jlynnautumn's review against another edition
1.0
Elsie is spending her life living off her father's money. She travels from on destructive relationship to another while traveling trying to find herself along the way. She's constantly searching for something better.
The book is supposed to be a coming of age story but it reads more like a sex - obsessed memoir. There's really no plot or storyline to follow. It jumps from present time to memories quite a bit.
In addition to a non-existent plot, the main character is difficult to connect to and I found myself not caring about her at all. It became a race to finish the book just to be done with it, versus finish the book because I wanted to know how things turned out.
FTC disclaimer: "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."
The book is supposed to be a coming of age story but it reads more like a sex - obsessed memoir. There's really no plot or storyline to follow. It jumps from present time to memories quite a bit.
In addition to a non-existent plot, the main character is difficult to connect to and I found myself not caring about her at all. It became a race to finish the book just to be done with it, versus finish the book because I wanted to know how things turned out.
FTC disclaimer: "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."
crtsjffrsn's review against another edition
2.0
I honestly had a really hard time reading this. The narration is in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style and it keeps jumping around between the present and various points in the past. On top of that, the narrator/main character is not at all likable, but the author also doesn't really provide any compelling reason for why we should read her story. I hoped that something would come through in the end that caused it all to make sense. But there was nothing. I can't really recommend this one.
itsgg's review against another edition
4.0
Let's be clear: Many readers will find this book extremely irritating. It's a whole lot of navel-gazing by a privileged, 20-something white woman, but it really resonated with me, and I found it to be a refreshing antidote to the popular genre of "Eat, Pray, Love" knockoffs. The lessons that none of us are special; it's okay to live an ordinary life that feels right to you; and that it's important to recognize that having the freedom to figure out what that is is a privilege -- these are all important bits of wisdom that many Millenials still need to learn. It was an enjoyable read for me, but you'll know within the first 50 pages or so whether you'll like it.
lisagray68's review against another edition
2.0
I got this book from the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. I confess I barely skimmed the last third of it. I just didn't connect with the main character and frankly didn't like her much. I'm familiar with the coming of age genre, and I'm no prude. I'm happy to read about sex if it's part of self discovery -- but honestly I think this character just needed a great therapist instead of talking to me about it! haha. The angst about sex and the driftlessness of her life didn't seem to ever really resolve into any kind of meaningful point, at least to me.
mckenzierichardson's review against another edition
1.0
I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.I hate leaving bad reviews. I usually try to find some redeeming quality in books, even if I don't really like them, but this book was extremely difficult for me to get through.At first I absolutely loved it. The writing style really pulled me in and I was intrigued by the imperfect character. However, after a hundred pages or so, the novelty of the poetic writing wore off and the character came off as too pessimistic (which coming from a pessimist is probably saying a lot).There were a lot of things that really turned me off to this book. For one, the main character is self-centered, dull, self-destructive, and pessimistic, all qualities that can lead to a great character, but doesn't really do much for this one, given the almost complete lack of character growth. This leads to the second turn off, which is that absolutely nothing happens in the book. This is really more of a fluid list of reflections on life rather than a novel with a plot or any real meaning. At times I found myself agreeing with the main character (the double bind of women pleasing others, questioning having children, descriptions of depression and anxiety), but the character herself was so horrible that it made me feel bad about myself for having anything in common with her. It is almost tragic that the book was not narrated by almost any other character, because some of the side characters may have been halfway descent, but we will never know, because Elsie steals the show with her half-thought out meditations and questionable life decisions.The nonchalant stance on violence was what really pushed me off the edge. Possible abuse and rape that the character doesn't define as rape? I think we really could do better than that, especially with a character who spends so much time in her own head thinking about life.At one time, Elsie reflects that, "There is no point to my life," which I think really sums up what happens in the entire book. The book was too dense and too deep for me. I found nothing profound about it. It felt like overhearing the thoughts of a (rather uninteresting, aimless) stranger and gaining absolutely no insight from the experience. While the writing style was unique and often well-developed, the character and the story just did not live up to it.
kateycakes's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at page 50. I make it a point to get to page 50. When I made it, I was so happy because it meant I could put it down. I don't get this book; it was annoying to read and I couldn't tolerate the main character. Everything about the experience of reading this book was awful. It reads like it was written by a precocious, privileged 14 year old whose parents got divorced, and these are her musings and thoughts on what life is like in your early twenties. Giving it two stars because at times I did really enjoy the description and vividness of the writing.
Just as a sidenote, a lot of people are complaining about the vulgar nature of some parts. Yes, this is true, there are a lot of things that'll make you go "uhhh"... and this is definitely not the book I would want someone reading over my shoulder on the subway, but all of that aside, it didn't affect my choice. I've read a lot of weird stuff, and this was just another "wild" twentysomething doing cocaine and having sex with randoms. It's been done before, and it's been done better.
Just as a sidenote, a lot of people are complaining about the vulgar nature of some parts. Yes, this is true, there are a lot of things that'll make you go "uhhh"... and this is definitely not the book I would want someone reading over my shoulder on the subway, but all of that aside, it didn't affect my choice. I've read a lot of weird stuff, and this was just another "wild" twentysomething doing cocaine and having sex with randoms. It's been done before, and it's been done better.
nikkinmichaels's review against another edition
3.0
Hannah Tennant-Moore is clearly a huge talent, and WRECK AND ORDER occasionally stuns with its language and insight. It frequently tries too hard, though, and something about it just reads clichéd and trite.
mg_1133's review against another edition
I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program.
I was so excited to win a copy of this book following a few reviews I had read. From the description, I expected this to be a quarter-life-crisis kind of book, a rougher, more authentic Eat Pray Love. I'll never know if that's what it turned out to be because I only made it about 60 pages in. I waited to review it, hoping I could convince myself to come back to it, but I couldn't. This book managed to be both extremely uncomfortable and totally unbelievable, which is a really bad combination.
I was so excited to win a copy of this book following a few reviews I had read. From the description, I expected this to be a quarter-life-crisis kind of book, a rougher, more authentic Eat Pray Love. I'll never know if that's what it turned out to be because I only made it about 60 pages in. I waited to review it, hoping I could convince myself to come back to it, but I couldn't. This book managed to be both extremely uncomfortable and totally unbelievable, which is a really bad combination.
bookmarked642's review against another edition
2.0
I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from Blogging for Books in return for my honest review. I downloaded the book via NetGalley.
I started this book nearly a month ago - a month! It definitely isn't the kind of book I would usually go for, but hey, it's good to try something new.
This is definitely an honest book. Elsie, having grown up on her father's money, is trying to find happiness. She befriends Suriya in Sri Lanka, and even ties out the Buddhist monks' way of life. But all she ever seems to think about is, quite honestly, sex. She connects everything that happens to her to some kind of sexual act or emotion achieved through a sexual relationship. Like I said, Wreck and Order is extremely honest. Perhaps a bit too honest at times.
Elsie is trying to find her place in the world. That is a great start for a book. But I just didn't get into this - I wasn't emotionally attached to Elsie at all, and I couldn't really relate to her. I got more than a bit fed up of all the sexual references pretty early on.
It doesn't even seem to be in chronological order. Okay, not all books are, but I just kept getting so lost in this! One minute she's alone in Sri Lanka, the next she's remembering her time with her kind-of-boyfriend, and then she's comparing it all to her hellish time in Paris... I just could not keep up.
There was no real hook or plot in this novel either. Elsie goes here, she meets them, she does this. The end.
Speaking of the end, what is going on there?! I tried to turn to the next page repeatedly, not realising the book had even finished. A bit of a dead end in my opinion, rather disappointing.
I try not to say that I don't like a book. I never stop reading part-way through. But I have struggled with both of these things with Wreck and Order. Perhaps it just isn't my kind of novel. Perhaps it was a bit too sexual. Perhaps it just didn't have a gripping storyline and lacked the development that readers love so much. I'm giving this 2.5 stars; the writing is very good in places, the idea is there, but it just doesn't fit together quite right.
I started this book nearly a month ago - a month! It definitely isn't the kind of book I would usually go for, but hey, it's good to try something new.
This is definitely an honest book. Elsie, having grown up on her father's money, is trying to find happiness. She befriends Suriya in Sri Lanka, and even ties out the Buddhist monks' way of life. But all she ever seems to think about is, quite honestly, sex. She connects everything that happens to her to some kind of sexual act or emotion achieved through a sexual relationship. Like I said, Wreck and Order is extremely honest. Perhaps a bit too honest at times.
Elsie is trying to find her place in the world. That is a great start for a book. But I just didn't get into this - I wasn't emotionally attached to Elsie at all, and I couldn't really relate to her. I got more than a bit fed up of all the sexual references pretty early on.
It doesn't even seem to be in chronological order. Okay, not all books are, but I just kept getting so lost in this! One minute she's alone in Sri Lanka, the next she's remembering her time with her kind-of-boyfriend, and then she's comparing it all to her hellish time in Paris... I just could not keep up.
There was no real hook or plot in this novel either. Elsie goes here, she meets them, she does this. The end.
Speaking of the end, what is going on there?! I tried to turn to the next page repeatedly, not realising the book had even finished. A bit of a dead end in my opinion, rather disappointing.
I try not to say that I don't like a book. I never stop reading part-way through. But I have struggled with both of these things with Wreck and Order. Perhaps it just isn't my kind of novel. Perhaps it was a bit too sexual. Perhaps it just didn't have a gripping storyline and lacked the development that readers love so much. I'm giving this 2.5 stars; the writing is very good in places, the idea is there, but it just doesn't fit together quite right.
fearandtrembling's review against another edition
2.0
I had some major issues with the book; tried to explain it in this review.