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awall14's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
emilyos's review against another edition
3.0
Other reviews I have read compared this to Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy, but I don't think Tanglewreck it pretending to be anything other then itself. While it lacks the poetry typical of her works, and despite the static characters, this is a charming story.
georgiaand's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-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? No
3.0
toni_says_smile's review against another edition
2.0
Not her strongest work. It had a lot of interesting elements that could have gone somewhere, but the plot didn't quite manage to tie it all together.
Plus Winterson couldn't stop inserting her own experiences into what should have been a fun children's sci fi story. The main character is, of course, a girl with no parents and a difficult mother-figure who quotes the bible at her.
It felt like a lot of wasted potential. If someone else rewrites it, I'll gladly read it again.
Plus Winterson couldn't stop inserting her own experiences into what should have been a fun children's sci fi story. The main character is, of course, a girl with no parents and a difficult mother-figure who quotes the bible at her.
It felt like a lot of wasted potential. If someone else rewrites it, I'll gladly read it again.
daffodildyke's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
2.25
I am so confused by this book. There’s aspects I think were great, and the premise was really interesting, but I feel like I have read about three separate books in one go, and don’t feel like I know what happened in any of them. I simultaneously feel like I have read this book before, but I definitely haven’t, so that’s fun.
I really like the idea of the disruptions in time, of the Throwbacks, of the Einstein Line…. but somehow none of these felt fleshed out appropriately or concluded reasonably.
I cannot say I didn’t enjoy it, but equally I just desperately wanted to finish it to see if it got better, or if something happened that made me feel like it was truly worth my time.
I think the story containing Time Tornadoes is pretty fitting, because reading this has left me feeling like I have been swept up in a tornado of storylines and characters that don’t quite make sense… but also somehow do ???
I honestly cannot write more in this review, I have no idea what to say.
I have never read anything else by this author, and have no idea if I want to try to again. Maybe I liked this? Maybe I hated it? If anyone knows, feel free to let me know.
I really like the idea of the disruptions in time, of the Throwbacks, of the Einstein Line…. but somehow none of these felt fleshed out appropriately or concluded reasonably.
I cannot say I didn’t enjoy it, but equally I just desperately wanted to finish it to see if it got better, or if something happened that made me feel like it was truly worth my time.
I think the story containing Time Tornadoes is pretty fitting, because reading this has left me feeling like I have been swept up in a tornado of storylines and characters that don’t quite make sense… but also somehow do ???
I honestly cannot write more in this review, I have no idea what to say.
I have never read anything else by this author, and have no idea if I want to try to again. Maybe I liked this? Maybe I hated it? If anyone knows, feel free to let me know.
wyemu's review against another edition
2.0
The first of Winterson's young adult novels, while not the first children's book she has written, 'Tangelwreck' em-compasses many themes that readers of her adult novels will be familiar with, loss of nature, the mechanisation of every part of our lives leading to laziness and the forgetting of what it means to be human. At times these points became a little too laboured, although maybe not so for younger readers unfamiliar with her earlier, adult novels. However, that is not to say that the result isn't effective. One can see similarities to Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy with corporations trying to control Time, and through Time, the masses. A good concept and well executed.
silodear's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe, in general, I just don't love books about quantum physics? It was fine, but not my favorite.
cae's review against another edition
2.0
Book of people vaguely explaining sci-fi science. Plot? Character development? What do you mean?
novelinsights's review against another edition
4.0
This is a middle grade sci-fi/fantasy novel about a girl who is suspected of possessing a clock that can control time. Two different antagonists are after her, one who uses magic and another who uses science.
I thought the ideas present in this book were very imaginative. I was somewhat frustrated that a lot of the scientific concepts shown didn't really make sense. There was some basic logic behind them, but it felt like the kind of thing that was still kind of vague and not fully explained or explainable, though I think that was largely to do with the fact that the book is middle grade and that the intended audience would be too young to notice holes in the logic or even really want to read full explanations if they were given.
All that said, I thought the writing in this book was very good. I don't really like middle grade that much (I'm just working my way through a couple of middle grade novels I found that I had never gotten around to reading when I was in the proper age bracket) but there were still a few points throughout the book when I found myself impressed by a piece of prose. I probably would have really been in love with this book when I was younger, and I am definitely interested in reading this author's adult work now.
I thought the ideas present in this book were very imaginative. I was somewhat frustrated that a lot of the scientific concepts shown didn't really make sense. There was some basic logic behind them, but it felt like the kind of thing that was still kind of vague and not fully explained or explainable, though I think that was largely to do with the fact that the book is middle grade and that the intended audience would be too young to notice holes in the logic or even really want to read full explanations if they were given.
All that said, I thought the writing in this book was very good. I don't really like middle grade that much (I'm just working my way through a couple of middle grade novels I found that I had never gotten around to reading when I was in the proper age bracket) but there were still a few points throughout the book when I found myself impressed by a piece of prose. I probably would have really been in love with this book when I was younger, and I am definitely interested in reading this author's adult work now.
lolajoan's review against another edition
3.0
It's kind of strange to read a book for children written by Jeanette Winterson, after reading so many of her adult books. There's no sex or profanity, but the philosophy is still slightly skewed and weirdly canted to a postmodern sort of view. It relates strongly to other similar YA books with mysterious named houses and young adults who have lost their families and have a strange Quest To Go On, but it's somehow lightly mocking but also in homage to those works. I don't really know what to think of it. I liked it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it?