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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
Ugly cried through parts of this book so I guess that means I loved it.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Arthur shares the name of a famous author, who’s his grandfather. Five years ago his grandfather left without a trace and was found dead. After a traumatic event, Arthur goes on a search for who is grandfather was. As you can imagine, he meets characters along the way and learns a few surprises about the grandfather he didn’t know as well as he thought. This was a quick read and held my interest, but it wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever read.
4.5/5. This book is a wildly ambitious, beautifully literary, and refreshingly original story for YA lit. Arthur’s journey to better understand family, faith, and mortality is bittersweet in that way that makes you feel like you both lost and gained something truly special by the end.
Arthur’s narration feels so old-soul, and paired with the frequent disconnect between his thoughts and his ability to express himself eloquently makes him a super sympathetic and relatable character to me (and I think to many young people), even when I didn’t necessarily agree with exactly what he was saying or thinking. I loved the integration of things like journal entries, Pullman’s poetry, and train conductor announcements between longer narrative chapters. It made the book very readable even if certain sections felt a tad long. The plot is pretty unpredictable, which for me is hard to come by in contemporary YA, and I really enjoyed that, despite some plot points stretching my ability to suspend my disbelief.
It’s not perfect, but I do think that it achieved a near perfect emotional response in me. I was moved, definitely. I feel like I learned something - though I’m still working to pinpoint what that is. I really did love it.
Arthur’s narration feels so old-soul, and paired with the frequent disconnect between his thoughts and his ability to express himself eloquently makes him a super sympathetic and relatable character to me (and I think to many young people), even when I didn’t necessarily agree with exactly what he was saying or thinking. I loved the integration of things like journal entries, Pullman’s poetry, and train conductor announcements between longer narrative chapters. It made the book very readable even if certain sections felt a tad long. The plot is pretty unpredictable, which for me is hard to come by in contemporary YA, and I really enjoyed that, despite some plot points stretching my ability to suspend my disbelief.
It’s not perfect, but I do think that it achieved a near perfect emotional response in me. I was moved, definitely. I feel like I learned something - though I’m still working to pinpoint what that is. I really did love it.
I absolutely love this book. It is my favorite book I have ever read. It is so moving and such a beautiful story, not only is there an element of mystery, but there is also grief and trauma and family troubles. I would recommend everyone to read this book no matter your age or what genre you like to read.
*I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could*
I was really excited to try this book because a lot of people have been talking about it, and it seemed like just the type of story I needed. It has an adventure in the form of a cross-country train trip, a famous grandpa, for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Catcher in the Rye (I actually hated the catcher in the rye), but it seemed like a really good book.
But of course I was disappointed. I was confused a lot during this story because Arthur has a lot of hallucinations so sometimes I'd question if I was reading a hallucination or if I was reading something that was actually happening. The beginning of the story is Arthur in a car losing control and going into the water, and this scene was overplayed a lot. You realize why he constantly plays it over and over again in his head towards the end of the novel but it was distracting to me. The fan club that Arthur runs into is psychotic. I strongly disliked them and I thought that the leader Jack was too obsessed over nothing. There was a lot of poems or "clues" from Arthur's grandpa and I thought it was distracting from the overall story.
Anyways. It's complicated to say I really enjoyed the writing in the novel, but not necessarily the story or how it progressed. The book was easy enough to read, but the story itself made me not want to read it. I don't know. I have mixed feelings about this. I tried to write coherent thoughts.
The ending was what completely redeemed this story for me.
I was really excited to try this book because a lot of people have been talking about it, and it seemed like just the type of story I needed. It has an adventure in the form of a cross-country train trip, a famous grandpa, for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Catcher in the Rye (I actually hated the catcher in the rye), but it seemed like a really good book.
But of course I was disappointed. I was confused a lot during this story because Arthur has a lot of hallucinations so sometimes I'd question if I was reading a hallucination or if I was reading something that was actually happening. The beginning of the story is Arthur in a car losing control and going into the water, and this scene was overplayed a lot. You realize why he constantly plays it over and over again in his head towards the end of the novel but it was distracting to me. The fan club that Arthur runs into is psychotic. I strongly disliked them and I thought that the leader Jack was too obsessed over nothing. There was a lot of poems or "clues" from Arthur's grandpa and I thought it was distracting from the overall story.
Anyways. It's complicated to say I really enjoyed the writing in the novel, but not necessarily the story or how it progressed. The book was easy enough to read, but the story itself made me not want to read it. I don't know. I have mixed feelings about this. I tried to write coherent thoughts.
The ending was what completely redeemed this story for me.
“love is & always has been a mystery. but a mystery we’ve signed our lives away to solving.”
what a unique and beautiful novel. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time ❤️
what a unique and beautiful novel. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time ❤️
This book is ambitious and beautifully written. It captured me quickly and I couldn’t put it down. I love mysteries that don’t rely on gore or to make them exciting.
I dropped one star because some things felt a little too convenient. The author relied on coincidence to move the story forward sometimes, which feels kind of cheap. But it didn’t distract me from the story. This one is worth your time!
I dropped one star because some things felt a little too convenient. The author relied on coincidence to move the story forward sometimes, which feels kind of cheap. But it didn’t distract me from the story. This one is worth your time!
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes