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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
Highly recommend listening to this as an audiobook - Dion Graham’s reading was phenomenal!
3.5 Stars. The first part especially felt slow to me, but it hit its stride in the last two.
adventurous
emotional
tense
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
I really wanted to enjoy this one. Everyone loves Colson Whitehead, but while I enjoyed The Underground Railroad, this and The Nickel Boys left me a bit wanting. I did really like the atmosphere of the book. It definitely made you feel you were in the time and place. But in the end it felt more and more like the story had ADHD.
I liked the start of the story- a heist gone wrong. Given library deadlines, I then tried to listen to the audiobook on a long drive and felt I wasn't absorbing it and had no clue what was going on- do not recommend the audiobook. I then had to wait to finish it until I got another copy. Finally reading it again I could see why I thought it had jumped around. The narrative starts in one direction and then digresses to either give a flashback or flashforward without really any indication, then comes back to where it was and then keeps jumping around.
I felt thus was also the opposite of a plot driven novel. The plot had potential, but the writing digressed so much it felt it was just a tool so the author could write about other historical events. It was driven more by the main character, but even he was not super developed.
Not a bad read, I just wish it stuck more to the story and that that story had more energy. I also wish I knew more about Harlem, but liked reading about it.
I liked the start of the story- a heist gone wrong. Given library deadlines, I then tried to listen to the audiobook on a long drive and felt I wasn't absorbing it and had no clue what was going on- do not recommend the audiobook. I then had to wait to finish it until I got another copy. Finally reading it again I could see why I thought it had jumped around. The narrative starts in one direction and then digresses to either give a flashback or flashforward without really any indication, then comes back to where it was and then keeps jumping around.
I felt thus was also the opposite of a plot driven novel. The plot had potential, but the writing digressed so much it felt it was just a tool so the author could write about other historical events. It was driven more by the main character, but even he was not super developed.
Not a bad read, I just wish it stuck more to the story and that that story had more energy. I also wish I knew more about Harlem, but liked reading about it.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a disappointment after Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys.