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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Excellent. Brutal.
I was really pleased with the way Theroux cuts to the chase and doesn't include all the awful details about the parts of the the book I didn't really want to read about anyway. There'd be moments where the plot would go somewhere and I'd think, "oh, I don't want to read a book about this." But "this" would turn out to be a quick event in the book, not a 50 page description of what it was like.
I was really pleased with the way Theroux cuts to the chase and doesn't include all the awful details about the parts of the the book I didn't really want to read about anyway. There'd be moments where the plot would go somewhere and I'd think, "oh, I don't want to read a book about this." But "this" would turn out to be a quick event in the book, not a 50 page description of what it was like.
3.25 rounded down. A very surprising and powerful book. Humanity is as harsh and cruel as the landscape that Makepeace inhabits. This was not an enjoyable read but a very worthwhile story that keeps you thinking about it long after it’s over.
Picked this out from a random lineup up of recommend books.
Cormac McCarthy-esque, post apocalyptic story with surprising reveals that the author doles out with time and at the right moments. What I loved about it was that you just weren't sure when this is supposed where to be. The setting and the time lend itself to a feeling of a spanning of history in one moment in time. It's well done. I was wonderfully surprised by it.
Cormac McCarthy-esque, post apocalyptic story with surprising reveals that the author doles out with time and at the right moments. What I loved about it was that you just weren't sure when this is supposed where to be. The setting and the time lend itself to a feeling of a spanning of history in one moment in time. It's well done. I was wonderfully surprised by it.
Very good; really intense at times. (<--2010 comments).
2020 update:
A few days ago, I went to add this book to my "Currently Reading" queue after I was already 70-odd pages in, only to discover that I had in fact read this book before, a decade earlier. (Aside: I've been on Goodreads a long time and that makes me very happy.) I scratched my head and felt some level of existential distress because I had *no recollection* of the first reading up to that point though I suppose there was a certain vague familiarity to the story. I've read enough It's The End of The World As We Know It books though to chalk it up to post-apocalyptic overload + I Had A Brain Tumor And Sometimes Forget Things. I didn't know what to do - do I keep going or quit? My previous reading indicated that I enjoyed it at the time, and a very scientific Twitter poll told me that I should keep going, so I did. Someone even commented that, "You are not the same person you were in 2010, and so it is not the same book." (or thereabouts). How very wise indeed, and how very true.
SO - I finished the book and I still give it 4 stars, but they are different stars because I am a different person and the world is different. It is, after all 20-Fucking-20, Year of the Dumpster Fire, and I have been through a lot, myself, including becoming a mother, a fact which brings me endless joy while also being a sad weight around my neck. Two quotes from the end of the novel:
"And I'm still greedy for whatever's left to me. I can't open my eyes soon enough each day to see you, my darling."
"There's not one iota of fear in me about it. I wouldn’t have you stay for anything. But I can't think too hard about the world I've bequeathed to you, or the gulf between your childhood and mine or I start to feel guilty about it."
2020 update:
A few days ago, I went to add this book to my "Currently Reading" queue after I was already 70-odd pages in, only to discover that I had in fact read this book before, a decade earlier. (Aside: I've been on Goodreads a long time and that makes me very happy.) I scratched my head and felt some level of existential distress because I had *no recollection* of the first reading up to that point though I suppose there was a certain vague familiarity to the story. I've read enough It's The End of The World As We Know It books though to chalk it up to post-apocalyptic overload + I Had A Brain Tumor And Sometimes Forget Things. I didn't know what to do - do I keep going or quit? My previous reading indicated that I enjoyed it at the time, and a very scientific Twitter poll told me that I should keep going, so I did. Someone even commented that, "You are not the same person you were in 2010, and so it is not the same book." (or thereabouts). How very wise indeed, and how very true.
SO - I finished the book and I still give it 4 stars, but they are different stars because I am a different person and the world is different. It is, after all 20-Fucking-20, Year of the Dumpster Fire, and I have been through a lot, myself, including becoming a mother, a fact which brings me endless joy while also being a sad weight around my neck. Two quotes from the end of the novel:
"And I'm still greedy for whatever's left to me. I can't open my eyes soon enough each day to see you, my darling."
"There's not one iota of fear in me about it. I wouldn’t have you stay for anything. But I can't think too hard about the world I've bequeathed to you, or the gulf between your childhood and mine or I start to feel guilty about it."
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a very well-paced book (a page-turner), with sympathetic characters and unforeseen plot twists. Also, the setting was beautifully described. Publishers Weekly stated that it is "ultimately and strangely hopeful", which excellently captures the arc of this story and its ending.
Makepeace lives in a harsh, unforgiving landscape where strategies for survival are the predominant consideration . This is a book that slowly reveals many secrets about Makespeace's life and history. I loved the revelations: never knowing what I might discover as I delved deeper into the book. Well worth the journey.