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isabelshep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
would be a great book to read all in one sitting—I’m sure there are elements of the web that I missed by putting it down for too long. I’m always impartial to a big fast-forward moment, and I think this one was also a little awkward (Sasha seems to be living a handset-free lifestyle at the same time as Alex’s timeline?). So still some questions, but overall moving and well-written.
temwani_alexandra's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lorenzadlung's review against another edition
4.0
Toller Text, ein episodisches Puzzle, das sich zu einem kohärenten Bild zusammenfügt.
sanghadharin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
estherackerman's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
exlibrishanna's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jwolflink3's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The book completely falls apart in the closing chapters, in a way which sabotages its quasi-sequel. The Candy House handles this book’s themes better and lacks its significant flaws.
taelerk's review against another edition
5.0
This book made me jealous for the first time of another writer's skills. This book outwitted me and was far outside of my reading comfort zone. I took my time with it and I'm really glad I did. The structure of this book is wildly sophisticated. Each chapter reads like a short story and they intertwine together to create a whole, it jumps through time and characters, yet I felt the weight of each person. That is so hard to do with ensemble novels. Most of the time I feel like some characters get lost in the cracks, but Egan did a great job intertwining the stories. Beautifully written, incredibly funny, this book was too smart for me.
(-) The only negative thing I have to say is the experimental chapter struck me the least. I think I got really lost in reading everything in order that it took away from the story. That being said, I've never seen that before in a book. I do feel like it was the weakest chapter in the book.
(-) The only negative thing I have to say is the experimental chapter struck me the least. I think I got really lost in reading everything in order that it took away from the story. That being said, I've never seen that before in a book. I do feel like it was the weakest chapter in the book.
theogb451's review against another edition
3.0
Good writing but not really for me.
I swung between 2 and 3 stars, sometimes within one story! But overall I'll give it 3.
I enjoyed the prose here, it's nice and direct and used in many different styles over the course of the book. Sadly the stories mostly failed to really charm me.
Many are about characters who are simply fairly unpleasant or else the piece is steeped in sadness.
There are a lot of literary conventions I'm not a huge fan of also. These include characters minutely overthinking the world around them and an older, jaded writer diving into speculative fiction.
E.g. In the final chapter you can feel the author's belief that technology has ruined the world. Between the lines it's clear that life was better before mobile phones, before journalists' stranglehold on the media (and I'm absolutely not one of those 'do my own research' dweebs but let's not kid ourselves that the Internet hasn't given huge voices to people outside the white, middle-class sphere)... This infects the whole 'future' with ultra doom Black Mirror stuff that just feels a bit misinformed and unsubtle for me.
The best bit was the penultimate chapter's dive into pauses in songs.
I swung between 2 and 3 stars, sometimes within one story! But overall I'll give it 3.
I enjoyed the prose here, it's nice and direct and used in many different styles over the course of the book. Sadly the stories mostly failed to really charm me.
Many are about characters who are simply fairly unpleasant or else the piece is steeped in sadness.
There are a lot of literary conventions I'm not a huge fan of also. These include characters minutely overthinking the world around them and an older, jaded writer diving into speculative fiction.
E.g. In the final chapter you can feel the author's belief that technology has ruined the world. Between the lines it's clear that life was better before mobile phones, before journalists' stranglehold on the media (and I'm absolutely not one of those 'do my own research' dweebs but let's not kid ourselves that the Internet hasn't given huge voices to people outside the white, middle-class sphere)... This infects the whole 'future' with ultra doom Black Mirror stuff that just feels a bit misinformed and unsubtle for me.
The best bit was the penultimate chapter's dive into pauses in songs.
billy_ray's review against another edition
5.0
The last story was a bit of a let-down, but the rest of it was so good that I kind of don't care.