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maevebm's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Murder and Gun violence
samanthaleeshea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
Minor: Child abuse and War
analenegrace's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
It's simultaneously an easy read because of how well-written it is, but also so hard to read in a post-2020 world where COVID fundamentally changed so many things. So much of the book was familiar; Mandel has a keen understanding of how we as a society react to things. Some of the standouts include a dedication to theater and the arts, a dedication to preservation, and relying on religion to the point of madness. All of these things were seen in our pandemic as well as in this book.
I cannot recommend it enough, and I will probably be thinking about it for a long time after reading.
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Alcohol, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Violence and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, and Gun violence
Minor: Suicide, Drug use, Child death, Rape, and Death of parent
lili_geek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, and Medical trauma
Minor: Rape and Suicide
indigosl's review against another edition
3.75
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
writeronherway's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Ableism and Murder
jillgoober's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It's been twenty years since the Georgia Flu wiped out about 99% of the human population. There are small villages that have come together and live out of old motels, stores, and other buildings. There is no electricity, running water, or gas for vehicles. People have learned to live off the land. The book centers around a traveling group of musicians and actors called The Symphony. The travel around southern Canada and the northern U.S. and perform music and Shakespeare plays. Our main antagonist is a man who calls himself "The Prophet;" he and his followers travel to various villages and take what they want by force (including young wives) because they feel they are the chosen ones by God to have survived the flu.
The book also includes flashbacks at various times, as early as decades before the pandemic, when the pandemic first hit, and the years since then. The most intriguing part of this book was how you eventually figure out how each of our main characters were connected in some way before the pandemic started.
As aforementioned, this book really makes you think about what would be most important to you in a situation like this. The characters hold on to the strangest objects like a paperweight, for example, just because they have a vague memory about it from before the pandemic. This novel also made me think about how much worse Covid could've been for us.
Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
hflh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
St. John Mandel writes in a way that I haven’t experienced before. Partially through using 3rd person omniscient, she does an incredibly good job of capturing a really melancholic, distant feeling that was intense to sit with but also so engaging. I also absolutely loved the non-chronological skips in and out of different characters’ lives.
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Murder
Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide, and Death of parent
readinggem's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
Minor: Violence and Rape