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mstewa02's Reviews (140)
fast-paced
I have zero bad things to say about this book. It was a fun and easy read. This book touches on where we are in our current moment without making you hate your current moment. This was a thrill of reflection and possibility. Absolutely LOVED it.
I’ve gotten so spoiled with my books this month!!
I’ve gotten so spoiled with my books this month!!
What. A. Story.
I really don’t have anything negative to say—this was one of my most anticipated releases of the beginning of the year and it lived up to my hopes.
That being said, this story is SAD. Sweet, sweet young Mungo goes through so much in this story, and none of it is easy. The way Stuart writes Mungo discovering, and then exploring, his sexuality in such an innocent, child-like way will leave you hugging this book as you carry it around to read. There are just so many layers to this book, I could write whole essays on it. It’s one I will think of for years to come.
I saw the timelines mentioned in a couple of reviews so I will weigh in on that. At first, I was confused by the split timelines—it’s told in two time periods pretty close to one another, that eventually meet—but as I got about 75% of the way through, the split became so beautifully purposeful and allowed certain parts to have a harder impact than they would have otherwise.
I haven’t read Stuart’s first book yet, and I’m looking forward to starting that soon.
Highly highly recommend, as long as you don’t mind reading something sad, but oh so beautiful.
I really don’t have anything negative to say—this was one of my most anticipated releases of the beginning of the year and it lived up to my hopes.
That being said, this story is SAD. Sweet, sweet young Mungo goes through so much in this story, and none of it is easy. The way Stuart writes Mungo discovering, and then exploring, his sexuality in such an innocent, child-like way will leave you hugging this book as you carry it around to read. There are just so many layers to this book, I could write whole essays on it. It’s one I will think of for years to come.
I saw the timelines mentioned in a couple of reviews so I will weigh in on that. At first, I was confused by the split timelines—it’s told in two time periods pretty close to one another, that eventually meet—but as I got about 75% of the way through, the split became so beautifully purposeful and allowed certain parts to have a harder impact than they would have otherwise.
I haven’t read Stuart’s first book yet, and I’m looking forward to starting that soon.
Highly highly recommend, as long as you don’t mind reading something sad, but oh so beautiful.
Since this was my first book diving into the food processes of America, I won’t review this from a content stand-point. I took everything at face-value and used this as a teaching tool rather than a work to critique.
That being said, I absolutely loved this!! It was about 100 pages too long for me, but fully enjoyable. I learned so much about farming and the journey of food. I switched back and forth between my hard copy and the audiobook.
I found the bit about culture’s impact on food so impactful. Our farms are set to have an output that the culture asks for—you change the culture’s mindset about the food they eat, and that gives the farmer the ability to make adjustments that are better for the animals and plants, and eventually the consumers. It’s an incredibly basic concept, but having not thought much about the journey of my food until recently, this stuck out to me.
I really learned so much and this book gave me insight as a consumer, future gardener, and food lover. When I get ready to start my garden/small farm one day, this will definitely be a lovely reference tool.
That being said, I absolutely loved this!! It was about 100 pages too long for me, but fully enjoyable. I learned so much about farming and the journey of food. I switched back and forth between my hard copy and the audiobook.
I found the bit about culture’s impact on food so impactful. Our farms are set to have an output that the culture asks for—you change the culture’s mindset about the food they eat, and that gives the farmer the ability to make adjustments that are better for the animals and plants, and eventually the consumers. It’s an incredibly basic concept, but having not thought much about the journey of my food until recently, this stuck out to me.
I really learned so much and this book gave me insight as a consumer, future gardener, and food lover. When I get ready to start my garden/small farm one day, this will definitely be a lovely reference tool.
I adored this book. The experimental writing style aligns poetically with the experimental technology discussed in the book. The only negative I have for it is that there are probably 20-30 characters, and each one has a connection to at least one other. When I read this again, I’ll probably keep a character list in order to better connect the story lines because it was hard to remember all of the connections. I really liked having each chapter from a different perspective and time period though. I don’t know the proper writing style term (please comment if you do) but it’s as if the plot was told passively, and the character development was told actively. If that makes sense? Kind of reminded me of how “Her Body and Other Parties” delivered the plot of each short story. I dunno, I just really enjoyed this.
P.S. should you choose to read this (you should) I really recommend reading it when you have time to knock out at least one, if not a couple, chapters at a time. Because the connection of each character is so loose, but the concepts are so intricate, it’s not one to easily read a few pages here and there and still be able to keep up with. At least it wasn’t for me!)
P.S. should you choose to read this (you should) I really recommend reading it when you have time to knock out at least one, if not a couple, chapters at a time. Because the connection of each character is so loose, but the concepts are so intricate, it’s not one to easily read a few pages here and there and still be able to keep up with. At least it wasn’t for me!)
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loathed this book, and if I believed in DNF, this would be on that list.
I absolutely loved The Searcher and was really looking forward to cracking into this series, but oh my god this was torture to get through. I think the best way to describe French’s writing style is that she drowns you with character development and sprinkles in some plot…but with this book, even with all the focus on development, the main character never improves! He’s pretty stagnant throughout, but the characters around him grow a lot. It was maddening to keep reading from the his perspective!
French weaves a good mystery, but for every 20 pages of mystery, you get 150 pages of semi-pointless character interactions. I was aware of that with The Searcher, but the main character was very likeable to me…not so much with In the Woods. The redeemable part of the story was Cassie Maddox. Her character made everything better…I might still give this series a shot because the next book is from her perspective, ugh we’ll see…
Edited note:
I just realized In the Woods was her first book and there’s 12 years between this one and The Searcher. Perhaps I really like the writer French has grown into and should view the earlier stuff through a different lens.
I absolutely loved The Searcher and was really looking forward to cracking into this series, but oh my god this was torture to get through. I think the best way to describe French’s writing style is that she drowns you with character development and sprinkles in some plot…but with this book, even with all the focus on development, the main character never improves! He’s pretty stagnant throughout, but the characters around him grow a lot. It was maddening to keep reading from the his perspective!
French weaves a good mystery, but for every 20 pages of mystery, you get 150 pages of semi-pointless character interactions. I was aware of that with The Searcher, but the main character was very likeable to me…not so much with In the Woods. The redeemable part of the story was Cassie Maddox. Her character made everything better…I might still give this series a shot because the next book is from her perspective, ugh we’ll see…
Edited note:
I just realized In the Woods was her first book and there’s 12 years between this one and The Searcher. Perhaps I really like the writer French has grown into and should view the earlier stuff through a different lens.
*Update: I've upped this from 3.75 to 4 because the longer it sits with me, the more I get from it. Cute.
I liked this, but I wanted to love it. The format can be distracting with the random recipes, emails, and other 1-2 page items, but I probably would’ve used the same format if I was capturing my life in a book. I think perhaps it was just a little too long for me, and I would’ve been more engaged if it was shorter. The middle is the best bit—you transition from very short stories to better formed chapters and the material becomes more widely relatable. I did love the check ins of “everything I know about love” and how they changed the older she got. That was really beautiful.
There are some really beautiful and insightful stories in here. And fans of Ghosts can definitely see where she got her inspiration!
I liked this, but I wanted to love it. The format can be distracting with the random recipes, emails, and other 1-2 page items, but I probably would’ve used the same format if I was capturing my life in a book. I think perhaps it was just a little too long for me, and I would’ve been more engaged if it was shorter. The middle is the best bit—you transition from very short stories to better formed chapters and the material becomes more widely relatable. I did love the check ins of “everything I know about love” and how they changed the older she got. That was really beautiful.
There are some really beautiful and insightful stories in here. And fans of Ghosts can definitely see where she got her inspiration!
2.75
As a doctor herself, the author wanted to shine a light on the completely legal discrimination allowances in our healthcare system, especially when religious institutions mix with hospitals. Her author’s note at the end goes into more detail about this. I was really excited to read that story, and in some ways that’s what I got, but…
There’s almost two different books here—one about a straight woman finding love amongst the background of her tough career; and the other about a doctor being discriminated against for being gay and fired for treating patients who identify as LGBTQIA…and his attempt to beat the discriminatory ass holes at their own game with the help of his super smart best friend. The synopsis also made it sound like this book would tell the story of healthcare for transgender patients, and we got maybe a paragraph?
It does an excellent job at spotlighting the dangers of Christian-based hospitals and their independent ability to make their own rules. That’s a huge thing the synopsis left out—there’s a lot of religion in this book! But there were many cringe/missed the mark comments and questions between the characters that were written as totally normal conversation and the “right” questions to be asking. That was another spot where the writing lost me—I think the author had a great perspective as a doctor seeing these issues in her practice and seeing some of this happen to doctors she knew, but she lacked the perspective of non-religious and LGBTQIA persons, and that’s where the story needed more support.
I rounded up though because I do think this is an extremely important message to shine a light on and I’m really glad she wanted to tell this story. There is too much allowance for discrimination against people who identify as LGBTQIA in so many of our institutions—from hospitals, to colleges, to private businesses—it’s everywhere and it’s all legal and it’s disgusting.
As a doctor herself, the author wanted to shine a light on the completely legal discrimination allowances in our healthcare system, especially when religious institutions mix with hospitals. Her author’s note at the end goes into more detail about this. I was really excited to read that story, and in some ways that’s what I got, but…
There’s almost two different books here—one about a straight woman finding love amongst the background of her tough career; and the other about a doctor being discriminated against for being gay and fired for treating patients who identify as LGBTQIA…and his attempt to beat the discriminatory ass holes at their own game with the help of his super smart best friend. The synopsis also made it sound like this book would tell the story of healthcare for transgender patients, and we got maybe a paragraph?
It does an excellent job at spotlighting the dangers of Christian-based hospitals and their independent ability to make their own rules. That’s a huge thing the synopsis left out—there’s a lot of religion in this book! But there were many cringe/missed the mark comments and questions between the characters that were written as totally normal conversation and the “right” questions to be asking. That was another spot where the writing lost me—I think the author had a great perspective as a doctor seeing these issues in her practice and seeing some of this happen to doctors she knew, but she lacked the perspective of non-religious and LGBTQIA persons, and that’s where the story needed more support.
I rounded up though because I do think this is an extremely important message to shine a light on and I’m really glad she wanted to tell this story. There is too much allowance for discrimination against people who identify as LGBTQIA in so many of our institutions—from hospitals, to colleges, to private businesses—it’s everywhere and it’s all legal and it’s disgusting.
What. An. Ending.
This is one I'd like to read again every couple of years, I think. It's one of those that will give you a different piece to take with you as you read at different points in your life.
This is one I'd like to read again every couple of years, I think. It's one of those that will give you a different piece to take with you as you read at different points in your life.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
I just love Noah Hawley’s brain. His ability to bring real-word problems into his works of fiction and make you think hard about them, from a view outside of your own, is perhaps my favorite thing he does. He’s also just wildly creative and there’s always a layer of fun, no matter how serious the material.
This is a mystery of a plane crash with only two survivors. It’s told in chapter segments that switch perspectives for literally every character mentioned in the book. You get more background on each character and the troubles they’re facing, which adds a puzzle piece to the mystery itself. I typically don’t love stories that switch perspectives this much, but this is Noah Hawley, so of course it’s executed perfectly. I was captivated from the first page. Big recommend.
This is a mystery of a plane crash with only two survivors. It’s told in chapter segments that switch perspectives for literally every character mentioned in the book. You get more background on each character and the troubles they’re facing, which adds a puzzle piece to the mystery itself. I typically don’t love stories that switch perspectives this much, but this is Noah Hawley, so of course it’s executed perfectly. I was captivated from the first page. Big recommend.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
This one fell a bit flat for me but the story was a pretty interesting concept. It switches perspectives halfway through, which I found jarring at first but ended up really liking. There were a couple of really hard-hitting sentences that stick with you, which I’m always a fan of.