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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I loved the way this book was written- small looks into multiple lives and a compelling analysis of time.
slow-paced
I’ve got to say this was the most interestingly written book I’ve read in a long time. It was 3rd person but there was no main character as the writer hopped around to different POV many times. The story is all based around this sleeping sickness but i was a little disappointed to never really find out why this sleep sickness was happening. I think this book could have had a lot more to it!
The Age of Miracles was one of my favorite books, so I was eagerly looking forward to this one... and it did not disappoint. I'd like to live in Walker's brain for at least a few minutes, or until I become completely freaked out. While this is not by any means horror, it's horrifying, in the way that real-life-gone-slightly-wrong is when it's done well.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
We're gonna start with the "eh" first, because I really enjoyed this book.
Eh: This book feels a little pro-life-y. There were moments where I was like uh... is this the author trying to send some kind of message? Because I'm not interested in that message.
The ending also made me go: what are we trying to say here, exactly? Lots of mixed messages.
BUT - this was a great read otherwise. I was deeply invested in all of the characters. I loved the writing style, it reminded me a lot of Station Eleven (makes sense that Emily St. John Mandel blurbed this book). The few messages I DID understand really worked for me. I think the story of Mei (one of the college students where the initial outbreak happens) and Sara & Libby are the strongest, but I was also devastated by the story of Nathaniel and Henry.
Overall I think this is a very strong book, and I'd be open to see what else Walker writes next. Unless some of those concerns above turn out to be true, and then... pass.
Eh: This book feels a little pro-life-y. There were moments where I was like uh... is this the author trying to send some kind of message? Because I'm not interested in that message.
The ending also made me go: what are we trying to say here, exactly? Lots of mixed messages.
BUT - this was a great read otherwise. I was deeply invested in all of the characters. I loved the writing style, it reminded me a lot of Station Eleven (makes sense that Emily St. John Mandel blurbed this book). The few messages I DID understand really worked for me. I think the story of Mei (one of the college students where the initial outbreak happens) and Sara & Libby are the strongest, but I was also devastated by the story of Nathaniel and Henry.
Overall I think this is a very strong book, and I'd be open to see what else Walker writes next. Unless some of those concerns above turn out to be true, and then... pass.
While I found this really engaging at the start, it didn’t really go anywhere and I wasn’t happy with the resolution.
I was into the premise - especially reading this before I went to sleep, that made the story even spookier, like the virus could jump off of the pages and into real life.
The book covers a lot of different characters, and some of them are more developed than others. I liked that we got to see the same characters from different perspectives, but it was very jumpy and bounced around so much that it was a little difficult to follow.
I think my biggest problem with the book is that it had no resolution.There’s never an explanation given for the virus, and while it’s brushed off in a mystical way, I was so frustrated. The book spends so much time deliberating on different aspects of the virus (how it spreads, how it affects different people, the flashbacks/premonitions involved) but it literally ends with people either getting better or dying and then life goes on. I think I could have tolerated how much of the book was up in the air (and I did, most of the time that I was reading this) if it actually led to something, but it didn’t.
And in that sense, I get that the moral could have been that people live and die and move on and sometimes there isn’t any explanation, but if that was the author’s intent, she did not do a good job of establishing it. Also I really hated the descriptions of a baby growing in an unconscious woman’s body. So much of the narrative focused on that and it was creepy.
I was into the premise - especially reading this before I went to sleep, that made the story even spookier, like the virus could jump off of the pages and into real life.
The book covers a lot of different characters, and some of them are more developed than others. I liked that we got to see the same characters from different perspectives, but it was very jumpy and bounced around so much that it was a little difficult to follow.
I think my biggest problem with the book is that it had no resolution.
And in that sense, I get that the moral could have been that people live and die and move on and sometimes there isn’t any explanation, but if that was the author’s intent, she did not do a good job of establishing it. Also I really hated the descriptions of a baby growing in an unconscious woman’s body. So much of the narrative focused on that and it was creepy.
this reads like a dream, its floaty and slow and warm. loved the concept, love the author, the style and voice was so fitting
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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:
No
Book 2 from Walker, a followup to the excellent Age of Miracles. Interesting thoughts on what happens with an unexplained epidemic. Not sure I was satisfied with the ending, but really that is minor.