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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Hmph.
I didn't read The Midnight Librarybecause readers whose opinions I respect said that the premise was great but that it had a disappointingly predictable arc. But lots of people loved it and bought it, and I've read interviews with Haig about this novel, saying that it was made possible by TML, which gave him enough money to write more leisurely and to take some risks. It's set in Ibiza, which sounds delightful. I wanted to enjoy it.
But I'm just underwhelmed. The structure is a framework of a pair of letters. One is short, from a 22-year-old student who writes to his former math teacher (who's now 72) to check in but also to let her know that he's struggling in a lot of ways with his life. The other is a novel-length manuscript from Grace, that math teacher, to describe what's happened to her over the last two years, following the fairly recent death of her husband and the long-ago death of her 11-year-old son that she still feels terrible guilt about. She's been in a holding pattern. But then, the death of a long-ago colleague happens; Francesca has left her small house on Ibiza to Grace, and urges Grace to at least come for a vacation. When Grace arrives, she follows the suggestions of her friend's letter about places to visit and things to do, meets some interesting characters, narrates it all with a bunch of aphorisms to Lee, the student.
Which might work pretty well, except then there's the alien that lives on the seabed near Ibiza and imbues Grace with extrasensory powers and provides her with reckonings with her dead husband and dead son and draws her into a high-stakes poker game and gets her to release lobsters into the wild....
I'm not really even giving spoilers of the main plot.
But you know, fantasy: You have to set aside your incredulity. The author has to coax you there. And I wasn't coaxed. So I feel...hmph.
I didn't read The Midnight Librarybecause readers whose opinions I respect said that the premise was great but that it had a disappointingly predictable arc. But lots of people loved it and bought it, and I've read interviews with Haig about this novel, saying that it was made possible by TML, which gave him enough money to write more leisurely and to take some risks. It's set in Ibiza, which sounds delightful. I wanted to enjoy it.
But I'm just underwhelmed. The structure is a framework of a pair of letters. One is short, from a 22-year-old student who writes to his former math teacher (who's now 72) to check in but also to let her know that he's struggling in a lot of ways with his life. The other is a novel-length manuscript from Grace, that math teacher, to describe what's happened to her over the last two years, following the fairly recent death of her husband and the long-ago death of her 11-year-old son that she still feels terrible guilt about. She's been in a holding pattern. But then, the death of a long-ago colleague happens; Francesca has left her small house on Ibiza to Grace, and urges Grace to at least come for a vacation. When Grace arrives, she follows the suggestions of her friend's letter about places to visit and things to do, meets some interesting characters, narrates it all with a bunch of aphorisms to Lee, the student.
Which might work pretty well, except then there's the alien that lives on the seabed near Ibiza and imbues Grace with extrasensory powers and provides her with reckonings with her dead husband and dead son and draws her into a high-stakes poker game and gets her to release lobsters into the wild....
I'm not really even giving spoilers of the main plot.
But you know, fantasy: You have to set aside your incredulity. The author has to coax you there. And I wasn't coaxed. So I feel...hmph.
adventurous
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
loved midnight library so much, but this was boring:/ so upset about it.
Interestingly, I was a lot more interested in the first quarter/half of this book than I was the end. It was almost like once the mystery was "solved" it slowed waaaaay down. I was also really annoyed that there was this Big Bad Guy that didn't really surface until 80% and then it was resolved really quickly. I can appreciate the meaning behind the book- take risks, enjoy life, process emotions, etc. But the book was overall very meh to me.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oof. I thought this was so painfully boring. The story is written like a letter to an old student who is going through a hard time- it was so long and unnecessarily detailed and I didn’t enjoy this method of storytelling at all. I just did not care about the story or the characters, unfortunately. How it’s possible for an author to make magic / magical realism boring is beyond me. The message was good and there are lots of quotable statements, but the delivery was just a convoluted way of getting there. All that said, Matt Haig and I don’t have the best track record, because I also disliked The Midnight Library, which I know so many loved. I think this author and I just aren’t meant to be.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes