lllkilli's review against another edition
2.0
How does one make a zombie apocalypse about a global pandemic making all the blonde women go crazy boring?
Book follows redheaded dumbass hazel and her endless inner monologue of cutesy baby nicknames for the baby she is having by her married professor. Indecisive about her thesis, morally repugnant, too cowardly to make a quick decision about the pregnancy, and still harbors fantasies about being a happy family with the loser baby daddy. And she steals her friend's car when she is mourning the loss of her family.
Sadly she doesn't get eaten or die in childbirth by the end.
Book follows redheaded dumbass hazel and her endless inner monologue of cutesy baby nicknames for the baby she is having by her married professor. Indecisive about her thesis, morally repugnant, too cowardly to make a quick decision about the pregnancy, and still harbors fantasies about being a happy family with the loser baby daddy. And she steals her friend's car when she is mourning the loss of her family.
Sadly she doesn't get eaten or die in childbirth by the end.
emmaghanem's review against another edition
5.0
I received this book through a giveaway hosted by Goodreads, from Random House Canada.
The idea for this book was what attracted me and compelled me to enter the contest on Goodreads. This novel was like a breath of fresh air. It was a lovely break from all the Dystopian books floating around. The story took place during a time when life as we knew it disappeared, and all hell breaks loose, instead of a typical Dystopian story which normally takes place after an apocalypse. Although this is an Adult book, I enjoyed it as much as I would have enjoyed a normal Young Adult novel. The only difference was that this novel, "The Blondes" had more vulgar language than a typical YA book. When I read the synopsis, I actually thought that the main character would be weak and depressed all the time, because of everything that was happening to her and to the world that this story takes place in. I was surprised and happy to find that the protagonist (Hazel Hayes) was strong-willed and hopeful. Normally when I read Adult books they are never interesting enough to keep me reading, but this novel was interesting until the last page. Although I found this book extremely sad at many points, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot was entertaining and captivating, and almost all of the characters were well-rounded. My favourite parts in the novel was when Hazel would talk to her baby, and call it names like, "my little parasite" or "my little Amoeba" etc.... Through all of the intense scenes and sad parts, I was happy to find that this book had a happy ending. This book deserves the 5 stars that I give it.
The idea for this book was what attracted me and compelled me to enter the contest on Goodreads. This novel was like a breath of fresh air. It was a lovely break from all the Dystopian books floating around. The story took place during a time when life as we knew it disappeared, and all hell breaks loose, instead of a typical Dystopian story which normally takes place after an apocalypse. Although this is an Adult book, I enjoyed it as much as I would have enjoyed a normal Young Adult novel. The only difference was that this novel, "The Blondes" had more vulgar language than a typical YA book. When I read the synopsis, I actually thought that the main character would be weak and depressed all the time, because of everything that was happening to her and to the world that this story takes place in. I was surprised and happy to find that the protagonist (Hazel Hayes) was strong-willed and hopeful. Normally when I read Adult books they are never interesting enough to keep me reading, but this novel was interesting until the last page. Although I found this book extremely sad at many points, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot was entertaining and captivating, and almost all of the characters were well-rounded. My favourite parts in the novel was when Hazel would talk to her baby, and call it names like, "my little parasite" or "my little Amoeba" etc.... Through all of the intense scenes and sad parts, I was happy to find that this book had a happy ending. This book deserves the 5 stars that I give it.
carmelitasita's review against another edition
2.0
I was pretty excited to read this book. Who doesn't think that the story of blonde women succumbing to viral madness sounds like a pretty fun read? Unfortunately, this novel did not live up to its potential. The first thing that struck me as odd was the narrator, who was telling this story to her unborn baby in a remote cabin, and things went limply downhill from there. I don't know how a book about an epidemic can be boring, but The Blondes proved that it can be done. There were gruesome attacks, a manic drive to the Canadian border, quarantine, people dying - nothing seemed to boost the story. How could everything that was happening sound so bland? I was disappointed, to say the least.
* I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads.
* I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads.
draya108's review against another edition
2.0
Slow to begin. Interesting premise, but I didn't love it.
karleighreads's review against another edition
1.0
This book was terrible, I couldn't even finish it. I tried really hard because my sister in law really liked it.
kelseyat's review against another edition
3.0
An entertaining and sometimes dark read. Dystopian thrillers aren't quite for me, but ultimately this is an interesting book.
mountie9's review against another edition
3.0
The Good Stuff
This one truly reminded me of some of Margerat Atwood's earlier books. To me it had a similar mood and writing style to Atwood's The Handmaids Tale (one of my favorite books). Hazel even reminded me of times of Offred.
Smiled when Hazel referred to her fetus as different little pet names as she not only learns to accept her child but learns to love it.
As a Canadian, obviously enjoyed all of the Canadian references
enjoy the developing relationship between Hazel and Grace
The jumping back from past to present was a wee bit hard to get into at first but it works - gives you little bites to keep you hooked and wanting to find out more about what is going on
Main aspect of story being women's powers being stripped away by men in charge, as a reaction to a "plague' (in the guise of the protecting the rest of the population)
Darkly funny
I'm a brunette - so you can imagine the appeal of the premise
Would be perfect for a book club discussion. Would lead to fascinating discussions about beauty, friendships, feminism - just to name a few
Dystopian (speculative fiction) - I am always a sucker for this genre.
Please don't be put off by my opinion of this novel. The author is gifted, it really is just me in this case. I think I was expecting something different and this effected my enjoyment of the story.
The Not So Good Stuff
I was extremely frustrated with Hazel (The character Grace so eloquently mentions in the story, that Hazel is " is a bit of a dumb slut") and I personally had a hard time feeling empathy for her. For someone so educated, I expected more from her.
Felt more at times like a social commentary than a story - not really a bad thing, but personally I enjoy more story (Yes, I know I am sure this makes me somewhat a less intelligent woman - but I really don't care - this is who I am and I won't apologize for it) So in other words, if you are more intelligent than I (which not to be self deprecating or anything - but that would be most of you ) you will love this.
Could not understand why she fell for her professor - nothing intriguing about him and quite frankly I found him to be repulsive
Ok, picky picky on this one. Scientifically I don't understand how natural and peroxide blondes could both be affected, it just didn't make sense.
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"God, how we all wanted to work at Canadian Broadcasting Corporation! It was practically upper-middle-class welfare."
"I joked that I thought there might be protestors, and Kovacs told me that it was no joke, we were lucky. This wasn't Canada where maniacs were polite."
"She was one of those glass-half-full types, and I would've been ready to choke her at the end of the eight weeks, if someone else hadn't tried."
"I thought about my own Mom going through that fatigue, and the nausea, every second of every day for months for me, and how I never knew that and never respected her - and I wished now that I had. I wished I could take back every mean thing I'd ever retorted, every time I rolled my eyes, or didn't listen."
3 Dewey's
I borrowed this from our backroom where staff drop off their ARC's that they are done with
This one truly reminded me of some of Margerat Atwood's earlier books. To me it had a similar mood and writing style to Atwood's The Handmaids Tale (one of my favorite books). Hazel even reminded me of times of Offred.
Smiled when Hazel referred to her fetus as different little pet names as she not only learns to accept her child but learns to love it.
As a Canadian, obviously enjoyed all of the Canadian references
enjoy the developing relationship between Hazel and Grace
The jumping back from past to present was a wee bit hard to get into at first but it works - gives you little bites to keep you hooked and wanting to find out more about what is going on
Main aspect of story being women's powers being stripped away by men in charge, as a reaction to a "plague' (in the guise of the protecting the rest of the population)
Darkly funny
I'm a brunette - so you can imagine the appeal of the premise
Would be perfect for a book club discussion. Would lead to fascinating discussions about beauty, friendships, feminism - just to name a few
Dystopian (speculative fiction) - I am always a sucker for this genre.
Please don't be put off by my opinion of this novel. The author is gifted, it really is just me in this case. I think I was expecting something different and this effected my enjoyment of the story.
The Not So Good Stuff
I was extremely frustrated with Hazel (The character Grace so eloquently mentions in the story, that Hazel is " is a bit of a dumb slut") and I personally had a hard time feeling empathy for her. For someone so educated, I expected more from her.
Felt more at times like a social commentary than a story - not really a bad thing, but personally I enjoy more story (Yes, I know I am sure this makes me somewhat a less intelligent woman - but I really don't care - this is who I am and I won't apologize for it) So in other words, if you are more intelligent than I (which not to be self deprecating or anything - but that would be most of you ) you will love this.
Could not understand why she fell for her professor - nothing intriguing about him and quite frankly I found him to be repulsive
Ok, picky picky on this one. Scientifically I don't understand how natural and peroxide blondes could both be affected, it just didn't make sense.
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"God, how we all wanted to work at Canadian Broadcasting Corporation! It was practically upper-middle-class welfare."
"I joked that I thought there might be protestors, and Kovacs told me that it was no joke, we were lucky. This wasn't Canada where maniacs were polite."
"She was one of those glass-half-full types, and I would've been ready to choke her at the end of the eight weeks, if someone else hadn't tried."
"I thought about my own Mom going through that fatigue, and the nausea, every second of every day for months for me, and how I never knew that and never respected her - and I wished now that I had. I wished I could take back every mean thing I'd ever retorted, every time I rolled my eyes, or didn't listen."
3 Dewey's
I borrowed this from our backroom where staff drop off their ARC's that they are done with
wordnerdy's review against another edition
4.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/10/2014-book-249.html
ceuran's review against another edition
2.0
More reviews at: www.eyesonthepages.blogspot.ca
When I read the premise for The Blondes, I expected it to be a somewhat funny book. Instead, I got the complete opposite of that. The tone for the whole book was serious and all I could think of through the whole thing was, "Someone is actually taking this plot seriously? Okaaaay." Which, therefore set the tone for me and caused me to give this book to Dull Eyed review.
Because of the difference between what I was expecting from this book and what I got from it are two completely different polar opposites, it made it really hard for me to get into the book and took me forever to read. Now, I'm not saying that this book is bad in anyway, and it did somehow get more interesting towards the end of the book, but as I said, I just had a hard time getting into it.
I will admit, I first entered the contest on Goodreads because of the cover of this book. I mean, I've never seen anything like it with all of those hair sample colours and it just looked so... cool. Let me tell you, that will probably be the first and last time I ever pick up a book based on it's cover.
I found the pacing of this book to be really slow and almost unbearable at points. Nothing really intrigued me or had me dying to turn the next page.... And the chapters were just so long! I don't know about you guys, but I hate long chapters (Anything over 10 pages I consider long chapters). I find that short chapters in a book make me feel like I accomplish more and also help me to continue reading a book late at night.
The story is told in first person by Hazel to her un-born child, re-accounting memories from just before the Blonde Plague took over up to when she finally has the child. The book almost seemed like an auto-biography of her life (which I guess it was), with stories that kind of jumped from one time frame to another. I believe at one point their were three or so different time-line stories occurring.
All in all, I didn't really enjoy this book because my expectations were so botched that it just kind of ruined the book for me. If I had different expectations, I'm sure I would have enjoyed this book much more than I had.
When I read the premise for The Blondes, I expected it to be a somewhat funny book. Instead, I got the complete opposite of that. The tone for the whole book was serious and all I could think of through the whole thing was, "Someone is actually taking this plot seriously? Okaaaay." Which, therefore set the tone for me and caused me to give this book to Dull Eyed review.
Because of the difference between what I was expecting from this book and what I got from it are two completely different polar opposites, it made it really hard for me to get into the book and took me forever to read. Now, I'm not saying that this book is bad in anyway, and it did somehow get more interesting towards the end of the book, but as I said, I just had a hard time getting into it.
I will admit, I first entered the contest on Goodreads because of the cover of this book. I mean, I've never seen anything like it with all of those hair sample colours and it just looked so... cool. Let me tell you, that will probably be the first and last time I ever pick up a book based on it's cover.
I found the pacing of this book to be really slow and almost unbearable at points. Nothing really intrigued me or had me dying to turn the next page.... And the chapters were just so long! I don't know about you guys, but I hate long chapters (Anything over 10 pages I consider long chapters). I find that short chapters in a book make me feel like I accomplish more and also help me to continue reading a book late at night.
The story is told in first person by Hazel to her un-born child, re-accounting memories from just before the Blonde Plague took over up to when she finally has the child. The book almost seemed like an auto-biography of her life (which I guess it was), with stories that kind of jumped from one time frame to another. I believe at one point their were three or so different time-line stories occurring.
All in all, I didn't really enjoy this book because my expectations were so botched that it just kind of ruined the book for me. If I had different expectations, I'm sure I would have enjoyed this book much more than I had.