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timna_wyckoff's review against another edition
3.0
Um......
I was quite moved by the story of the dad who became homeless (well done, subtle every time he came up). But, the school shooting story and everyone around that seemed really overdone to me. And, the ending......huh?
I was quite moved by the story of the dad who became homeless (well done, subtle every time he came up). But, the school shooting story and everyone around that seemed really overdone to me. And, the ending......huh?
ksdambro's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the characters. The fact that their lives intersected as neatly as they did seemed contrived, however.
dcmr's review against another edition
4.0
I'd like to give this book 3.5 stars. This was good and engaging, but I like her last novel — The Years We Left Home — better.
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Read staffer Jo's review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/598743969
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search?formids=target&lang=eng&suite=def&reservedids=lang,suite&target=humanity project thompson
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search?formids=target&lang=eng&suite=def&reservedids=lang,suite&target=humanity project thompson
kdhanda's review against another edition
3.0
Started with an interesting premise: can one be incentivized to be good? However, the book meandered through and never got to a pinnacle. Average book that starts with a bang and ends with a whimper.
ampersandread22's review against another edition
2.0
If someone could explain the intricacies of the ending of this book, and the (what I thought were) revelations of relationships between this motley cast of characters, I would appreciate it. And I don't mean that as a back-handed stab at the book. I'm genuinely curious, because I honestly didn't understand...
This all might stem from my confusion as to what the book was going to be about. I read the title: The Humanity Project, and assumed the book would be about that: this eccentric charity that somehow pays people to be good. I thought this was an awesome central point to ground these characters with. Lots of opportunity to grow and change your characters. Unfortunately, that's not really what the book is about.
The actual Humanity Project is a handful of scenes in a boardroom, briefly discussing a mission statement/what the word "humanity" means, and in the last few pages, a conference. And after that, I still don't know what The Humanity Project truly is/does!!. Both scenes are narrated by women who seem to genuinely not care about things happening around them.
In fact, this apathy is what made me dislike all of the characters, and by the end, the story as a whole. All of them has things they could have cared about, and professed in fact to really care about, but never acted on. I don't believe any of them were better off at the close of the story than they were in their initial, messy starts (and that initial messiness was intriguing, and I was excited to see how they sorted themselves out, but the fact is that most of them don't...)
Overall, the description of this book is great. Sound like a great impetus for a story. But the execution is lackluster. The characters don't care, and therefore, neither did this reader.
This all might stem from my confusion as to what the book was going to be about. I read the title: The Humanity Project, and assumed the book would be about that: this eccentric charity that somehow pays people to be good. I thought this was an awesome central point to ground these characters with. Lots of opportunity to grow and change your characters. Unfortunately, that's not really what the book is about.
The actual Humanity Project is a handful of scenes in a boardroom, briefly discussing a mission statement/what the word "humanity" means, and in the last few pages, a conference. And after that, I still don't know what The Humanity Project truly is/does!!. Both scenes are narrated by women who seem to genuinely not care about things happening around them.
In fact, this apathy is what made me dislike all of the characters, and by the end, the story as a whole. All of them has things they could have cared about, and professed in fact to really care about, but never acted on. I don't believe any of them were better off at the close of the story than they were in their initial, messy starts (and that initial messiness was intriguing, and I was excited to see how they sorted themselves out, but the fact is that most of them don't...)
Overall, the description of this book is great. Sound like a great impetus for a story. But the execution is lackluster. The characters don't care, and therefore, neither did this reader.
taratosaurus's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book in a goodreads first reads giveaway.
A surprisingly optimistic story, for a novel that begins with a school shooting. Lots of very distinct/memorable/sometimes eccentric characters, even the minor ones. My only real issue is that I felt the epilogue was maybe a bit too tidy.
A surprisingly optimistic story, for a novel that begins with a school shooting. Lots of very distinct/memorable/sometimes eccentric characters, even the minor ones. My only real issue is that I felt the epilogue was maybe a bit too tidy.
librarianna81's review against another edition
3.0
shelfnotes.com
Dear Reader,
For some reason, I was REALLY eager to read this book for quite some time when it first came out. But, when I finally got my hands on it, it was nothing like I was expecting. I loved the idea of examining the philosophy behind what makes a person do good in the world, but the story itself was kind of ... superficial. Very interesting how the book revolves quite a bit around a school shooting, which feels still a little soon and a bit too raw for a lot of people these days.
I got the impression that the book revolved around two single fathers, basically. One was trying to raise a teen-aged son alone, and was struggling quite a bit to make ends meet. The other was suddenly raising a teenage daughter who had recently experienced a severe trauma, and who he hadn't seen since she was a baby. I often got the two men mixed up, though, which made the story a little hard to follow. The men both felt very pathetic and lost, and their stories seemed strikingly similar. Which is why it seemed like there was such potential for a good story when their children became friends, as they seemed to have very parallel family situations. But I don't feel as if the book had much of a focus, and while I enjoyed it as a great character study, the story itself didn't seem to hold up very well.
The title of the book implies that it centers around this "Humanity Project" which the reader finds out (maybe halfway through the book, and rather outside of the main story line) is the name of a foundation which a rich widow starts in order to make the world a better place (yes, that is really what the board is tasked with doing). Much like the wishy-washy nature of the nonprofit organization itself - they don't ever have much direction - the book also followed a similar and very indecisive path. I was pretty disappointed, because there seemed like so much great material to work with, but it didn't resolve into much. I didn't really like any of the characters; they all mostly just annoyed me. And the book started out with so much promise and intrigue: one of the fathers meets a woman on Craigslist and goes out for a drink with her on one of his last dollars (even while his house is about to be foreclosed on) and ends up seriously regretting the decision. I won't tell you why, because that is probably one of the best parts of the book, and you'll have to read to find out. I kind of want other people to read the book, too, and let me know what they think, because perhaps I was just missing something big. I kept thinking I must be. Maybe it was just my warped interpretation of the story?
Yours,
Arianna
Dear Reader,
For some reason, I was REALLY eager to read this book for quite some time when it first came out. But, when I finally got my hands on it, it was nothing like I was expecting. I loved the idea of examining the philosophy behind what makes a person do good in the world, but the story itself was kind of ... superficial. Very interesting how the book revolves quite a bit around a school shooting, which feels still a little soon and a bit too raw for a lot of people these days.
I got the impression that the book revolved around two single fathers, basically. One was trying to raise a teen-aged son alone, and was struggling quite a bit to make ends meet. The other was suddenly raising a teenage daughter who had recently experienced a severe trauma, and who he hadn't seen since she was a baby. I often got the two men mixed up, though, which made the story a little hard to follow. The men both felt very pathetic and lost, and their stories seemed strikingly similar. Which is why it seemed like there was such potential for a good story when their children became friends, as they seemed to have very parallel family situations. But I don't feel as if the book had much of a focus, and while I enjoyed it as a great character study, the story itself didn't seem to hold up very well.
The title of the book implies that it centers around this "Humanity Project" which the reader finds out (maybe halfway through the book, and rather outside of the main story line) is the name of a foundation which a rich widow starts in order to make the world a better place (yes, that is really what the board is tasked with doing). Much like the wishy-washy nature of the nonprofit organization itself - they don't ever have much direction - the book also followed a similar and very indecisive path. I was pretty disappointed, because there seemed like so much great material to work with, but it didn't resolve into much. I didn't really like any of the characters; they all mostly just annoyed me. And the book started out with so much promise and intrigue: one of the fathers meets a woman on Craigslist and goes out for a drink with her on one of his last dollars (even while his house is about to be foreclosed on) and ends up seriously regretting the decision. I won't tell you why, because that is probably one of the best parts of the book, and you'll have to read to find out. I kind of want other people to read the book, too, and let me know what they think, because perhaps I was just missing something big. I kept thinking I must be. Maybe it was just my warped interpretation of the story?
Yours,
Arianna