Reviews

Black Box, by Jennifer Egan

alexxjoyce's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

h_a_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

bookloversboudoir's review

5.0

Black Box is really enjoyable. The story was first broadcast as a series of tweets so the structure is a bit odd and not something I’ve seen before. I really liked it though. The structure and form works really well. There is no room for padding or rambling and developing character. Every word needs to earn its place and they do. The movement is tense and packed with suspense. Black Box is very entertaining.

evelynisabookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

teresac's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

scamp1234's review

3.0

Why is it some reviewers are so easy to provide 5 or 4 *s just because they are fans of the author, are first to review, or just can't say a bad thing because they don't want to hurt someone feelings?

That's how I feel with Black Box,I agree it's unique and interesting, but did I really enjoy it or consider it the best? That's what we're essentially saying here by giving it anything more than 3 stars. With three were saying that we liked it, with two its just ok, and one we disliked it.

So how did this book garner so many four and five star ratings? Lots of fans? A unique concept? Or a lack of reviews? Now I almost gave this two stars because I thought at first it was just alright, but it's uniqueness for structuring each line under 140 lines and the story of the black box wasn't boring.

The problem with reviewers being too easy though just makes it harder to find a truly great book by just reading the reviews. You have to nowadays rely on them along with word of mouth and the buzz it generates.

rixx's review against another edition

3.0

[Black Box](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/04/black-box-2) by *Jennifer Egan* is a neat experiment – a story that was tweeted out, back in the old days, when Twitter was still at 140 characters. I found the distinctive style and the rhythm of the tweet boundaries interesting, and the primary storytelling device if not brilliant, then at least refreshing.

katjavonderburg's review against another edition

3.0

Interessantes Format, aber die Story hab ich nicht so richtig kapiert 🤷‍♀️

nonmodernist's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

marystevens's review against another edition

4.0

This novella was published both in the New Yorker magazine and on its Twitter account in the form of 606 Tweets. I read the latter version and found it very compelling. There isn't really a narrator. Instead it's a transcript of short messages being imparted to a young woman on a spy mission sometime in the not too distant future. One device, for example, has recently been patented by Google. It's a camera in a contact lens. I rarely read science fiction but this was required for my Modernism/PostModernism course and I really liked it.