A review by goofymango
The Outside by Ada Hoffmann

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

2.75

I feel really bad giving this book a low star rating, because it wasn't bad. Hoffman isn't a bad author by any stretch of the imagination. I think this is one of those marmite books; you either love it, or it doesn't quite hit the mark for you. I liked the ideas of the book, and the characters were refreshing (hello multiple neurodiverse characters). I think the problem for me was that this book is long, long to the point where I kept getting so, so lost, and the plot felt very drawn out and by the time anything actually really got going/happened, all the potential emotional impact and effect of it was really diluted. I think if this book had been half the length, I would have really loved it, but by the end I was only sticking with it because I didn't want to stop after investing so much time. It was anticlimactic at the end, and I'm still not really sure what happened. 

Again, it's NOT because of bad/poor writing, or weak characters etc; I just didn't mesh well with this book. Reading the other reviews, I think I'm in the minority on the front, and I'm really glad others seemed to like it so much. I really loved the approach to neurodiverse characters!
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