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godofwar's review against another edition
2.0
my rating is only for the first two novellas (a star for each) as they all I managed to read. they weren't good and really drained me of any motivation to finish it. maybe I'll come back and finish the other two at some other time but... not any time soon.
bbrassfield's review against another edition
4.0
Four very different stories from the very talented Joe Hill. His novels are three of my favorites from the past ten years and so I approached this collection of four short novels with a lot of excitement. Of the four, I enjoyed the first two the most. Loaded is my favorite, because like Mr. Hill (and as he comments in the afterword) I'm deeply concerned but also somewhat fascinated by our nation's seemingly eternal hard on for the Gun. Loaded is a fast paced story that should be read aloud at NRA conventions. Somewhere in the past fifty years, our right to bear arms in the US has morphed into a sick kind of God worship for the Gun. The more powerful and deadly the better and of course the writers of the 2nd Amendment meant for us to have high powered assault rifles. No doubt they envisioned their own muskets as such in many a nocturnal dream, but I'm getting off track as I lose a little time on my soapbox. Read Loaded. It's great and manages to be both entertaining, art and and an object lesson.
The other stories are fine. The first is my second favorite probably because as a photographer I am fascinated by the type of photograph the camera is capable of taking in this story, and it is here Hill shows his well-developed sense of empathy. It's pretty wonderful.
The third story is just an interesting work of the imagination involving clouds and sentient life forms a little more advanced than humans in 2018. It's also a touching love story about what a guy will do to impress a girl.
The final story is pure horror how, wicked sick. Best read with Motorhead playing in the background. I think the late Lemmy would have appreciated the science to make it rain deadly needles of crystal.
The other stories are fine. The first is my second favorite probably because as a photographer I am fascinated by the type of photograph the camera is capable of taking in this story, and it is here Hill shows his well-developed sense of empathy. It's pretty wonderful.
The third story is just an interesting work of the imagination involving clouds and sentient life forms a little more advanced than humans in 2018. It's also a touching love story about what a guy will do to impress a girl.
The final story is pure horror how, wicked sick. Best read with Motorhead playing in the background. I think the late Lemmy would have appreciated the science to make it rain deadly needles of crystal.
salimah's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
These stories, while interesting topically, were difficult for me to connect with. There was only one of the four novellas that felt compelling to me.
thetbrstack's review against another edition
5.0
https://tbrstack.blogspot.com/2017/11/book-review-strange-weather.html
cuppasbooks's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
scottjp's review against another edition
I've read two of the four stories and I'm done. Is this really the same man who wrote 20th Century Ghosts? Perhaps succumbing to stardom, Hill's work is now a garbage dump of lowbrow language and chronic overwriting (like his bestselling dad.) Joe, everyone knows how a Polaroid works. If some of the kids don't, they can look it up. You also don't need to justify the depiction of politically incorrect bullying of the 1980s. We get it. I don't blame you for being defensive in these times, but be strong. Keep the story moving, Joe.
The second story is Joe's white guilt story, I guess. It is so contrived and agenda-driven it feels like it was written by a committee. A white male security guard makes an egregious error while investigating a shooting and kills an innocent Muslim woman, then tries to cover it up. Now he could have made him a complex character who elicits our sympathy in spite of his actions in the heat of the moment, but instead he's a cartoon. I did sympathize with him, but only because his nemesis, a black female journalist with a grudge against police, was so hateful, whereas he was just a guy caught up in events that quickly spiral out of control. I did not, however, feel that that was the intent of the story.
If the writing was better, I might have continued on through the next two stories for the sake of my book club, but it's not. It's terrible. And I have so many better things on the shelf.
The second story is Joe's white guilt story, I guess. It is so contrived and agenda-driven it feels like it was written by a committee. A white male security guard makes an egregious error while investigating a shooting and kills an innocent Muslim woman, then tries to cover it up. Now he could have made him a complex character who elicits our sympathy in spite of his actions in the heat of the moment, but instead he's a cartoon. I did sympathize with him, but only because his nemesis, a black female journalist with a grudge against police, was so hateful, whereas he was just a guy caught up in events that quickly spiral out of control. I did not, however, feel that that was the intent of the story.
If the writing was better, I might have continued on through the next two stories for the sake of my book club, but it's not. It's terrible. And I have so many better things on the shelf.
aposthuma's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
These were entertaining but I think I expected more from Joe Hill.