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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
I did not like this book. At all. The characters were unbelievable and the diction ridiculous. Kwon really lost me when Will thought about his girlfriend (with the flu and on her period) as the “bleeding, feverish creature I didn’t know how to stop wanting.” This tried too hard to be clever and poetic. Also, was she alluding to Fight Club at the end when saying maybe John Leal wasn’t real? That’s been done and done much better.
There were a lot of things that disappointed me about this book:
1) The writing style. There was a lot of confusion as to who was speaking since the writing style of this author didn't include quotations and a lot of fragmented sentences.
2) The fact that this story might as well have been told just from Will's perspective considering he was the only one narrating majority of the time and because I didn't understand the perspectives of John Leal or Phoebe. Maybe this is just me and I didn't analyze or use better comprehension of the novel.
3) Why the heck did the plot not actually get to the book up until the last 30 pages? The first 160 are all about how Will is so crazy about Phoebe and his concern and blah, blah, blah. I was bored up until past halfway through the book.
4) The hype was just not worth it. I liked the overall premise of the story and the idea but the fact that it didn't come until much later in the book and you have to go through over 100 pages of dull, was extremely frustrating. This was supposed to be one of the "best new fall reads of 2018" or something of that sort.
A lot of disappointment.
1) The writing style. There was a lot of confusion as to who was speaking since the writing style of this author didn't include quotations and a lot of fragmented sentences.
2) The fact that this story might as well have been told just from Will's perspective considering he was the only one narrating majority of the time and because I didn't understand the perspectives of John Leal or Phoebe. Maybe this is just me and I didn't analyze or use better comprehension of the novel.
3) Why the heck did the plot not actually get to the book up until the last 30 pages? The first 160 are all about how Will is so crazy about Phoebe and his concern and blah, blah, blah. I was bored up until past halfway through the book.
4) The hype was just not worth it. I liked the overall premise of the story and the idea but the fact that it didn't come until much later in the book and you have to go through over 100 pages of dull, was extremely frustrating. This was supposed to be one of the "best new fall reads of 2018" or something of that sort.
A lot of disappointment.
4.5 stars. Fascinating book, and one that I didn't think hard enough about as I was reading it. The plot is propulsive, so I kept reading obsessively, without really focusing on the huge ideas Kwon embeds in that plot. I have issues in some places; one of the central characters is less developed than I would like, but I'm pretty sure that was the author's intent. I'd like to come back and read this one again--more slowly.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this is getting made into a miniseries and i am DYING to see it, but it's STILL in pre-production, WHAT are they DOING, i CANNOT wait, START CASTING PEOPLE NOWWWWWW!!!!
(great book btw)
(great book btw)
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story is about Will, a former fervent Christian who lost his faith in God, and his obsession with Phoebe, his girlfriend who becomes enmeshed in a cult. Well written and character driven. I liked that this book was short and made every word pull its weight.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is Kwon exploring how close faith and doubt are. Prose is acrobatic but it fails as a multi-voice as Will is much more developed than other characters and his sections were the only ones I was drawn to.