Reviews

The Atmospherians, by Isle McElroy

devlev7's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Very weird book, fun but also disturbing. Interesting read.

jannyslibrary's review

5.0

A weird, wild ride! It's our world, except there are "man hoards" and our protagonists are brand new cult leaders who started a cult to train men out of their toxic masculinity.

At first I was like, yay good writing. Then I was like, what the fuck, this is disturbing, but I dig it. The final act though, soso good. Really witty and dsytopian commentary on social media/influencers, kept me up wayyy too late burning through this book.

In a similar vein as Palahniuk + Moshfegh, darkly humourous & I'm here for it!

alexisparade's review

5.0

I didn’t think I was going to enjoy a novel about masculinity through the lens of internet influencer cancel culture, but then I just like. Loved this.

chachere's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

hannahlosttheplot's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

elliottwrites's review

challenging dark tense

5.0

kadenceb's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

juliamazing's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jennl's review

3.0

3.5

carrotcore's review

adventurous dark funny

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.75

I honestly just don't know what to think, this book was strange in many ways, I liked it because it is so weird in a lot of ways but I was annoyed at many of the plot developments. For starters the whole setup of the story that the main character was left alone by everybody is in my opinion just not believable given the strong feminist circles, especially on social media, that I would believe and hope would defend and help her after she gets blamed for the suicide of this man which is the whole base for the plot. I just do not think it would go down this way. There are several other things that I just don't find very believable, but then the book does stay on a thin line between realistic portrayal and a different fictitious society which makes it hard to tag along the ride sometimes. In the end, it was a weird but entertaining read that left me a bit like "What happened?".