This was a very unique read. The characters are believable as teenagers and Marty is a fun narrator. The real portrayal of his OCD is a highlight. TheThis was a very unique read. The characters are believable as teenagers and Marty is a fun narrator. The real portrayal of his OCD is a highlight. The dialogue is natural. The only problem is the characters are not explored as much as I’d like. I wanted to know more about who they were, especially Elliot. He was a nice guy. But not much more than that. I don’t know anything about him. The character of the mayor didn’t work for me either. I just couldn’t make sense of her motivations. She seemed like just a plain old villain with not much depth. Despite all of this, this is the first book I’ve enjoyed in years. I was so excited for no romance and for a book about two guys as “friends� of sort. Books like this simply do not exist in this country. And I liked the ending too. Very original concept. I will read this again someday....more
It’s a fun setting with interesting creatures and I’m all for Japanese mythology and their really freaky monsters.
The arc of our main heroine is cleaIt’s a fun setting with interesting creatures and I’m all for Japanese mythology and their really freaky monsters.
The arc of our main heroine is clear from the beginning because of how naive and childish she is, but she comes off a little too childish, so it was hard to take her seriously as a teenager and unimaginable why the dark, brooding hero would take interest in her romantically so soon in the story. Speaking of the dark, brooding hero....Tatsumi...I eagerly await the cracking of his stone heart. He is not a heroic character, but watching him grow with the help of his heroine only makes for a more entertaining narrative.
The Oni as they are depicted here are nightmare-inducing and the big bad is indeed very bad. If you have a rational fear of bodily dismemberment, you may be disturbed by this book.
I trudged through this solely to find out what the heck was going on and what the meaning of it all was only to find out that, surprise, nothing is acI trudged through this solely to find out what the heck was going on and what the meaning of it all was only to find out that, surprise, nothing is actually explained and it’s all meaningless! The writing is very amateur, relying on adverbs and telling over showing. On the rare occasion the main character had an emotion, which was close to never, he would be described as “enraged� or “afraid.� That would be the extent of the description. But for some reason this dude has no reaction to pretty much anything, except to occasionally vomit, which then leaves me wondering whyyy does he react to some things but then other things he’s like a robot? And the laundry-list descriptions killed me. For someone who is supposed to be a writer, Michael does not have a way with words.
Anyway, I disliked every single character in this book. I assume there was some point to the woodpecker thing and to the characters randomly referring to each other by the wrong name but readers are not given this information.
And how many times do I have to read about someone gulping? Every character is gulping all the time. Who gulps in real life? And the characters all seem to have revolving personalities. And what the frick was the point of the Ian passages? And wow I friggin hate all these horrendous charcters. What was up with Belle? Why do the characters each have different memories of the same event? Sorry, but the whole “people remember things differently� just isn’t going to cut it. Zero sense made.
The author informs me that Michael has learned his lesson and feels remorse. This is not displayed in the writing at all. Why was Charlie even included in this story at all? Also, guilt does not make a person hallucinate. Mental illness does. Don’t get me started on the random passages in which the most absurd things would happen and NO ONE had a reaction to them!! Even if it’s just the mc’s hallucination, shouldn’t HE have a reaction????? And why??? Why does he have completely random hallucinations unrelated to the plot if the source of his hallucinations is this supposed guilt as opposed to an actual illness???? And how the heck did Troy have no reaction to the big secret? I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to like any of these characters....but this doesn’t make them any more tolerable.
And about the big secret. I’m disgusted by how casually this event is dealt with.
The only thing is I liked is how Michael’s non-in-your-face version of homophobia was addressed. ...more
Loading...
