I enjoyed this book immensely. There are a lot of post-apocalyptic stories out there, but this one is so far removed from our world that the referenceI enjoyed this book immensely. There are a lot of post-apocalyptic stories out there, but this one is so far removed from our world that the references to today are often thought-provoking, sometimes funny. What makes a thing's name survive the cataclysm of time?
Something I look for in a novel is realistic character growth, and I liked that Koli is just ... lost. He finds himself in a world that he doesn't understand with people who function under rules he has a hard time fathoming. Koli is a kitten among stalking caracals. He's a reluctant hero for sure - and I'm looking forward to reading book two. ...more
This is a quiet novel with a very violent underpinning: the erasure of memory.
It could be argued that memory is critical to self identity, social cohThis is a quiet novel with a very violent underpinning: the erasure of memory.
It could be argued that memory is critical to self identity, social cohesion, and basic growth. In The Memory Police, memory is systematically dismantled, and those who don't/can't conform are themselves disappeared. This novel takes things to their natural conclusion.
I think this is a very relevant novel. As a global society, we forget important events, items, and people so easily. Open secrets, disregarded facts... these cut at our universal soul, make us thinner, so that we become anesthetized to more significant disappearances.
I very nearly quit part way through; the fact that it's short, aided with some sort of morbid fascination with what was happening in the book, prompteI very nearly quit part way through; the fact that it's short, aided with some sort of morbid fascination with what was happening in the book, prompted me to pick it up again. It got slightly better, but not much... a full-length novel would not have reached the finish line.
So, the goods: The ideas here are pretty fascinating. I liked the pig-naming theme idea, it has potential. And the horror of it all, the factions, the wanton slaughtering (and the cannibalism) easily parallel the dysfunctional goings-on in our culture right now. We maybe just lack the dark tunnel.
But, there are some bads: I felt like this book was just slapping me in the face. Not with ideas (I'm cool with that!), but with execution. The writing just didn't meet the power of the possibilities here. I never believed in the main character. It felt more of a chance to talk about panties and, at the end, (surprise!) her seriously mis-matched boobs (barely a A cup, and a D cup... suddenly coming up in the second act, for reasons I'm not sure I understand)... She irritated me more than intrigued me.
In the end, it was worth a couple days' reading time, and somewhere in there my brain is chewing on some pretty cool ideas. It just wasn't a pleasure to read - and that's not just because the setting is so foul....more
I liked this well enough, though I can't say this book really grabbed me like it could have. The idea behind the novel is pretty great (which I, of coI liked this well enough, though I can't say this book really grabbed me like it could have. The idea behind the novel is pretty great (which I, of course, won't spoil here), but it seemed very flat to me. Things happen, secrets discovered, and there is a great reveal (which was more bewildering than powerful), and then things happen that may or may not point to a sequel. Foreshadowed events were anticlimatic. I finished with a "Hmmm. Okay." And started wondering what I'd start next.
I should have felt horror in this story. I should have been appalled. I should have been afraid for the protagonist. Instead, I just kind of watched....more
So - not what I expected, but a riveting listen nonetheless. The premise of a new world order (quite literally....) ends up taking a circular route thSo - not what I expected, but a riveting listen nonetheless. The premise of a new world order (quite literally....) ends up taking a circular route through social hierarchy, religion, loyalty, and purpose.
This novel takes a look at human frailties and foibles and doesn't really come away with a rosy view of how people - regardless of species - treat each other. I didn't find it to be a happy book, or uplifting... and yet somehow it was a pleasure to consume. Perhaps the darkness of Mort[e]'s narration (doubled down upon by the narrator of the audio book...) is tempered by the bits of wit, by Mort[e]'s quest for love (however nebulous and ... weird...).
Hard book for me to come up with a review of. I liked it. I think my pets would NOT kill me if they became sentient. I like to think that there would be more animals who did NOT switch their serfdom from humans to ants.
Seems to me that the ants were worse than the humans. Certainly alien.
This book rates a solid "meh." I know many love it, and to each their own, but I found it too removed from real emotion to be enticing. Most of the chThis book rates a solid "meh." I know many love it, and to each their own, but I found it too removed from real emotion to be enticing. Most of the characters felt shallow, and while I really loved the potential in Trinculo I felt like this was never fully fleshed out.
And then there was the crass sexuality. I know, I'm sure it was meant to be blunt, to be shocking maybe, but ultimately it was just... obtuse. Too many sewn-up c**ts, shriveled penises, flattened boobs. Seems like for that to happen within a generation there would be more... angst. Perhaps the rage was expressed in factual verbal flotsam?
Maybe it all feels so removed because we're supposed to feel how shuttered, how lost, how empty humanity (at least the ascended) has become. Dunno.
What I do know is that the ending didn't touch me. The middle didn't either. Awful things happen to characters I'm supposed to care about, and I just kept checking to see how many minutes left in the audiobook.
Not a top-notch dystopian novel. Some interesting stuff, but reads too much like an outline....more
I am having a hard time trying to figure out if I didn't like this book as much because it lacks something I was expecting or if it's because I am natI am having a hard time trying to figure out if I didn't like this book as much because it lacks something I was expecting or if it's because I am naturally repelled by religion in general. And this book is all about that; not spirituality, which is what Parable of the Sower felt more like, but full-on religion. Christian, Earthseed.... any of the creeds that purposefully seek to seduce people into the fold.
And that's what Olamina does: she seduces. Not sexually - just in the heart.
This is a brutal book, a brutal time, and smacks way too much of current politics. So in that I found this novel to be frighteningly prescient. "Make America Great Again" is a slogan repeated often in this book, and Parable of the Talents was written long before our current political morass snared its way into being.
And there isn't much hope. Not for a long time....more
This book took me forever to read, and I can't figure out why. It's a good book, and it deals with weighty issues. The big reveal at the end was shockThis book took me forever to read, and I can't figure out why. It's a good book, and it deals with weighty issues. The big reveal at the end was shocking (in a quiet, Oasan sort of way) and saddening, and I'll think about it for a long time.
This book deals interestingly with the concept of human beings bringing their (our) religious beliefs to a planet far removed from Earthly influence... up to now. I admit that this disturbed me much, as I have a general dislike for the concept of missionaries in general. My discomfort with evangelicalism was, perhaps, a reason that I struggled to consistently pick this book up.
And the question of evangelicalism wasn't just in relation to the Oasans. Peter (hah!) has difficulty connecting with his own wife, stuck back on Earth - and his reliance on the Bible and God as the answer to everything builds a wall in the middle of his relationship. Religion as a crutch to avoid the heavy thinking of murky ethics, of emotion, of personal responsibility... this is a theme I appreciated but had a hard time reading. Got me frustrated, made me want to throttle Peter.
It's a good book, and worth reading. It's got more than I wrote about here, of course, but this is what's sticking in my brain 10 hours after reading the last page.
It's more than I thought it would be, and yet... less than I wish. As if that makes any sense....more
I very much enjoyed this book. It struck me as a cross between The Road and The Dead Lands, though it really is its own book in its own right.
I like I very much enjoyed this book. It struck me as a cross between The Road and The Dead Lands, though it really is its own book in its own right.
I like dystopian novels. This one is that, thought it's not as bleakly gritty as The Road. Nor is it as horrific as what we find in the Dead Lands. It's certainly less political.
What we have is a world after the "Damn Stupid:" incorrectly targeted nuclear which has pretty much torn up North America. The world has reverted to gold-rush kinds of towns, law that truly takes the law in its own hands, and rugged individualists that keep themselves apart from society for a reason. Indeed, I often would forget this novel is in the future, until up popped up a reference to physics, or antibiotics, or electricity. An interesting, and sobering, world.
There is horror here, but it's not of the sort that kept me up, or disturbed my delicate sensibilities. Really what we have here is Elka, a young woman both naive and skilled. This is her story, as she figures herself out.
I like novels that look at the human spirit - good and bad. This book is that. A good read.
I received this galley through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. And no, that didn't influence my opinion of the novel.
There are many ways writers have imagined our world falling, and this one is just as creepy and horrific as any I could imagine. It plays with our senThere are many ways writers have imagined our world falling, and this one is just as creepy and horrific as any I could imagine. It plays with our senses and the fear of the unknown, the unknowable, and the question of exactly how much of our mind we own. It's dark, and sad.
And it's powerful. This is a story of survival, of solitude, of trying to raise children in a world the parent herself doesn't understand. She struggles, and she has to be cruel, because to not train them well is a larger cruelty. She has to prepare and risk - an all or nothing gamble.
Mostly the pacing here was good, though the last 20% or so got drawn out too much in my opinion. I began to get bored. And the final ending (the substance of which was fine, made sense, didn't disappoint) just lacked a certain kind of power. But that is hardly a reason to skip this book; I expect I'll think back on this book for awhile.
I think this book got four stars from me because it freaked the crud out of me. It steps forward just a little in time and imagines the next step in sI think this book got four stars from me because it freaked the crud out of me. It steps forward just a little in time and imagines the next step in social media - a conglomerate company that subsumes Facebook, Twitter, Google, et al, and envisions bringing the whole world together into one neat, centralized system.
I admit - since I started reading this book, I felt funny about "liking" things on FB.
This is a good read. Not quite as deep as it could have been, with characters more shallowly drawn than I would have liked (unless... maybe that's on purpose? I don't think so?), but the ideas in here are really good. Eggers does a really good job of making The Circle's goals seem so good, so right...
Yikes. I admit I lost sleep with this one. It invaded my dreams.
Maybe it's time to move north? Time will tell....more
Yes, I know. 530 pages? Not gargantuan, but not "little," in the truest sense of the word. But for all its heft and, yes, enjAn enjoyable little book.
Yes, I know. 530 pages? Not gargantuan, but not "little," in the truest sense of the word. But for all its heft and, yes, enjoyability, Red Moon doesn't quite go the distance to be a "big" book.
Did I like it? Yes, it was enjoyable. He predicts with sad accuracy the way in which our culture is primed to value personality over substance in a presidential bid. He depicts the power and destruction of splinter groups, rigid belief systems, hysteria, and sociological madness. There are good characters here, people we love and people we hate.
And maybe that's where I got hung up. There are a lot of characters here. A few are fledged out. Most are skeletal, so that the bad guys, for all their awful deeds, never feel as ominous as I wanted them to be. I didn't hate the bad guys nearly as much as I should have. So while the scope here is large, my emotional trek just didn't go the distance.
Would I recommend it? If you like to explore the ideas of lycanthropy on modern day America (...and Oregon! Bonus!), then it's probably a book you'd enjoy. I liked his book The Dead Lands much more, and would probably recommend that as my preferred Percy pick....more
I nice book. Even a pleasant read, though that's a weird thing to say since it's about the end of of the world.
And it's a nice world. Nice guys die. I nice book. Even a pleasant read, though that's a weird thing to say since it's about the end of of the world.
And it's a nice world. Nice guys die. Unless they've got a Bangley to keep 'em sharp.
I like dystopian fiction, at least the kind that moves us through a world that has crumbled (a la The Road) rather than grown into a darker, larger, government-corruption kind of dystopia. The rugged survivalist rather than the political operative.
This book doesn't break any new ground, but it's a well-written book with some really interesting-and-flawed main characters. I like that. Nobody is all good.
Well. Hig may be all good. Which is why Bangley is so awesome. He maybe should have been the main character. More depth to him....more
There is a lot to like here, and the book *almost* holds up to how much I've been looking forward to finally reading some Ian McDonald. It do3.5 of 5.
There is a lot to like here, and the book *almost* holds up to how much I've been looking forward to finally reading some Ian McDonald. It doesn't quite reach the threshold of "great" for me, though. It's just a ... problematic book.
9 POV characters is a lot. I made a cheat sheet on a sticky note so that I could refer back to it each time I hit a new chapter. Helpfully, each chapter is named for the POV character. My mind doesn't hold on to names well, so the list of character types (the dropout, the gangster, the cop, etc) on the back cover copy was super helpful.
I never really *cared* for any of the characters - except for one, which was a bummer, because, well, spoiler. A book doesn't rise to great if I don't really care. The characters were a whole lot of "meh." I kept trying to care, but just couldn't pull it off.
This book is very complex. The POV characters don't necessarily connect, so it's tricky to see how one storyline relates to another. I'm still trying to figure out the Shiv story line. What exactly was the point of that arc? Dunno.
Not that complex is bad... but, in the end, it seemed a bit more complex than it needed to be.
Of course, maybe that's part of the point? Again, Dunno.
I liked the concept of aeai here, and the bit about the universes in reverse will stick with me for awhile. Not that I'm really going to figure it out. I don't generally think of myself as a slow-to-catch-on reader, but I think that perhaps the target audience is one who thinks a bit differently than I do....more
Five stars? Let's say 4.5, with a bonus tossed in due to the limitations of a 5 star scale.
This volume of the MaddAddam trilogy is I loved MaddAddam.
Five stars? Let's say 4.5, with a bonus tossed in due to the limitations of a 5 star scale.
This volume of the MaddAddam trilogy is delicate. The tale unwinds through several voices, and always Atwood seems to nail the perspective that tells just the right sort of story. My favorite passages were Toby's, when she is telling goodnight stories to the Crakers. Telling just one side of the conversation was completely amusing, often causing me to laugh out loud.
I don't do that often.
I also really enjoyed Bluebeard. Bluebeard was not just endearing. He also caused me to think, to wonder, to ponder potential.
This is a trilogy worth digging into. Yes, I'm in an Atwood phase right now, but that's because she's such a delicious writer.
I was sad for this one to end. I even shed a tear, it ended so well.
This is the first time I've read a true-to-goodness ARC, in the time it's actually in advance. Fun!
Red Moon, a previous novel by Percy, is already onThis is the first time I've read a true-to-goodness ARC, in the time it's actually in advance. Fun!
Red Moon, a previous novel by Percy, is already on my "to read" shelf. When I had the chance to read The Dead Lands, I was pretty pleased. It was a very satisfying read. While it's inspired by the Lewis and Clark saga, I wouldn't go much further than that; if you're expecting a close retelling of the historical journey across the US, you may want to adjust your mindset.
This book falls a bit short of 5 stars, though it's tricky to say exactly why. There is something a touch flat about the narrative, so that I never quite got all the way into the characters. This is odd to me, actually, because when I think about each of the characters I'm struck by how they are each very individual, with developed motivates, strengths, and weaknesses. There are very creepy characters, brutal characters, blindingly brilliant characters, brave characters, weak, characters. The women aren't shrinking violets (Thank you, Percy. I'm done with pale-skinned, twig-boned, hysteria-prone female characters...), but neither are they man-haters. They're just, well... women. You know, people.
Would I recommend it? Yes. Will I pick up what I imagine will be a continuation of this saga? Yes. And I'll be going back and reading Percy's back catalog. ...more
![Mort[e]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438621765l/26030841._SX50_.jpg)
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