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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
Couldn’t finish this one. Got half way through and couldn’t make myself go any further.
Beautiful vivid writing, undeniably worthy of the five star rating. This book made me feel deeply unsettled and I was too tense to enjoy reading the second half.
Of two minds about this, since I genuinely love it when books take big swings and push beyond the boundaries of traditional narrative, and yet… you still kind of gotta go somewhere. I mostly like the way Rumaan Alam treats the inciting disaster so obliquely that’s it’s diffuse enough to basically be allegorical, and seeing the visceral symptoms of something so vague is entertaining in a pretty novel way. But still, it’s never a good sign when my Kindle flips to the Acknowledgements in the middle of what I thought would be some kind of clarifying resolution, so…
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I didn't like the writing style. I felt like it overexplained thing way too much and added too many unnecessary details.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The social commentary is unreal!! I know many people are upset that we are as in the dark as the characters in this book, but I personally don't mind it.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had such high hopes for this book.
I wasn’t aware that the movie was adapted from this book or that it even existed until a few weeks ago.
I loved the film which I’ve watched several times so I was super eager to read this and squeeze it at the end of this months reads. Whilst I didn’t hate the book, I also didn’t love it, it just falls flat next to the film and was a little boring.
Does that make the book bad? Not necessarily but similar to the woman in black, the film was fleshed out and completely trumped the book. I get it- adaptations take the foundations and build upon that but the film was better, it’s that simple!
The opening monologue of Julia Roberts, the self driving cars, the ship, the drone shitting out “death to west” fliers over Ethan Hawke, the record room…i wanted all them things to be in this book and none of it was.
The storey setting is more or less contained to just the house and surrounding area adding to a sense of isolation but it didn’t land for me . The pros were a little too fanciful for my liking as well. Overall it was an ok read but I won’t be re reading it!
I wasn’t aware that the movie was adapted from this book or that it even existed until a few weeks ago.
I loved the film which I’ve watched several times so I was super eager to read this and squeeze it at the end of this months reads. Whilst I didn’t hate the book, I also didn’t love it, it just falls flat next to the film and was a little boring.
Does that make the book bad? Not necessarily but similar to the woman in black, the film was fleshed out and completely trumped the book. I get it- adaptations take the foundations and build upon that but the film was better, it’s that simple!
The opening monologue of Julia Roberts, the self driving cars, the ship, the drone shitting out “death to west” fliers over Ethan Hawke, the record room…i wanted all them things to be in this book and none of it was.
The storey setting is more or less contained to just the house and surrounding area adding to a sense of isolation but it didn’t land for me . The pros were a little too fanciful for my liking as well. Overall it was an ok read but I won’t be re reading it!
I was into this book for the first 200 pages and then it changed in ways I didn't care for. I was curious to learn what caused the blackout. I was drawn in by the impacts of global warming and terrorist act(s) that were creating the new reality but then to suggest the people were puking pink liquid because the flamingoes drank from the pool, as though the pool water flowed into the drinking system was too much for me. To be losing teeth for some unknown reason was too much. The boy had a tick burrowing into his skin. Lyme disease would have been enough of a reason to need to go to the hospital. It became too absurd; I would have preferred it to remain more real. And perhaps that's something else that bothered me--reading this days after our capitol was attacked by domestic terrorists made it feel (up until the pink puke) too possible and that was unnerving during these incredibly uncertain times we're living in.