A review by ashleylm
A Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
I'm sure it's fine if you like this sort of thing. But I'm running out of time to read books (no fatal disease, just an increasing awareness that my days are, eventually, limited) and if I'm not finding a book particularly fun, or gripping, or hilarious, or touching, or simply special in a unique way, I feel less of a necessity to continue reading it than in days of yore.
This book is sensitively and thoughtfully written, at least for the first 6o pages, but it's not really for me. I like books to have a little more oomph and verve, I think. With my favourite books, I knew right away I was in for a treat (sometimes I have that feeling but the author fails me, but I have no favourite books that started so-so and then rocketed into greatness). I'm not getting the sense of that here. I think it will go on as it started, and I will have spent 400 pages of my time reading something okay. No longer!
For my future self: this was the one where (for some reason) two inhabitants of a watery moon planet took a poor human boy back to their idyllic homeland where they live on rafts, go about naked, and turn purple when they have lots of oxygen in their system.
(Not rated since it doesn't deserve a 2 or less, but 3 stars implied I liked it, which I didn't really.)
This book is sensitively and thoughtfully written, at least for the first 6o pages, but it's not really for me. I like books to have a little more oomph and verve, I think. With my favourite books, I knew right away I was in for a treat (sometimes I have that feeling but the author fails me, but I have no favourite books that started so-so and then rocketed into greatness). I'm not getting the sense of that here. I think it will go on as it started, and I will have spent 400 pages of my time reading something okay. No longer!
For my future self: this was the one where (for some reason) two inhabitants of a watery moon planet took a poor human boy back to their idyllic homeland where they live on rafts, go about naked, and turn purple when they have lots of oxygen in their system.
(Not rated since it doesn't deserve a 2 or less, but 3 stars implied I liked it, which I didn't really.)