Reviews

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North

aoibhinnannwn's review

5.0

Man. This one got me. There were a couple times where a sentence was just so good I had to put the book down because I thought, "well, it's not going to get any better than that." But then it did.

This book talks around and about the titular Sophie Stark, and she is a bit of a mystery. The strength of this novel is the treatment of grief, the stories that the people we know tell when we are gone. How what we do stays with them, and what parts of us they remember.

Sophie is manipulative, but she is also manipulated by the people in her life. She is by no means faultless character through most of the story, though she is someone we can sympathize with.

tobesmagobes's review

5.0

I blew through this one. Really amazing, a must for any young artistic type this year.

nebelblumen's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

pascalracobene's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

pleoniesmith's review

4.0

Really compelling story. I really like the format of understanding a life through the storytelling of the people around them.

lindaunconventionalbookworms's review

3.0

*I received a free ARC of The Life and Death of Sophie Stark in exchange of an honest and unbiased review*

Quite strange and different story, narrated from various characters' point of view - but still all circling around Sophie Stark and her strangeness as a person and film maker.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

rachaelthegiraffe's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

georgina_bawden's review

5.0

This book is the book I wanted Visit from the Goon Squad to be. Bloody fantastic.

jennaoregan's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I just like this book. It’s like a eulogy in the form of multiple perspectives coming together to explain a person

tushhh's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I feel weirdly about this book. I'm still deciding whether I like it or not, but based on my star rating, I didn't like it too much. Sophie was hard to understand (I think that was the point) and overall it was a bit dark. Reading a book with featured articles and from the perspective of close one's only is pretty new for me, so I enjoyed that but I think cause it was all kinda dark (but not necessarily in the enjoyable sense), I didn't get to enjoy this style of story-telling as much.

There just wasn't a lot of joy and it made it difficult to read at points. Again, If this is what the author was trying to do, fab job I guess! But wasn't 100% my cuppa tea.