Andrea
I hated this. I feel so betrayed by booktok! I thought this would be an amazing read but I had to force myself to finish it. It would get a two star purely because the writing is decent but I can't make myself put a second star.
UPDATE (WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS)
Okay.. I've had a few days of distance and I'm no longer too annoyed to write this. Here are my gripes:
Ove is an ahole. I know that's the point of the book. An angry old man who is in the throes of grief pushes everyone away and wants to end his life. But he was a jerk long before his wife died and we are just supposed to find it endearing? I'm sorry, no. Screaming, and literally exploding with rage at random times is frightening. I can't imagine anyone actually being in that situation and not being terrified he'd become physical. There are even a few times when he does take his anger out physically. I don't find it cute or funny to see someone have explosive anger. My next biggest issue is the animal abuse. He is violent, mean, and often dismissive of the animals in this book. He went so far as to set up a torture situation for the dog. Um.. excuse me? And we're suppose to sympathize with him? Parvaneh had to bully him into actually doing anything to help the dying cat. He pushes, shoves, and yells at the cat. This was really hard for me to handle. It made me seriously dislike him. Okay, now probably one of my biggest problems with the book... how unrealistic all the connections were. I'm sorry but if an angry man starts yelling at me, calling me names, being utterly rude and insufferable, I sure as hell am not going to befriend him. And most people wouldn't. Everyone literally pushed their way into his life and that just doesn't happen. I know it sounds jaded but seriously! Imagine someone being rude and mean to you.. would you go to them for help? And Parvaneh was terrible. When Anita first comes to Ove's door to ask for help with the radiator he says no. Parvaneh gets upset and says he WILL do it. Just no. Ove does not owe anyone his time and labor. If he said no, he said no. There's no reason she should have been shaming him into helping. Same with getting a ride to the hospital. This was a way to intervene with his suicide but it was sloppy. She could have asked literally ANYONE else in their area but she went to the one guy who is constantly saying to leave him alone? And AGAIN, he did not owe her his help. She could have gotten a cab, asked another neighbour, or even... wait for it, ASKED Ove?? Instead of demanding?? What a novel idea. There are so many different ways the author could have nurtured the connections between Ove and his neighbours but he chose ways that promote ignoring consent, bullying, and ways that felt contrived. People were made to look like imbeciles. Patrick was constantly ridiculed for not knowing how to do things; Adrian (a barista) has never encountered someone wanting black coffee before? Like, what?; The journalist was trapped in shed and passed off as an idiot as she talks calmly through the door (as if any woman getting trapped somewhere wouldn't immediately panic); Ove goes on and on about how he hates change and yet he's changed his car more times than just about anyone i've ever heard of. I didn't laugh once during this book. I never started to feel good about Ove. He was an a right until the bitter end while sprinkling in a few decent actions (which don't negate the other things he does/says). He is mean to everyone. He yells at everyone. He calls his neighbours idiots, blubberous (to which I took personal offense), hits people (the clown), cruel to animals, a nuisance to the people around him. He held a gun against two KIDS. Even after he realized who they were, he held them at gunpoint for way longer than necessary and then we're just supposed to accept that the kid he held the gun to felt comfortable staying in Ove's house??? I couldn't wait to be finished this book. It was awful.
I'm sorry to anyone who loves this book. I know it sucks when someone hates the book you love. I just couldn't find much redeeming about it. And I wish it had been done differently because I loved the premise. It was basically the old man of UP and I was super excited to read this. But I wish I could go back and never read it.
I was super disappointed. I loved Evelyn Hugo so I was pumped to read this (especially with all the hype) but it was pretty lacking. I didn't like the characters, it was very repetitive (they kept circling the same things over and over, it all felt like one extended chapter) and I wasn't a big fan of the storyline. spoiler ahead and the twist at the end felt trite and recycled from Evelyn Hugo. I just wasn't impressed and had to force myself to push through the last hour of the audiobook. I will concede that the topics were not for me. I really hate stories about addiction and drug use. I can't standing cheaters... just wasn't for me
I got this as an ARC and was thrilled to give it a go.
It's absolutely adorable and a fascinating take on old classics. The only problems I had with it were pacing, it was a little too repetitive, and the writing was, at times, weaker than I would have liked to see. But honestly, these are small things in the grand scheme. It is well worth the read and just an all-around fun time.
TW: for brief mentions of animal cruelty.
It was good. The Ellingham mystery got a little muddled for me. It was given in small chunks that were out of order so I kept getting confused as to what happened to who and when. I lost track of the timeline. That could have been done better. I also got uncomfortable with the relationship between Stevie and David. I'm normally a fan of enemies to lovers but this just felt... awkward and uncomfy. I did like the secondary mystery with Hayes because I couldn't see how it could be proven to be a murder and what evidence could even be found but it was satisfying in the end. I also like that the Hayes mystery still had mystery to it. Questions unanswered. Normally this would bug me but I know there are 2 more books. I'm excited to see how it ties into the overarching mystery too. I liked the school atmosphere but I wish we saw more of it. It felt really vague; more of a concept. And lastly, I had issues with the characters. I easily lost track of who people were. We got introduced so quickly to everyone and then their personalities were not that differentiating so I didn't remember who was whom and what they did in school. But overall, a lot of fun. Excited to keep reading when I have the chance.
So incredibly wholesome and adorable!! A refreshing change of pace. Chauncey is now my favourite literary character. Everything he did and said melted my heart!!! I listened to this as an audiobook and with the narrators voice for Chauncey is honestly couldn't handle the cuteness overload. My only gripe id that there were so many impassioned speeches and I find those cringey but that's just a personal preference. Loved this one!
It's hard to rate something so personal and heartbreaking. This is her life, her world, and her grief. But, despite how short the book is, I found it too repetitive. My heart aches for her loss and what she had to go through. I kept wishing I could give her and her mother both a hug. Alzheimer's is a real bitch.
I'm so confused by this book. When I picked this one up I thought I was getting a story about H.H Holms and his murderous rampage... I also expected it to have information about the world's fair but only as it pertained to Holms' story. What I got instead was a book 70% about the conception, making, and opening of the Chicago World's Fair and 30% about a psychopath's twisted day to day life. And they intersected in the most minimal way. Honestly, I felt like I got way more action and suspense from the World's Fair than by any of the horror Holms committed. The only real connection between the two parts of the book is that it created an atmosphere where missing people were not looked into too carefully and gave Holms an influx in victim choices. But like... that's it.
The reason I'm torn is because I reeeeally like the parts about the fair! They were fascinating, intriguing, and suspenseful. But it's not what I thought I was signing up for. The parts about Holms were not very in-depth. In fact, I didn't find them all that interesting. And I guess it's because we don't know a whole lot of what really happened during that time.
I wish the two aspects had been turned into their own books. The World's fair portion gets a 5/5 from me. The H.H. Holms parts gets a 2/5.
WOW! I SUPER enjoyed this book. I am, of course, a fan of his book the Martian but after hearing mixed reviews about Artemis I was nervous to read anything else for fear it would taint my appreciation for his first book. I went into this one pretty wary. But I was not disappointed. I honestly can't write any more of my thoughts because I know the minute I do, i'll starting giving out spoilers. But what I can say is that as a person who is not a fan of Sci-fi this book was fan-fricken-tastic.
Scrooge wasn't as bad a guy as everyone makes him out to be. He's just a grumpy old man. And his money is his; people's sense of entitlement to it frustrated me. But he didn't go out of his way to be a jerk. He wasn't actively seeking to ruin lives. Also he had a lonely childhood. Stands to reason he would be guarded with his heart so as not to get hurt again. I feel like he needed kindness not fear to change him. I really liked the concept behind Marley's chains. I thought that was pretty interesting. Overall, a good read but I probably won't read this every year like I know some people do.
HUUUUUUUUUUUGE trigger warnings. Some of the worst animal cruelty I've ever come across and it's handle with very little grace or consideration for life.
At times unforgivingly brutal and at other times laugh-out-loud funny, I can honestly say this book was a journey. I have a very hard time handling animal cruelty so there were moments when I almost couldn't finish reading but the story kept me going. I had to remember that it's a different culture, and a different way of looking at life. It was an interesting glimpse into life in Africa. Trevor Noah is a great story teller and I'm really glad I listened to the audiobook because it made the experience that much more amazing.
SPOILERS....
This book was back to front one giant battle. I usually glaze over during battle scenes so that meant his book was definitely not for me. I was SUPER upset Karrin died after her and Dresden were only together for ONE book. That felt really cheap and contrived. I was pretty shocked by Justine being possessed by Nemesis. But overall... by no means a fave in the series.
After the last book I was feeling like maybe I'd hit a wall with Dresden. I was getting annoyed with some of his formulaic aspects like how every woman seems to be incandescently radiant and beyond attractive, how he's “just old fashioned” about women in distress (even though he's self aware about it which is a great first step, i'd like to seem more development in that area after 10 books. I want to see some growth), and how he always has a headache and is so tired he can't speak. It happens EVERY single book. All this combined with boring and somewhat sloppy plot I was really disappointed with his last book. I was feeling some Dresden fatigue. I picked up this one right away though and was rewarded with one of my favourite in the series thus far. There was so much humour! I was on the edge of my seat so many times. I outright cried a few times. I'm back on the Dresden train. ;)