depth. The from there it came off as Dawn was the shallowest of the characters. There was no real fire, no depth in her plight, so when she decided to spend extended time in E2 I wasn't sold. On the other hand her supposed best friend Linda was really whiny and I couldn't wait to get past her chapters.
I enjoyed the book but I felt that we didn't get a real exploration of the world, or the true purpose behind it, and there's no one I would really recommend it to at its 600 pages.
pam_fuze's review against another edition
3.0
Well I'm such a big fan of TC Boyle's early work, but his books just seem to get duller. The storyline could actually have been great, but at 533 pages long, his developmental editor really should have had a word. Lose 200 pages, and give it some character development beyond stereotypes, and he'd be onto a winner.
whippycleric's review
emotional
reflective
slow-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
3.0
When I picked this up on the bookshop the premise looked very interesting, unfortunately my bookshop is a bit of a Faraday cage so it's not possible to check online reviews as you shop. Overall I found this book perfectly fine, definitely not as bad as some reviewers have said,but it is quite slow and doesn't have a substantial plot. The writing itself though was nice, and very easy to read, and whilst none of the characters were particularly loveable I didn't hate them all either. This is a meh book, a perfectly pleasant way to kill time but in a month I won't remember much of the plot at all. I'm willing to read some of T. C. Boyle other work since based on reviews this looks like a bit of an outlier
ginger_curmudgeon's review against another edition
2.0
I finally finished this, and I’m disappointed that I didn’t like it more. I had high hopes because it’s TC Boyle, but I feel letdown.
The characters are all awful people. I know that’s intentional, but there’s not a single redeeming quality. I had hopes for a couple of characters, but they all suck. Dawn gave me the most hope for a while, but she is truly selfish, and focused on her celebrity. Her awful choices negatively impact others, but she doesn’t care. Ramsay is a bit of a player, but when you think he might get better, he doesn’t. He’s a douchebag all along. He agrees to something he doesn’t want to do, but then bails at the last second leaving several people in a lurch. Linda is possibly the worst. Everything is about her from the start. She doesn’t have a bone in her body that isn’t selfish. I groaned when I saw the final chapter was her point of view.
I’m typically a fan of literary fiction, but this was a slog at times. There are chapters where the detail is too much. Maybe it helps show how awful the characters are, but it made me put the book down a few times. The last 75 - 100 pages were especially slow for me. I just didn’t care anymore.
There are some things that happen that feel kind of over the top. You start to think that it can’t keep happening, but then another decision comes along. Instead of feeling like it’s too much, it actually makes sense here. These people don’t know how to function as a team, their choices show that. I think everything that happens further evidences that fact. I think it also shows the ugly side of our society - self-serving, celebrity driven, manipulative, and back-stabbing.
I didn’t completely hate this. I did appreciate the writing style most of the time, and I enjoyed the fictional version of Biosphere 2.
The characters are all awful people. I know that’s intentional, but there’s not a single redeeming quality. I had hopes for a couple of characters, but they all suck. Dawn gave me the most hope for a while, but she is truly selfish, and focused on her celebrity. Her awful choices negatively impact others, but she doesn’t care. Ramsay is a bit of a player, but when you think he might get better, he doesn’t. He’s a douchebag all along. He agrees to something he doesn’t want to do, but then bails at the last second leaving several people in a lurch. Linda is possibly the worst. Everything is about her from the start. She doesn’t have a bone in her body that isn’t selfish. I groaned when I saw the final chapter was her point of view.
I’m typically a fan of literary fiction, but this was a slog at times. There are chapters where the detail is too much. Maybe it helps show how awful the characters are, but it made me put the book down a few times. The last 75 - 100 pages were especially slow for me. I just didn’t care anymore.
There are some things that happen that feel kind of over the top. You start to think that it can’t keep happening, but then another decision comes along. Instead of feeling like it’s too much, it actually makes sense here. These people don’t know how to function as a team, their choices show that. I think everything that happens further evidences that fact. I think it also shows the ugly side of our society - self-serving, celebrity driven, manipulative, and back-stabbing.
I didn’t completely hate this. I did appreciate the writing style most of the time, and I enjoyed the fictional version of Biosphere 2.
wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition
1.0
They say never judge a book by its cover, while this cover gives nothing the adage should also run to 'never believe the quotes printed on the cover'. For example where it says "Lord of the Flies meets Hunger Games," I can safely reassure you that this story has no relation to either title. Excitement? Thrills? Fight for survival? Humour? I'll save you the bother of reading these 500+ dull pages to and tell you this story stocks none of these things.
The story cycles through three of these 'Terranauts' on their 2-year journey starting before the selection process and ending at the beginning of the next 2-year phase. Firstly there's Dawn, who's probably the more likable of the bunch but has almost no personality to speak of. Then there's Ramsey, a complete jackass who has no good qualities at all, but is at least more charismatic than Dawn. Finally there's Lindy. Bloody Linda. She's the worst. A character so bad she didn't even get into E2 but we get to see her point of view as a disgruntled asshole on the outside. I hated her third of the book more than the rest.
Oh yeah, there were 6 other characters in E2, but they're mostly relegated to the background and were also not likable.
This story also promises satire and humour. I suppose this is a reasonably accurate satirical look on how such an enterprise would go down, but, like with the real world equivalent Big Brother was immensely boring and stocked with the worst that humanity has to offer.
This story was heavily influenced by the efforts of Biosphere 2 of 1991 to 1995 a real-world effort to house 8 people in a closed-system ecosphere for 2 years. Many of the events and pitfalls surrounding this enterprise has found their way into this book, making me wonder how this can be classified as science fiction, and not just fiction...
So, boring, not what was promised, terrible characters and just read the Wikipedia page on Biosphere 2.
The story cycles through three of these 'Terranauts' on their 2-year journey starting before the selection process and ending at the beginning of the next 2-year phase. Firstly there's Dawn, who's probably the more likable of the bunch but has almost no personality to speak of. Then there's Ramsey, a complete jackass who has no good qualities at all, but is at least more charismatic than Dawn. Finally there's Lindy. Bloody Linda. She's the worst. A character so bad she didn't even get into E2 but we get to see her point of view as a disgruntled asshole on the outside. I hated her third of the book more than the rest.
Oh yeah, there were 6 other characters in E2, but they're mostly relegated to the background and were also not likable.
This story also promises satire and humour. I suppose this is a reasonably accurate satirical look on how such an enterprise would go down, but, like with the real world equivalent Big Brother was immensely boring and stocked with the worst that humanity has to offer.
This story was heavily influenced by the efforts of Biosphere 2 of 1991 to 1995 a real-world effort to house 8 people in a closed-system ecosphere for 2 years. Many of the events and pitfalls surrounding this enterprise has found their way into this book, making me wonder how this can be classified as science fiction, and not just fiction...
So, boring, not what was promised, terrible characters and just read the Wikipedia page on Biosphere 2.
molaviola's review against another edition
3.0
Es hält einen bei der Stange auch wenn es einem irgendwann gehörig auf die Nerven geht...