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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
“Dead Astronauts,” like its setting, is gorgeous and deeply inhospitable. This was a hard book for me to get through - much more so than others of Vandermeer’s work - because the author left so few threads to connect one passage with another. But it rolled along steadily, and I really felt like my perseverance was rewarded. It’s got an incredible intensity of emotion - rage, grief, ingenuity and even a little hope. Loved the message, loved the language. Treat it like a book of poetry - rich and powerful, best savored slowly.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's hard to describe this book accurately because it is so stream of consciousness and the plot is not at all how narratives usually go but instead there are deep themes in each chapter and they are connected but it's really difficult to get all of the pieces to understand how they all connect. I thought it was great because I like weird fiction and it was really interesting but some may not like how challenging this book is
I am part way through this and unsure if I can get any further.
I like stories that you have to piece information together. The main plot points in the summary sound interesting.
The book is a slog. I am unsure if I am supposed to be high (not an option) while reading this, if the author was, or both.
This appears to be going nowhere in particular, and my to be read shelf is full.
I trust the judgment of the booksellers who sent me this, but... ehhh. I might give it another chance later.
Very very odd book.
I like stories that you have to piece information together. The main plot points in the summary sound interesting.
The book is a slog. I am unsure if I am supposed to be high (not an option) while reading this, if the author was, or both.
This appears to be going nowhere in particular, and my to be read shelf is full.
I trust the judgment of the booksellers who sent me this, but... ehhh. I might give it another chance later.
Very very odd book.
challenging
After loving Borne, I was excited to read this. However this does take experimental fiction to the next level and maybe 75% of the the novel I had no idea what was going on. Perhaps a fault of my own for not taking enough time over the prose and neglecting to follow the version cues and chapter headings closely enough to understand the 'timeline'.
Enjoyed the writing but not enough obvious substance to the story for me to really delve into. Won't deter me from more VanderMeer though.
Enjoyed the writing but not enough obvious substance to the story for me to really delve into. Won't deter me from more VanderMeer though.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Complicated
Didn't understand what was happening
Didn't understand what was happening
Although beautifully written, this relatively short book was actually really dense and pretty difficult to read because of the non-linear nature of the story. It was intriguing, but kind of made my head hurt... and with all of the effort that I had to put in to read it, I didn’t get the amount of explanation I would have hoped for to make it feel like this was worth it for me.
To be fair, maybe it would have helped slightly if I had read Borne first - though I thought this was more of a stand alone thing? Oh well. This was a bit of a miss for me I think.
To be fair, maybe it would have helped slightly if I had read Borne first - though I thought this was more of a stand alone thing? Oh well. This was a bit of a miss for me I think.