urlphantomhive's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
tklassy's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
hayzeus00's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
a0ri's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is an odd duck. Not in a bad way, but it wasn't necessarily what I was expecting. Lethem seems to like slightly subverting the readers expectations throughout the book, which he does mostly successfully. I'd describe this as a sort of "cozy distopian future" book of that is such a thing. I would say this is worth a look if you're interested in distopias and want to see the subject approached differently
doenja's review against another edition
2.0
Still trying to convince myself of my decision to read dystopian/utopian or just any future-oriented story in times that are prompting us to all open our emails with “hope this message finds you well under the circumstances”. As well, studying human computer interaction has completely ruined me for sloppy science fiction and underdeveloped name drops of AI.
However, it was refreshing to read a story as such that really does go about the day to day, rather than being led by the technology or disaster.
“We’re all fucking officially crazy,” said Lucius, who was, it seemed to Journeyman, fucking officially drunk. - page 173. Relatable!
“The moon large enough to hold his thoughts” p 268 - sentence lingered, gave some reason for gazing at the moon’s face.
However, it was refreshing to read a story as such that really does go about the day to day, rather than being led by the technology or disaster.
“We’re all fucking officially crazy,” said Lucius, who was, it seemed to Journeyman, fucking officially drunk. - page 173. Relatable!
“The moon large enough to hold his thoughts” p 268 - sentence lingered, gave some reason for gazing at the moon’s face.
elangenstein's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this, quick read. I could probably read 400 more pages just on Maddy and Astur and their organic farm
aneides's review against another edition
3.0
Very peaceful for fiction set in a post-apocalyptic era which is a bit refreshing.
None of the characters was especially compelling. The narrator is kind of a wuss, physically and philosophically, the antagonist is a narcissist and has clearly gone insane, the sister is too distant to admire much and it is likely that the entire community is voluntarily enslaved to a community of bullies. Really, what's to like?
It felt very high concept, maybe allegorical, and I kept bracing myself for some kind of very obvious metafictional morass. (It didn't arrive, at least not in an obvious way.) I just didn't care enough to figure out what the point of it was.
At first it drove me a bit crazy--I could have sworn I had read part of this story before... it was published in The New Yorker a couple years ago under the title "The Starlet Apartments."
None of the characters was especially compelling. The narrator is kind of a wuss, physically and philosophically, the antagonist is a narcissist and has clearly gone insane, the sister is too distant to admire much and it is likely that the entire community is voluntarily enslaved to a community of bullies. Really, what's to like?
It felt very high concept, maybe allegorical, and I kept bracing myself for some kind of very obvious metafictional morass. (It didn't arrive, at least not in an obvious way.) I just didn't care enough to figure out what the point of it was.
At first it drove me a bit crazy--I could have sworn I had read part of this story before... it was published in The New Yorker a couple years ago under the title "The Starlet Apartments."
shelf_husk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25