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A review by toadlett
Weather by Jenny Offill
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
woah! It's ben a while since a book sucked me in within a page but the voice and writing style in this was just so instantly involving. It helps that its written in these bite-size chunks that both echo the fragmented thoughts and lives of the protagonist, trying to live their life on so many fronts against so many obstacles, trying to save everyone and never able to do enough to really fix any one problem, and also of the panicky, frenetic/apathetic mode of attention associated with, for example, doomscrolling on social media. basically, it's very easy to devour this book and I got through it within 3 shifts at the library where i work. (which felt v fitting as the protagonist is a librarian!)
This is a book that will reward rereading, it feels like climate fiction for people who don't want to have to be worried about the world ending because they have lives to live, but who are worried nonetheless. It's full of beautifully observed moments of humanity, the characters you see three times for a sentence at a time feel as fully real and empathetic as the main character and her closest family. it feels weird to call a book hopeful when it almost pokes fun at itself for the hope it does offer, but it does find it, over and over, in the fact of people being worth loving, silly bastards as we are.
This is a book that will reward rereading, it feels like climate fiction for people who don't want to have to be worried about the world ending because they have lives to live, but who are worried nonetheless. It's full of beautifully observed moments of humanity, the characters you see three times for a sentence at a time feel as fully real and empathetic as the main character and her closest family. it feels weird to call a book hopeful when it almost pokes fun at itself for the hope it does offer, but it does find it, over and over, in the fact of people being worth loving, silly bastards as we are.