A review by housleysc
The Measure by Nikki Erlick

challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The premise of the book is fascinating and thought-provoking. It kept my attention very easily. Each character had a distinct voice, which made the narration easy to follow. The downsides to this book for me are:
  • Death is a main character. I had a nightmare about two loved ones dying when I neared the end of the book. Clearly the book affected me on a subconscious level. The premise is pretty heavy.
  • The characters are distinct, but I don’t feel like there was much arc to them. The characters who did change did so very predictably.
  • It felt a little heavy-handed at times, like the author didn’t trust the reader to form a humane opinion or to remember an important detail. (I predicted a plot point early on because the author kept bringing the same bit of info up every time a certain character’s story rolled around.)
  • It all wrapped up too neatly for my taste. It would’ve gotten a 4.0 from me if it weren’t for this one…
All in all, it was an engaging read and a really good thought experiment. I appreciated the overall message of quality over quantity. 
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