seyoung's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
I cant decide whether I liked it or not
I think I liked it
I hated the opening though
I cant decide whether I liked it or not
I think I liked it
I hated the opening though
infantile_decorum's review against another edition
mysterious
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
4.75
A dreamlike account of multiple realities and alternate moralities, against the eerie backdrop of water, wilderness, and economic collapse. Mandel excels at vignettes—fleeting moments and small pleasures—and it seems like a patchwork until a step back reveals the captivating ethereal mosaic.
eminem_14's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
kblum15's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
alliepeduto's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not totally sure how I feel about this. I did like it, but I honestly couldn't express why. I think it's something about the writing; it meandered and defied a strict timeline, and while I think in normal times this would drive me crazy, it completely worked for my quarantine squirrel brain. I think if I read this again I would take something completely different away, but for right now it was a pleasant distraction, and a sort of meditation on life. There is something about reading this book in this current environment that spoke to me, and it weirdly made me less stressed. I finished it today with a feeling of calm, which is really rare for me right now. I might read this again in the future and hate it, or I might love it even more, or I may never bother to think of it, but it did something for me in the present, and that's all I can ask from a book right now.
tsenko2's review against another edition
3.0
It’s an interesting quandary when you find yourself unimpressed with a bestseller that is receiving rave reviews. I will have to give Emily St. John Mandel credit for this little nugget:
“One of our signature flaws as a species: we will risk almost anything to avoid looking stupid.”
I’m going to take that risk anyway and go against popular opinion by stating that I found this book to be a mess. It jumps back and forth in time and from character to character. That can work if there’s a thread that ultimately binds it all together, but I never found a thread here that was strong enough. Yes, Vincent directly or indirectly touches on all of their lives but not always in any crucial way. For example, you would expect Vincent’s relationships with her brother and Alkeitis to be significant, yet she goes many years without contact with her brother and the description of her ties to Alkeitis is emphatically shallow.
Some characters are introduced (Annika) and then tossed aside. Other characters receive far more time than they warrant (Olivia). However, one of the reasons I describe this book as a mess is that there are too many characters swirling around. It’s as if a bunch of short stories were cobbled together. The main, unifying theme is missing. On one hand, it’s nice not to be preached at but on the other I find myself asking what is the point of this book?
Swindlers, murderers, liars and fools: they all receive punishment of some sort, whether it be direct (jail) or indirect (poverty) but that’s not presented as cause and effect which is, indeed, lifelike and yet again raises the question of what is the point? Another quote:
“But does a person have to be either admirable or awful? Does life have to be so binary? Two things can be true at the same time”
Potentially an intriguing theme to explore, but the book just rambles on around it, throwing vignettes at us without developing depth. Characters act or react in inexplicable ways and we’re given only cursory insight into their motives. Again I feel this is a result of too many characters, too many incidents, in too short a book to handle it all.
However, if you read the book, pay attention to the chapter headings. Their circular form and repetitive elements give the book structure and clean up some of the mess. For example, use of the chapter heading “The Office Chorus “ explains the switch in POV - but doesn’t make it less discordant.
It’s not a terrible book and it’s a pretty fast read. I’m going to use that hated phrase, however, of it not living up to its potential.
“One of our signature flaws as a species: we will risk almost anything to avoid looking stupid.”
I’m going to take that risk anyway and go against popular opinion by stating that I found this book to be a mess. It jumps back and forth in time and from character to character. That can work if there’s a thread that ultimately binds it all together, but I never found a thread here that was strong enough. Yes, Vincent directly or indirectly touches on all of their lives but not always in any crucial way. For example, you would expect Vincent’s relationships with her brother and Alkeitis to be significant, yet she goes many years without contact with her brother and the description of her ties to Alkeitis is emphatically shallow.
Some characters are introduced (Annika) and then tossed aside. Other characters receive far more time than they warrant (Olivia). However, one of the reasons I describe this book as a mess is that there are too many characters swirling around. It’s as if a bunch of short stories were cobbled together. The main, unifying theme is missing. On one hand, it’s nice not to be preached at but on the other I find myself asking what is the point of this book?
Swindlers, murderers, liars and fools: they all receive punishment of some sort, whether it be direct (jail) or indirect (poverty) but that’s not presented as cause and effect which is, indeed, lifelike and yet again raises the question of what is the point? Another quote:
“But does a person have to be either admirable or awful? Does life have to be so binary? Two things can be true at the same time”
Potentially an intriguing theme to explore, but the book just rambles on around it, throwing vignettes at us without developing depth. Characters act or react in inexplicable ways and we’re given only cursory insight into their motives. Again I feel this is a result of too many characters, too many incidents, in too short a book to handle it all.
However, if you read the book, pay attention to the chapter headings. Their circular form and repetitive elements give the book structure and clean up some of the mess. For example, use of the chapter heading “The Office Chorus “ explains the switch in POV - but doesn’t make it less discordant.
It’s not a terrible book and it’s a pretty fast read. I’m going to use that hated phrase, however, of it not living up to its potential.
meganelizabeth's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
alanagraffam's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
charlotatot's review against another edition
5.0
It's taken me a while to fully process just how much I loved this book to the point where I could review. It's almost definitely going to be one of my top books of 2022. The characters are haunting. The way Mandel interweaves so many intricate story lines and manages to bring them all together at the end breaks me in half. The second half has a lot of different POVs that could be confusing, but she manages to keep it all together. Just a phenomenal novel that I would recommend to anyone!