Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill

1 review

stellahadz's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

The premise of this book is really interesting and timely - it centers on a woman who starts to hear a low humming sound that no one else can hear. Through one of her students, she joins a group of people who can also hear it, and the story is told through her memories following a tragedy involving this group. The whole thing is a metaphor for conspiracy theories and getting sucked into a cult-like mentality by people who don't necessarily have your best interests at heart. I loved the idea of getting to hear the perspective of the person who believes the conspiracy theories. 

While I enjoyed the story and its themes, I wish we'd gotten a better insight into certain characters and their motivations.
Honestly, if Claire's relationship with Kyle ended at him introducing her to the group and didn't devolve into something inappropriate and just short of illegal, the author would have had more time to focus on Howard, who was technically the mastermind behind the group, although we don't find that out until a retrospective chapter at the very end of the book.


Also, this is maybe a bit nitpicky, but I think the book could have used a second round of editing for some of the language. The story takes place in the US, but the author is Canadian (as am I), so there are several "Canadian-isms" throughout the book that might be off-putting to American readers, such as "grade twelve" instead of "twelfth grade" or "senior."
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