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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
"To care more meant putting a bullet in your brain. So, like many, I had learned to care less. Silvina called it “the fatal adaptation."
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What bits of it I understood, I generally liked. I just couldn't ever get into the motivation for the what was happening to the characters mostly, I think, because the characters themselves didn't know. I get that this is "weird" fiction, but I still think Borne might be my favorite of his.
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was ready to give up on this in the first half, but I'm glad I stuck through because it got a lot better. I appreciated the emotional themes it explored later. It was still somewhat awkward, like there was some baggage it couldn't shed, but that might have been the point.
Jane's normal life felt cardboard, neither here nor there. I didn't care about her husband, daughter, or coworkers much at all. I was curious what happened to her assistant, but she ended up just being a footnote.
The technological paranoia and corporate conspiracy felt like a William Gibson novel without the whiz-bang interruptions and commands through an earpiece. That didn't work for me at first, as if it wasn't focusing on the most interesting details. It started to work more in the individual interactions with the descriptions of facial expressions, tones of voice, memories.
Overall I grew to appreciate the themes of loneliness, displacement, being adrift and aimless, trying to connect to unreachable people in unreachable times and places. It finally felt like VanderMeer in the last 20% or so. The more prevalent animals, nature, and ruins became, the more cohesive and interesting the story was.
I did like the ambiguous ending, too.
I think I would have rated this a little higher if it had been trimmed down a bit.
Jane's normal life felt cardboard, neither here nor there. I didn't care about her husband, daughter, or coworkers much at all.
Spoiler
I guess she didn't, either.The technological paranoia and corporate conspiracy felt like a William Gibson novel without the whiz-bang interruptions and commands through an earpiece. That didn't work for me at first, as if it wasn't focusing on the most interesting details. It started to work more in the individual interactions with the descriptions of facial expressions, tones of voice, memories.
Overall I grew to appreciate the themes of loneliness, displacement, being adrift and aimless, trying to connect to unreachable people in unreachable times and places. It finally felt like VanderMeer in the last 20% or so. The more prevalent animals, nature, and ruins became, the more cohesive and interesting the story was.
I did like the ambiguous ending, too.
Spoiler
Jane found who and what she was looking for, under her nose all along, and dead, but with seeds for the future sprouted. It's unclear whether Unitopia was more of a suicide cult or a radical environmental recovery measure.I think I would have rated this a little higher if it had been trimmed down a bit.
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not a fan of this one unfortunately. Writing was difficult to get into, plot was all over the place, lots of characters with changing names. I’m not a stranger to a mystery or crime thriller but the writing made it incredibly difficult to get into. Finished it out of spite.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes