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documentno_is's Reviews (1.29k)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really appreciated the complexity with which Burns crafted character dynamics and motivations, even as I found the central story rather lackluster. I found the prose to be compelling, the narrative structure was pretty tight, but the themes and setting were not relatable to me. I also inadvertently read a book with almost the same subject matter as this one previously, and in direct comparison this novel stood out as the clear winner so this may have inflated my rating a tad.
funny
inspiring
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
adventurous
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This novel started a little rocky, for me but by the end was captivating and poignant.
The character of Marie is easy to empathize with, as she has always been given a difficult hand. I will say her obsession with the queen was a little hard to stomach sometimes but it steered just clear of grating for me.
The plot work in the earlier half of the novel was difficult to get through, although I did love Groff's writing style and found the prose really compelling. My largest issue was the way that Marie had very modern reactions to events, but I understand the author is not interested in this from a literary perspective. The word choices made up for this vibe of modernity often, and I came around to it by the end.
The novel really came together in the final chapters, when Marie began to show extraordinary growth and all the thematic elements Groff spent the length of Matrix setting up came together in a very perfect way.The passages on the folly of being self made, how everyone Marie came in contact with constructed her memory were really beautiful. I found the passages of Tilde throwing the book of visions into the fire to be very compelling, her desire to protect the abbey from the legend of Marie was noble if slightly misguided. I'm not sure how I felt about this novel in terms of its proximity to religion/ historical relevance as this was clearly a device to tell a larger more human story. Anecdotally I did find the 'trix' ing within the novel to be a bit overwhelming and rather humorous.
Overall I found the novel inspiring, and all the ground work I thought Groff was putting in to build Marie as a larger than life biblical figure was pulled back as Marie aged and became more concerned with her immediate impact and relationships than her legend. Although I think I might have a fundamental block/disagreeing view toward's Groff's thematic set up that some humans can be more great than others, although as I said previously she pulled back on this theme in a satisfying way in the end. I think the one unanswered question for me remains Marie's visions and how much stake I should have given them throughout the novel. Where they simply a plot device to push Marie's motivations or do they make some larger biblical contextual claim about sainthood and women's role in proximity to the church.
The character of Marie is easy to empathize with, as she has always been given a difficult hand. I will say her obsession with the queen was a little hard to stomach sometimes but it steered just clear of grating for me.
The plot work in the earlier half of the novel was difficult to get through, although I did love Groff's writing style and found the prose really compelling. My largest issue was the way that Marie had very modern reactions to events, but I understand the author is not interested in this from a literary perspective. The word choices made up for this vibe of modernity often, and I came around to it by the end.
The novel really came together in the final chapters, when Marie began to show extraordinary growth and all the thematic elements Groff spent the length of Matrix setting up came together in a very perfect way.
Overall I found the novel inspiring, and all the ground work
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Semi-organized thoughts on A Visit from the Goon Squad, after reading it in around 3-4 days after being recommended this book for almost a decade.
- The interwoven narratives from many characters framing is starting to grate on my soul, I don’t understand why authors writing a character piece would go out of their way to distance me from their character’s voice by interweaving it with so many others. I think this fact would be less grating if I were reading it in 2010, and not almost 15 years later, I feel like in the past 5 years contemporary fiction is written almost exclusively in this style and it's not my favorite.
- On the flip side I was interested in almost every character of this novel, and I felt they were all complex and related.
- I liked how Egan changed the way she wrote narratives to fit a character’s voice. I liked how she would reveal information of other character’s stories in other chapters. Almost every character is an unreliable narrator and they are all loosely related, but you discover information about them chapters after they are the POV.
- Ally’s chapter stuck out to me/ the stylistic geometric discovery of her surroundings was endearing.
The novel is way less about music than I thought it would be, given how this novel has been sold to me over the years. It’s mores about the industry of music- which I find uninteresting. Although as the book becomes more about music ( in Ally's chapter and beyond ) I liked it even less. The last chapter gave me hives, like it sucked the remaining humanity out of the world she had created; turning very human experiences metallic and I’m sure that was intentional. Egan has a rightful belief that industry corrupts music and I’m on par to believe her although in the ending chapter I felt a little spoon-fed in that narrative. It kind of felt like my aging hippy teacher telling me to “be careful of those phones” and in some ways there is an undercurrent of truth but it feels like its being told by an outsider looking in. - This novel has been sold to me over the years as a book about- or at least adjacent to- music but I think it’s really a book about aging. It’s a novel that reckons with what happens to our dreams as the years go by, our relationships, our families, our desires, etc. When Egan allows me to see her characters grow up, dynamically reckon with the world they are in and the relationships they've built that is when I find the novel most successful.
Ultimately I found this novel endearing at times, and grating at others. Egan's writing style is enough to inflate my rating, I found the prose fluid and entertaining even when her characters and thematic points didn't grab me.
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Poorly written fluff piece with an interesting concept.
I know someone with face blindness so I was interested in those parts but not interested enough to look past the glaring plot holes and flat characters.
Stereotypical hot guy archetype with a literal evil step sister who does mean things to watch her suffer? I’m not buying it, and I don’t believe the author intended her to be an entirely unreliable narrator.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked this book so much more than I thought I would, but I do have a consistent interest in post-pandemic apocalyptic literature.
I think it’s been rare, although I have read many books written this year of this style, that an author weaves together multiple narratives that weave together in effecting ways without having some large a-ha and here it all comes together moment.
I think overall a compelling narrative with complex characters that never really scratched too far beneath the surface for me. Or didn’t have anything too profound to say on the meaning of life after tragedy despite how much it pondered on it. I will say also, that I really enjoyed this authors voice.
I think it’s been rare, although I have read many books written this year of this style, that an author weaves together multiple narratives that weave together in effecting ways without having some large a-ha and here it all comes together moment.
I think overall a compelling narrative with complex characters that never really scratched too far beneath the surface for me. Or didn’t have anything too profound to say on the meaning of life after tragedy despite how much it pondered on it. I will say also, that I really enjoyed this authors voice.
This is the worst book I’ve read in a while, thought about finishing it just to slam it on here but not worth my time.
Also maybe there needs to be better labeling depicting which stories are contemporary romance and which are badly written porn.
Also maybe there needs to be better labeling depicting which stories are contemporary romance and which are badly written porn.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this novel I felt my mind slipping to Bonnie Burstow's book Radical Feminist Therapy, and how womanhood (and motherhood specifically) is thankless, and our relationship to mother and father in the context of the patriarchy is a damning fate. It can be easy to overlook the mother, who is tasked with providing everything and is given almost nothing in return. This novel is a series of "looking backs" of a family's life who surrounded a mother who was left alone and overlooked in life at various turns. I think this is also a harder read for those who do not have a good relationship with their mother, and I found myself fighting between feelings of anger and sympathy throughout.
It's always hard to evaluate a translation- you can never be sure what you've lost in the process.
It's always hard to evaluate a translation- you can never be sure what you've lost in the process.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I went into Boy Parts largely blind and was better for it, the shock factor and depravity of the slow unveiling of the nature of our protagonist was more impactful than had I known what to expect. I hated every moment of being in this character's head and yet grapple with the ways in which she can be both predator and victim. Our main character is a master of manipulation and drowning in her own narcissism yet we see the multitude of ways she is failed by those around her, fueling her perversions. In many ways reading this novel felt unbearable, both in the situations conjured up and the thought processes we are made privy to. This book felt cutting and revolting in the same ways Lolita does . My only complaint was the plot post London visit, for as shocking and fast paced as it was for the first 4/5ths of the story it puttered out rather ungracefully to an unsatisfying ending of repetitions as is common of unveiling your central underlying "secret" too early on. We are left in liminal space of not knowing how much of our character's recollection is psychosis and how much is sociopathy, undoing much of the suspense of earlier on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism