sophieroses's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
sweddy65's review against another edition
5.0
I thought I had read everything by Kate Atkinson, but I somehow missed this book which made me sometimes smile and sometimes chortle. The writing was so good and so funny. It's storytelling wrapped up in storytelling wrapped up in storytelling.
This is a book for anyone in academia or anyone with a complicated family.
This is a book for anyone in academia or anyone with a complicated family.
rosekk's review against another edition
3.0
I wasn't really sure what to make of this book. On the one hand, when I was reading it I was immersed. On the other, when I wasn't reading it I felt no strong compulsion to get back to it. The writing was good enough to hold my attention and appreciation while I was reading, but I didn't become attached enough to the characters to really be invested in the book.
dutchtineke's review against another edition
2.0
This was a strange book, and I didn't really understand what it was about or what was the purpose of the story. I've read it's postmodernist. I don't really care about such terms, or trying to dissect a story. I just want to read a good story.
This was okay in it's own right, but it was not what I had expected from this author. Some bits were a bit too different for my taste. I find it actually hard to describe what happened with me while reading it.
This was okay in it's own right, but it was not what I had expected from this author. Some bits were a bit too different for my taste. I find it actually hard to describe what happened with me while reading it.
didactylos's review against another edition
5.0
The Waste Land meets Tristram Shandy.... you will either love or hate this book.
siria's review against another edition
4.0
Consisting of multiple novels-within-novels, Emotionally Weird sees Atkinson writing with her tongue stuck firmly in cheek. Metafiction at its most humorous, the book pokes fun at academia and amateur writers and the conventions of Atkinson's usual genre, the detective/mystery story, and there are plenty of giggle-worthy moments. If you're someone who really needs a plot to carry you through a story, this mightn't be the book for you; myself, I found the characters so idiosyncratic and engaging that I didn't really care. And, being set in Dundee and the glorious Kingdom of Fife, I liked being able to return to those places I'd grown to know so well.
david_r_grigg's review against another edition
4.0
This was (I think) the only remaining Atkinson novel I hadn’t read other than her most recent. It was one of the first ebooks I read on my new Kobo ereader, and unfortunately it wasn’t a good choice as there are a lot of typographical shifts which probably work well in a printed book, but not at all well in an ebook.
The ‘Weird’ in the title is apposite, because this is a strange book, hard to summarise. It’s billed as a ‘comic novel’ and indeed there are some funny bits in it. But it’s also frequently confusing.
It is mostly told from the point of view of Effie, a young woman now living with her mother on a remote island off the Scottish coast, but telling the story of her time at the University of Dundee in the early 1970s. Much of it reminds me of my own time at university at about that time, or dropping out of it as I did, and of the slightly hippy crowd of people I knew and knocked about with.
I think I’d like to re-read it in printed form without the annoying peculiarities of font styles and sizes in the ebook.
The ‘Weird’ in the title is apposite, because this is a strange book, hard to summarise. It’s billed as a ‘comic novel’ and indeed there are some funny bits in it. But it’s also frequently confusing.
It is mostly told from the point of view of Effie, a young woman now living with her mother on a remote island off the Scottish coast, but telling the story of her time at the University of Dundee in the early 1970s. Much of it reminds me of my own time at university at about that time, or dropping out of it as I did, and of the slightly hippy crowd of people I knew and knocked about with.
I think I’d like to re-read it in printed form without the annoying peculiarities of font styles and sizes in the ebook.
oohsarracuda's review against another edition
3.0
Somewhat confounding, I must admit. At times I was delirious with wordnerd joy whilst reading it, and at other times I loathed it. When I started it, I actually wasn't sure I was going to make it through Nancy Pearl's recommended 50 pages, much less beyond. It ended up being quite compelling, as others have mentioned.