Reviews - Universality | The StoryGraph

786 reviews for:

Universality

Natasha Brown

3.47 AVERAGE

dunnjuliaa's review against another edition

2.0

reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

I couldn’t follow the flow of this book. The interaction of the characters felt inconsequential until the next section. It was clearly trying to make some sort of commentary, but I think too much has changed in the political and rhetorical landscape for this to come off as satire at the time of reading.

introvertinsane21's review against another edition

4.5

challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

IT'S A POLITICAL SATIRE ASKING THE QUESTION "WHAT DO WE REALLY STAND FOR?"

Now I was struggling a bit with this because it is very specific towards British politics so it took me some time to process what exactly am I reading. The story begins with a catalyst: someone got unalived with a gold bar and now the gold bar has gone missing.

The story then proceeds to other perspectives and how people react to this story: a symbolic gold bar and the act of unaliving someone, presumably a person of power. We follow the journalist writing the story, what angle they want to proceed with, what kind of feeling to ignite in the people (because yes, journalism in theory is about reporting the truth and let people decide but the reality today it is about manufacturing feeling and consent).

Then we also follow the real owner of the goldbar - the 'amoral banker' whose life is f-ed because of the article.

And finally we get to a politcal debate / interview as we follow the perspective of Lenny Leonard as she explains to us her MO on giving the 'gotcha' moment to the interviewer whom she knows is out to make her look like an idiot on live TV. Not gonna lie, it was satisfying.

But what I love about this book is how none of these people are "just truly evil". Because that's what everyone is mostly are. We all operate based on our own moral compass. Even for the so-called 'evil amoral capitalistic banker' he was written in a way that I have a bit of sympathy for (tbh we all should have a baseline sympathy for everyone as long as they're not psycopath ra-ist murderer genocidal racist maniac or something along the line.

But I find myself drawn to Lenny the most because she's the one who proclaims herself as 'misanthrope' equal-opportunity hater. Is it a grey line for her or is she simply ultra self-aware?

holdenreg11's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

samagra's review against another edition

don’t quite know how to feel about this one

karis_is_reading's review against another edition

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this title.

A very compelling read, really highlighting that everything is open to interpretation.

At an old unused farm a gold bar is used to assault a climate activist and then stolen by the man squatting at said farm. Through different viewpoints we come to understand how one event is interpreted uniquely by each person affected, examining how the truth is subjective and misleading.

I really enjoyed getting the story from different POV's, thinking you have an idea of what is going on and then completely re evaluating what you think about the characters.

Definitely recommend as a short but thought provoking read. Don't believe everything you hear or read online!