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toyin_'s review
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.0
book 1 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beautiful slowburn with playing with storytelling. We get glimpses into the past through memory and letters. I really liked the premise of new york as a state of its own home to well-to-do queers and the not so much. I liked the political elements in this world as well. My favourite part was david. How his isolation was built through how he relates to his siblings, to his grandad, his illness and how he sees his lack of (productive) value as a failing and a major cause for his middling life. There's something clever about capitalism and ableism there. His "illness" being directly affected by others when he lives such a lonely life. delicious. How he felt he just spends time alone encouraging time to pass until he meets Edward. Then it feeling too good to be true. The way that then his grandfather tries to speak to an infatuated David about what he found. All too good. I wish there was more.
Beautiful slowburn with playing with storytelling. We get glimpses into the past through memory and letters. I really liked the premise of new york as a state of its own home to well-to-do queers and the not so much. I liked the political elements in this world as well. My favourite part was david. How his isolation was built through how he relates to his siblings, to his grandad, his illness and how he sees his lack of (productive) value as a failing and a major cause for his middling life. There's something clever about capitalism and ableism there. His "illness" being directly affected by others when he lives such a lonely life. delicious. How he felt he just spends time alone encouraging time to pass until he meets Edward. Then it feeling too good to be true. The way that then his grandfather tries to speak to an infatuated David about what he found. All too good. I wish there was more.
book 2 ⭐️⭐️
Dragged so much. Both the dad and son were really grating. The dad I could not begin to care. Although it was about how Hawaii was held back by America and class. All of these things interesting. The way it was presented was not to my taste. Too much winding around topics and retelling. There was something interesting about the developmental delay and how he was purposeless but doing that to your son. No wonder David wanted to leave him. Passivity was apparent in this one. But I think because I, not only did not like those characters but I was uninterested - It was a drag.
book 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Engaging. Much more than both previous books combined. It being based around a pandemic and an authoritarian state, which one of our protagonists has a hand in developing and creating. This started with a choice of a particular job over his family's joy. to leaving Hawaii for America. and ended with that family becoming a casualty to that job, those choices. the other protagonist, Charlie, being sterile, cognitively changed by the drugs that cured the illness. Making her incredibly vulnerable and literal. unable to see the nuances of things (similar to the father in the 2nd part of book 2). Her unimaginative way of seeing the word making her unreliable as a narrator. And vulnerable to easily falling in line with the ruling of the state. That her grandfather's valuing his intelligence and ego has lead to the diminishing of hers. The regret and horror charles had watching as he realised how he had not only destroyed his family but all other families like him. Something interesting how queerness becomes recriminalised and how charles' experience in the book mirrors that of David with Charles in book 2. How charlie being the way (overly obedient, with blinders around her granddad) she is is why she can love Charles fully. It could have been a touch shorter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Homophobia
Moderate: Rape
rickle400's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I’m always impressed with the underlying heart filled message of human tenacity that is so characteristic of this writer (and what called me back to her writing) While this book continues to be true to that style, it is too long and lacks the depth I expected. The plot is very dragged out and some of the more complex details of world building needed more development in my opinion. For the length and patience required to complete this book im not sure I’d recommend :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, and War
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Child death
hollyenglish's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The writing is beautiful but ultimately I just found this book deeply frustrating. Go into this book knowing you will not get all the answers you might want. I also found the repeated character names across the stories added needless confusion.
I think most reviews I've seen thought the second story was the worst one but that was probably my favourite. I much preferred the first two to the final story in the volume. Maybe I just wasn't ready to read about pandemics though! The author certainly does a good job describing a dystopian future.
I think most reviews I've seen thought the second story was the worst one but that was probably my favourite. I much preferred the first two to the final story in the volume. Maybe I just wasn't ready to read about pandemics though! The author certainly does a good job describing a dystopian future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Grief
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia
Minor: Rape
donutlookaway's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Homophobia and Chronic illness
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Rape, and Suicide
wormgirl's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, and Death of parent
erebus53's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
CW: pandemic, lab testing on animals, armed police, dystopia, military law, radicalisation/terrorism, chronic illness, seizures, environmental destruction, arranged marriage, internment camps etc.
Spanning roughly 200 hundred years this is a book about a world similar to our own but subtly different. It starts in the 1890s in an America which has some areas where it is legal to marry anyone you wish. It discusses 1990s in the same place only with a backdrop of the looming spectre of HIV. The final part is in the 2090s after waves of pandemics have changed the face of the First World into a dystopian vision of strict controls and segregation.
The book discusses health and frailty, chronic illness, being gay, the idea of inheritance and Legacy, life and treatment of migrants of ethnic minority, and love, feud, vulnerability, and .. people being people.
When I got the audiobook I had no idea it was such a long read (over 900 pages or 28+hours in the Audiobook) but the story wasn't really slow.. it just had a LOT in it. It seemed a poetic decision to have a recurring set of names and places. Partly this was to reinforce the continuity of lineage, inheritance and flow of time. Looking at things from different cultural perspectives over time highlights the changes caused by the passage of time, but also the similarities.
This book is artful and tells the stories within it through letters, memories, and stories told to others. It leans hard into the Hawaiian / Pacific Islands' oral tradition, and also highlights the place of those shared stories we tell each other, and how they cement families and communities. It also shows how that knowledge can be so fragile and be lost to time when ideas are not shared or if they cannot be passed on well.
This story starts as a piece of historical speculative fiction, but the latter parts of the book are set in a police state. Published in 2022, this book clearly channels a lot of the common ground we have experienced in the face of global pandemic. Freedom of information, and the radicalisation of rebels and conspiracy theorists against government control, are sympathetically highlighted by the use of main characters on both sides of the fence, one working for the government to limit the casualties of disease, and one fighting against government misinformation and lack of social freedoms.
For all the big ideas, the thing that really sells this whole book to me is the solid characters. The feelings expressed and the stuff they are going through really resonate with me. A number of the characters over the span of the book deal with anxiety, trauma and chronic physical illness. The relationships formed are often oddly unbalanced, either due to finances, physical/emotional frailty, or even just charisma, and the problems those couples have feel very real to me.
I could go on, but it would be too much. The characters were believable and human, and representation of disability and mental illness was relatable. The discussion of migrants and ethnic minority was an element I valued, and I loved that with the use of Hawaiian language I could still pick up one word in three due to its similarity with te reo Māori (which I only have a very basic familiarity with). This was a really good book, and I should have read it last year.
Spanning roughly 200 hundred years this is a book about a world similar to our own but subtly different. It starts in the 1890s in an America which has some areas where it is legal to marry anyone you wish. It discusses 1990s in the same place only with a backdrop of the looming spectre of HIV. The final part is in the 2090s after waves of pandemics have changed the face of the First World into a dystopian vision of strict controls and segregation.
The book discusses health and frailty, chronic illness, being gay, the idea of inheritance and Legacy, life and treatment of migrants of ethnic minority, and love, feud, vulnerability, and .. people being people.
When I got the audiobook I had no idea it was such a long read (over 900 pages or 28+hours in the Audiobook) but the story wasn't really slow.. it just had a LOT in it. It seemed a poetic decision to have a recurring set of names and places. Partly this was to reinforce the continuity of lineage, inheritance and flow of time. Looking at things from different cultural perspectives over time highlights the changes caused by the passage of time, but also the similarities.
This book is artful and tells the stories within it through letters, memories, and stories told to others. It leans hard into the Hawaiian / Pacific Islands' oral tradition, and also highlights the place of those shared stories we tell each other, and how they cement families and communities. It also shows how that knowledge can be so fragile and be lost to time when ideas are not shared or if they cannot be passed on well.
This story starts as a piece of historical speculative fiction, but the latter parts of the book are set in a police state. Published in 2022, this book clearly channels a lot of the common ground we have experienced in the face of global pandemic. Freedom of information, and the radicalisation of rebels and conspiracy theorists against government control, are sympathetically highlighted by the use of main characters on both sides of the fence, one working for the government to limit the casualties of disease, and one fighting against government misinformation and lack of social freedoms.
For all the big ideas, the thing that really sells this whole book to me is the solid characters. The feelings expressed and the stuff they are going through really resonate with me. A number of the characters over the span of the book deal with anxiety, trauma and chronic physical illness. The relationships formed are often oddly unbalanced, either due to finances, physical/emotional frailty, or even just charisma, and the problems those couples have feel very real to me.
I could go on, but it would be too much. The characters were believable and human, and representation of disability and mental illness was relatable. The discussion of migrants and ethnic minority was an element I valued, and I loved that with the use of Hawaiian language I could still pick up one word in three due to its similarity with te reo Māori (which I only have a very basic familiarity with). This was a really good book, and I should have read it last year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Homophobia, Ableism, Cannibalism, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Violence, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Infertility, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, and Rape
Minor: Alcohol
sissiisreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Ableism, Death, War, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death of parent, Deportation, Police brutality, Rape, and Homophobia
sienneis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Racism
Minor: Rape
rachaelwho's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Could've used a firmer editor. Lots of unnecessary repetition, and a dickensian tendency to over-describe everything. Would've been more impactful, I think, at about a third shorter.
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Police brutality, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Hate crime, Sexual content, Slavery, Colonisation, Medical content, Sexism, Ableism, Death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Animal death, Chronic illness, Infertility, Rape, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and War
ame_lepage's review
slow-paced
2.25
This was one of the most painful reading experiences ever.
This book was just so not for me.
I have considerable eco-anxiety, and this book triggered me pretty badly (especially the third book). I was definitely not having a great time, and while I understand that it's important to know what will happen if we don't do anything about climate change, this was just too much for me.
I also think the idea behind this story might have been too ambitious. There was basically no connection between the three books (and if there was, it was never stated explicitly and you were left to figure it out on your own, which in some cases work, but it didn't in this one), which made me wonder what was the point of the book. I also felt like the author was withholding information about the world purposely just for the shock factor, which is not something that works well, in my opinion. I still have too many questions after finishing the book.
I also feel like the author might have taken the open endings too far. We never know how the first and the third book finish, which was so unsatisfying (especially when you stick through a 700 hundred-pages book in the hopes of having some kind of conclusion).
I do have to say the Book 2, Part 2 was great. I even cried at the end and for me, it was the highlight of the book. However, apart from that, it was unfortunately a miss for me.
This book was just so not for me.
I have considerable eco-anxiety, and this book triggered me pretty badly (especially the third book). I was definitely not having a great time, and while I understand that it's important to know what will happen if we don't do anything about climate change, this was just too much for me.
I also think the idea behind this story might have been too ambitious. There was basically no connection between the three books (and if there was, it was never stated explicitly and you were left to figure it out on your own, which in some cases work, but it didn't in this one), which made me wonder what was the point of the book. I also felt like the author was withholding information about the world purposely just for the shock factor, which is not something that works well, in my opinion. I still have too many questions after finishing the book.
I also feel like the author might have taken the open endings too far. We never know how the first and the third book finish, which was so unsatisfying (especially when you stick through a 700 hundred-pages book in the hopes of having some kind of conclusion).
I do have to say the Book 2, Part 2 was great. I even cried at the end and for me, it was the highlight of the book. However, apart from that, it was unfortunately a miss for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Homophobia, and Infertility
Moderate: Rape