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liz_not_bennet's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
4.5
Who would've thought that Recursion is a beautiful love story set in a horrendous loop of global catastrophy?
I usually shy away from anything to do with physics but Blake Crouch explores the topic of memories mostly in a philosophical way that I didn't mind the physical aspects even though they made my head hurt.
So many people are part of each others lives in a crucial way, them sharing the same memories and therefore being affected when one of those memories is altered. Weird how such a terrible thought experiment makes you feel closer to your fellow human beings.
Whether or not it was intended this book is also the story of a woman who has her intellect, her work, her dream and her freedom stolen again and again by men and is therefore a story of oppression. This was clear to me without it being on-the-nose.
Exceptional was also the weaving of parallels throughout the book, I found many connections between plot lines and characters only reinforcing this theme of togetherness.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
My only question is:
Why didn't Slade remember the world ending in previous timelines and needed to be convinced of it??
I usually shy away from anything to do with physics but Blake Crouch explores the topic of memories mostly in a philosophical way that I didn't mind the physical aspects even though they made my head hurt.
So many people are part of each others lives in a crucial way, them sharing the same memories and therefore being affected when one of those memories is altered. Weird how such a terrible thought experiment makes you feel closer to your fellow human beings.
Whether or not it was intended this book is also the story of a woman who has her intellect, her work, her dream and her freedom stolen again and again by men and is therefore a story of oppression. This was clear to me without it being on-the-nose.
Exceptional was also the weaving of parallels throughout the book, I found many connections between plot lines and characters only reinforcing this theme of togetherness.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
My only question is:
Why didn't Slade remember the world ending in previous timelines and needed to be convinced of it??
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Dementia, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder
keen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Crouch reached in my chest, grabbed my heart, played with it, and tore it out of me. I thank him for the experience.
This is not a story I would ordinarily read. What hooked me in was the inclusion of memories and reality twisting in on itself, which was all I knew of. It took me a while to realize I was reading about tropes I generally disliked. Afterward, I found I didn't care. The story was that good. Saying what those tropes are will spoil the book, however.
When I finished Recursion, I couldn't believe it was only 327-pages long. There are arcs in the book, going from Book One to Book Five, with breaks in between each arc. The method of splitting up chapters was annoying when I needed to refer to previous chapters, but only because Kindle didn't list the sub-chapters. Aside that, it made total sense to me as I read. I could swear I read a series of books, not just one. 327 pages didn't seem nearly enough time to get me this attached to the characters while throwing so much information to me. I'm surprised I even managed to understand such complicated information. Blake Crouch was very good at showing the complexity of the science in fiction, while making it sound believable and understandable to a layman. I truly felt how much research and care he put into the story.
Another compliment to his writing: he is amazing at describing senses and emotions, something necessary to make the reader believe the story. His descriptions of the five senses surprised me by noting experiences I don't even notice in my own life. I wouldn't even think to include it in my writings. When he described grief, it made me want to cry. When he described happiness, my heart ached. I'm a fan of philosophy, and there's tons of it here. The end had me reflecting on what I value in life, how I treat my relationships, and my view of the world overall. Plenty of conversational topics for my therapist, haha.
Part of me did find myself frustrated by the end, believing the main characters had made strange and annoying decisions... until I realized that, if put in their position, my grasp on logic would have long since been shattered. If anything, they stayed extremely intelligent and resilient considering the situation they've been through and were in.
By the way, the audiobook is amazing. Great narrators who breathed extra life into already lively characters.
Spoiler warning for small details I've noticed:
"Recursive" was used about two times in the book, iirc. I'm very surprised that the snake eating its tail, or the ouroboros, was not mentioned at all. If it was, I missed it. I actually thought the front of the book was an ouroboros until I realized it was an infinite figure 8 with a maze within.
Also, I'm not sure if this was intentional, but I liked that Helena's middle name is Gray. Just like dead memories.
This is not a story I would ordinarily read. What hooked me in was the inclusion of memories and reality twisting in on itself, which was all I knew of. It took me a while to realize I was reading about tropes I generally disliked. Afterward, I found I didn't care. The story was that good. Saying what those tropes are will spoil the book, however.
When I finished Recursion, I couldn't believe it was only 327-pages long. There are arcs in the book, going from Book One to Book Five, with breaks in between each arc. The method of splitting up chapters was annoying when I needed to refer to previous chapters, but only because Kindle didn't list the sub-chapters. Aside that, it made total sense to me as I read. I could swear I read a series of books, not just one. 327 pages didn't seem nearly enough time to get me this attached to the characters while throwing so much information to me. I'm surprised I even managed to understand such complicated information. Blake Crouch was very good at showing the complexity of the science in fiction, while making it sound believable and understandable to a layman. I truly felt how much research and care he put into the story.
Another compliment to his writing: he is amazing at describing senses and emotions, something necessary to make the reader believe the story. His descriptions of the five senses surprised me by noting experiences I don't even notice in my own life. I wouldn't even think to include it in my writings. When he described grief, it made me want to cry. When he described happiness, my heart ached. I'm a fan of philosophy, and there's tons of it here. The end had me reflecting on what I value in life, how I treat my relationships, and my view of the world overall. Plenty of conversational topics for my therapist, haha.
Part of me did find myself frustrated by the end, believing the main characters had made strange and annoying decisions... until I realized that, if put in their position, my grasp on logic would have long since been shattered. If anything, they stayed extremely intelligent and resilient considering the situation they've been through and were in.
By the way, the audiobook is amazing. Great narrators who breathed extra life into already lively characters.
Spoiler warning for small details I've noticed:
"Recursive" was used about two times in the book, iirc. I'm very surprised that the snake eating its tail, or the ouroboros, was not mentioned at all. If it was, I missed it. I actually thought the front of the book was an ouroboros until I realized it was an infinite figure 8 with a maze within.
Also, I'm not sure if this was intentional, but I liked that Helena's middle name is Gray. Just like dead memories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault