Honestly unimpressed and irritated with this one. Had some promise for real insight and depth but never reached it. Dragged myself through the last thHonestly unimpressed and irritated with this one. Had some promise for real insight and depth but never reached it. Dragged myself through the last third.
I feel it was an attempt to do as Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath did - life described as close to how it feels as possible. But the characters were flat and there were FAR too many of them. You follow three women's lives but by the time you return to their perspective you barely remember who Felix, Keith, Lisa, Ellen, Anna, Ruth, Christine, Larry, Maggie, Mark, Richard etc are and what relevance it has to the girl....more
I'm uniquely positioned to review this book: I lived in Edinburgh for 6 years, volunteered in a graveyard there, wrote my dissertation on a plague andI'm uniquely positioned to review this book: I lived in Edinburgh for 6 years, volunteered in a graveyard there, wrote my dissertation on a plague and had Greek lessons in the old Anatomy Lecture Theatre.
This was a super fun read however I have one *major* criticism. The dialogue is unforgivably Americanised. I could just about write off Hazel's lack of Scots due to her position in society, but she interacts with multiple working class people and butchering of their dialect really took me out of the story.
The word "ken" is used for the first time on page 255 but shortly after the same character drops "innit". A British term that would not be in the working class Scottish vocabulary!!
The character Jeanette has a mix of a Yorkshire/Cockney accent, dropping h's and using contractions like "ain't" and "couldn't" when in a Scots dialect it would be something closer to amnae/amn't or couldnae.
At one point Jack (born and raised in Edinburgh) refers to Hogmanay as "New Years". When Hazel is stopped in the middle of her studies and reminded she must attend a ball, she drily retorts "figures" (an idiom from 20th century America).
It's a shame there was such a lack of research in this area, I cannot speak for them but I feel a Scottish audience would be fairly offended as the anglicised language ?
Overall, I rate this 3.75 stars - the twists are slightly obvious, the final scenes feel a wee bit too fast paced (I don't think the word wee was used once in this book?) but the journey was ultimately enjoyable. And I'll probably read the sequel!!...more
Recommended to me because I love Camus's The Plague... and I understand the comaprison ... I just felt the fictional narrative and philosophical tractRecommended to me because I love Camus's The Plague... and I understand the comaprison ... I just felt the fictional narrative and philosophical tracts didn't quite mesh here...more
Credit where it's due, the concept is cool and I understand that it is introducing scientific thinking to more people but my god, can't we have decent writing at the same time? How am I to believe this sugary sweet heckin crud underdog self-sacrificing main character?
Ryan Gosling is the perfect casting after all.
DID NOT FINISH 4/5ths OF THE WAY THROUGH (no I don't even want to skim to the ending and can't wait for it to leave my household. This book put me in a reading slump)....more
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