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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
hm. just like any vandermeer im def gonna have to read this twice so i can catch everything...
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
One of my favourite authors. Always a tough read. Like being inside the chaotic head of someone with ADHD. Every thought. But, I always come away from the book thinking about it for weeks. Like, listening to some complex jazz.
VanderMeer continues the trend of not writing books I dislike. I’m a fan. I like to think this takes place before Borne; it sure feels like it. An atypical woman, bodybuilder, self described as somewhat of a giantess, unable to navigate social circle and curry favour—is covertly given an envelope that starts her down a rabbit hole of eco terrorism at the same time as her life is falling apart due to similar circumstances in our lives currently: global eco deformation and climate change, refugees, and further disenfranchisement and stratification of class.
This is a fractured narrative but that’s what made it so compelling. She isn’t a likeable person to follow, but I tend to also like that. It’s lyrical and biting about social issues. It’s tense and has action at the right times, but is otherwise oratory a character study that shows how and why people, especially those on the margins, fracture. Yet they are still people of interest and substance and there are forces with interest that work to combat any eco changes. It’s a nice line this one walks. A very nice line.
This is a fractured narrative but that’s what made it so compelling. She isn’t a likeable person to follow, but I tend to also like that. It’s lyrical and biting about social issues. It’s tense and has action at the right times, but is otherwise oratory a character study that shows how and why people, especially those on the margins, fracture. Yet they are still people of interest and substance and there are forces with interest that work to combat any eco changes. It’s a nice line this one walks. A very nice line.
I listened to the audiobook, so it's hard to know how much of my experience was influenced by the person narrating, or maybe my perspective as a conservation ecologist, but wow this was bleak. It was like spending hours with the most depressing doom-and-gloom defeatist colleague, who also hangs out with the worst people in the world. I really didn't care about any of the characters, least of all our narrator, who doesn't seem to care about anyone, who from the beginning tells us she is lying to us about some things - even though by the end there's no real reason to lie - and who is extremely, inexplicably paranoid from the very start. The mystery/clues aspect was the only thing that really kept me engaged, but by the end I still didn't understand the intricacies of the plot or who did what to whom. Possibly because their names kept changing? Or possibly because I didn't care anymore by that point. It felt like there was a heavy message VanderMeer was trying to convey throughout, but all that came through to me was "the world is ending" and "people are the worst."
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There were so many unanswered questions throughout this book, but it definitely paid off by the end. Haunting read knowing the possibility of it.