bags_and_bookz's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you Netgalley, Algonquin Books and Jill McCorkle for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.
Hieroglyphics is a complicated narrative from few different perspectives. The reader hears the story of Lil and Frank and from Shelley and Harvey. With flashbacks from the past, they managed to draw a complete picture of all of their lives which strangely intercept in one town in one house. I find the story interesting and engaging. The characters are well developed thorough notes, observations and their own voices. Hieroglyphics has many themes opened and slowly goes from one to another. At times, it feels a bit much but at the end it all comes together.
Hieroglyphics is a complicated narrative from few different perspectives. The reader hears the story of Lil and Frank and from Shelley and Harvey. With flashbacks from the past, they managed to draw a complete picture of all of their lives which strangely intercept in one town in one house. I find the story interesting and engaging. The characters are well developed thorough notes, observations and their own voices. Hieroglyphics has many themes opened and slowly goes from one to another. At times, it feels a bit much but at the end it all comes together.
arthur_pendrgn's review against another edition
DNF. Just couldn't connect with the characters, although I had never given thought to the effects on court stenographers of listening to all the evils in the world before this book.
kaycee_k's review against another edition
3.0
Hieroglyphics follow Lil and Frank who married young and throw decades. This is a book about loss, growing, family. Jill McCorkle writing is simple, it's not over the top, but it makes you think. It's also about memories, thinking about them and how they change over time; what memory is like depending on your age. I like how the characters are dealing and handly how the past affects the present. The read was slow for me, but I like the message it stands for. This is was a solid book, I wasn't dying to know what was going to happen, it was just a calm read for me.
julieknut's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
kaestrong's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ljjohnson8's review against another edition
1.0
An over-written, dull, navel-gazing book about very sad, lonely, and depressed people. Maybe at another time I would have found something to appreciate, but it surely was about as poor a choice as possible for me in the middle of an isolating pandemic.
the_gender_stealer's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
2.0
thain's review against another edition
4.0
An aging couple who each lost a parent in a disaster retire to North Carolina, where the husband's boyhood home is now inhabited by a single mother burdened by her own troubled past. A heartfelt and deftly structured novel delving into the events and memories that make up a person's life.