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sandysmith's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Murder, Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, and Kidnapping
pagesfromhome's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
St. John Mandel does an incredible job of spanning time and characters to build a world that feels realistic and haunting at the same time. Although, I found some characters less “necessary” to the story than others, I rarely regretted the moments spent with them on the page.
I love how she toyed with the timeline of the events in the book and teased growth and hope in the perfect amount throughout the story. I’d been avoiding pandemic/dystopian fiction for a long time (for a pretty obvious reason) but I’m grateful that I dove back in with this one.
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Death
Moderate: Kidnapping and Suicide
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
mega_mikko's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Suicide and Rape
jerwoodson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
rmkg's review against another edition
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Grief, and Gun violence
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
fedorasommora's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Gun violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, and Medical trauma
joseph_fertitta's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Suicide
pacifickat's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
A lot of disappointed reviewers seemed to want this book to be more than it was, the plot to follow a traditional post-apocalyptic road narrative, with characters fighting for survival in a dystopian landscape punctuated by violent encounters. However, Mandel seems to resist these expected devices, focusing instead on how humans are connected across time and space, nature and technology, and generations. The pandemic in this story demarcates a divide between past and present, a clear before and after. But, is existence more than our perceived notion of time and oir relationship to pivotal moments in history? Does a web of interconnectivity carry through all existence even when we cannot perceive it, even when the world seemingly ends? What is this reality we’re living in? Is it patterned beforehand, or only when looked at it in retrospect, like a forest ecosystem growing organically together? Can meaning and beauty miraculously arise out of mundanity and messiness? Is being briefly and beautifully alive and part of a cosmic whole enough of a miracle in itself? Do we make stories, or do the stories make us? What exists because of us, and what exists outside of us?
It’s complicated.
This seeming magic encircles and envelops conscious existence, but goes unnoticed by the humans navigating the complexities of the pre-pandemic modern world, or fighting to survive in post-pandemic reality. A repeated element of looking upward to the sky when faced with death carries throughout, perhaps searching for sufficient meaning or beauty when survival is not guaranteed and everything finally falls still. Is this akin to the sublime moment the actress dissolves into Titania on stage, her stained wedding gown becoming the adornment of a magical fairy queen?
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Grief, Murder, and Gun violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, and Alcoholism
potassiumk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Religious bigotry, Death, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide and Alcohol
Minor: Rape
saracino's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Suicide, and Gun violence
Minor: Rape