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bcbirrer's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Like all of Heller's work, this one is beautifully written and takes you deep inside of the character. Post-apocalyptic isn't really my favorite genre, but it's balanced by the lush descriptions of nature.
The dog dies. While it makes sense in the story and is not a violent death, you might want to be prepared for the grieving.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Grief
Minor: Rape, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence
atamano's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Child death, Chronic illness, and Cursing
Minor: Pregnancy
bookmaven17's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Violence, and Animal death
threepigeons's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-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
3.75
As someone who grew up loving poetry and flying in a Cessna, this book is easily more accurate to the feeling of flying in an old four seater propeller plane than anything I've ever read. I didn’t have to read up on the author to know that he was a pilot. This might be the very best book that I would hesitat to recommend to others - the pacing is slow, and it takes an explicitly sexual turn in the second half of the book. Still, it's deeply beautiful, and the narrator's voice, while taking some getting used to, is just so awesome.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Terminal illness
Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Pregnancy
scottishrain's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
tansy's review against another edition
Some of this is simply that right now, in 2021, I am not in the mood to read about someone struggling with isolation in the aftermath of a pandemic, but also some of it is bafflement as to why all the survivors in this book are so murderous. Were serial killers the only ones immune to the plague? There's plenty of space to grow crops and there's clearly game - the protagonist hunts and fishes very successfully! - so why is everyone gaunt and determined to gun each other down over Dr Pepper? Shooting deer must be easier than trying to kill other heavily armed humans! Just so bleak and nihilistic in a way that didn't feel grounded in reality at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, and Child death
Minor: Sexual violence
valcro's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-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? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder
omnombailey's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
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
I love bleak post-apocalypse stories and I came into this wanting exactly that. For the most part, it delivered, but I couldn't bring myself to say I actually liked this book. There were some enjoyable parts, but it wasn't enough for me to ignore the abysmal writing style and random narrative.
I didn't care for any of the characters, especially Bangley. There's a sad attempt at making him sympathetic, but it boils down to, "Cool story, you're still an asshole." I also had a hard time believingthat Cima was the first woman Hig had seen in NINE YEARS. At least that's what he makes it seem like. That whole side plot with Cima was painful to read and came across as creepy than it ever did as romantic. No sex scene should ever be described as a school of fish or whatever that line was.
The summary of the book makes it sound like the communication from the plane's radio is a huge central thing and... it's not. It gets mentioned at about 15% into the book and maybe brought up again once or twice and then Hig wants to fly out there andgets distracted by PRETTY LADY for legit 30% of the book and then he eventually gets there and it's like... what the hell did you expect? I wish it was made more of a deal or at least make it sound as important as the book summary does. It felt like an afterthought.
The writing got in the way more often than not. Sometimes I liked style, but most of the time it made it difficult to tell what was going on and who was saying what. I get what it was trying to do, but it didn't made for a fun or interesting read.
But there were some moments where it was interesting, like any of the flashbacks or imagery in the forest or even the last 15% was pretty solid and I couldn't put it down. But you can't stitch all those sort of good moments to make up a story. Overall, I didn't hate reading this, but I also wouldn't call it a good book or ever recommend it to anyone I know.
I didn't care for any of the characters, especially Bangley. There's a sad attempt at making him sympathetic, but it boils down to, "Cool story, you're still an asshole." I also had a hard time believing
The summary of the book makes it sound like the communication from the plane's radio is a huge central thing and... it's not. It gets mentioned at about 15% into the book and maybe brought up again once or twice and then Hig wants to fly out there and
The writing got in the way more often than not. Sometimes I liked style, but most of the time it made it difficult to tell what was going on and who was saying what. I get what it was trying to do, but it didn't made for a fun or interesting read.
But there were some moments where it was interesting, like any of the flashbacks or imagery in the forest or even the last 15% was pretty solid and I couldn't put it down. But you can't stitch all those sort of good moments to make up a story. Overall, I didn't hate reading this, but I also wouldn't call it a good book or ever recommend it to anyone I know.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexism
General gritty survival themeskelseak96's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
It wasn't my thing, but that doesn't make it a bad book. It happened to have lots of things I dislike in books -- airplanes, dogs, occasional references to sexual violence, not a ton of backstory, long descriptions of nature, the list goes on, but while I was pretty bummed out while reading the book, I can say that it was objectively pretty decent. Extra star for taking place in my favorite state.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Sexual content, Gore, and Chronic illness
Minor: Sexual violence
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