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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-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:
Complicated
This book went in ways I never expected from the beginning and kept me hooked the whole way. A very soulful book worth the journey.
challenging
slow-paced
I expected/hoped to love this as much A Gentleman in Moscow, but that really wasn't possible! Sorry, Amor Towles, for the high bar. It took me a long time to read it and I'm not sure why, the characters were fantastic right from the start and the plot, while convulted, certainly propelled the story forward. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I'm not going to buy a copy for my bookshelf the way I did with AGIM.
i really disliked Rules of Civility, but this one sounded good. Liked this one so much better! will read Moscow one of these days.
ohhh boy this is a doozy, I regret giving it this rating because I loved Gentleman in Moscow so much! I think the biggest issue with this piece would be too many damn POVs, which does lend its own charm in certain ways but ended up making everything a convoluted mess.
It had a ripe promising start, actually, even when taking into account how the entire crew goes through fuck-up after fuck-up (which had its own charm and made everything compelling to read) but for fuck's sake I really couldn't hang onto so many details all at once. I think Gentleman in Moscow did a better job at staying focused on on POV. Plus points for Emmett's characterisation, which was so easily investable, and Sally's - the matronly stoic girl with a heart of gold. Though I wished she could've been expounded on further even after the end. I do think that she was right in pursuing agency for herself which was misinterpreted rather selfishly by the male characters.
An interesting note would be the fact that the Villains in this novel are never really depicted as outright villainous but you can see from their POVs! Duchess was written in first person and Pastor John's perspective was very limited and I guess this is a metaphor for how self-serving people will always depict themselves outside of the usual frame of selfishness.
I didn't get what the fuck Ulysses and the Professor's arc was about and it could've been left out entirely.
So this was unexpected, a huge dump on the idea of a "great american adventure" that crashed and burned even before it started (it would've been a compelling plot, frankly) but unfortunately dragged down by the abundance of POVs which made this more messy than fun. Amor Towles's writing is fluid and colourful, to say the least, so that wasn't a problem, only the overlapping perspectives which made this repetitive and slightly dull
SORRYYYY
It had a ripe promising start, actually, even when taking into account how the entire crew goes through fuck-up after fuck-up (which had its own charm and made everything compelling to read) but for fuck's sake I really couldn't hang onto so many details all at once. I think Gentleman in Moscow did a better job at staying focused on on POV. Plus points for Emmett's characterisation, which was so easily investable, and Sally's - the matronly stoic girl with a heart of gold. Though I wished she could've been expounded on further even after the end. I do think that she was right in pursuing agency for herself which was misinterpreted rather selfishly by the male characters.
An interesting note would be the fact that the Villains in this novel are never really depicted as outright villainous but you can see from their POVs! Duchess was written in first person and Pastor John's perspective was very limited and I guess this is a metaphor for how self-serving people will always depict themselves outside of the usual frame of selfishness.
I didn't get what the fuck Ulysses and the Professor's arc was about and it could've been left out entirely.
So this was unexpected, a huge dump on the idea of a "great american adventure" that crashed and burned even before it started (it would've been a compelling plot, frankly) but unfortunately dragged down by the abundance of POVs which made this more messy than fun. Amor Towles's writing is fluid and colourful, to say the least, so that wasn't a problem, only the overlapping perspectives which made this repetitive and slightly dull
SORRYYYY
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love everything this man writes. This book really holds your attention and transports you to another era. Parts of it reminded me of East of Eden. I can’t say enough good things about this author.
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
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
I found this interminably boring and the characters so unlikeable that I didn’t care what happened to them. The only one I loved was little Billy but he barely gets any page time. If this book had only been about Emmett and Billy starting a new life and journeying to CA, which is how it starts out, I probably would have loved this book. But the plot gets completely derailed by the most unpleasant side characters and I truly felt like you could cut out all their POV chapters, about ⅔ of the book, and it wouldn’t affect a thing. I really wanted to like this book because I love Amor Towles’ writing style. But this plot and these characters just didn’t do it for me.