Christine
Did I really not rate this when I finished it?
Well, I thought it was very effective, but it's much more in the “disturbing quasi-reality” category of horror that isn't so much my thing. You know the part of The Exorcist I found most awful? All the horrible medical tests Regan had to have! Everything else is dismissable by this hardened materialist, but that shit is genuinely terrifying. This hits some of the same nerves - is this kid possessed, or is she severely mentally ill? The ambiguity involved in the ending only reinforces this theme.
Still, this was very artfully done. If you like this kind of story, run out and get this immediately!
This was compelling, but overall I felt it tried unsuccessfully to lift itself out of the depressive, hopeless morass it so convincingly set up. The world Malerman presents really struggles to maintain suspense, because the only realistic expectation is that the ending will be “And they all died. The end.”
That, together with some really harrowing themes of child abuse, kept me from rating this four stars. I did like it, and while the premise seems to inevitably doom our characters unless there's colossal amounts of dumb luck on their side, it did serve to frame some spine-tingling set pieces that will be hard to forget!
This just sucked me in and wouldn't let go! Rachel is a complete mess, and you can't help but shake your head at her decisions throughout, but even as I recognized all her self-deception and poor choices, I was rooting for her somehow. She has enough residual intelligence and grit that she remains sympathetic and compelling.
Hawkins has woven a completely alluring mystery with the unreliable narration and the slow revelations of three different but connected women, all while managing to juggle a spliced timeline for maximum dramatic effect.
I'll say no more - just go check it out!
I read this because I really loved Doctor Sleep, and found 11/22/63 compelling if imperfect. So I thought King might have his groove back. Plus, everyone told me this definitely had Lovecraftian themes. Sounded good!
I found it decidedly meh. The first three-quarters of the book is cumbersome setup that utterly failed to impart a sense of building doom, eldritch horror, or any real interest for me. All the horror in that section is confined to real-life, tragic headline sorts of horror, and that may work for some people, but it's definitely not what I'm looking for in my weird fiction.
King does eventually deliver on the Lovecraftian theme, with a concept that is admittedly very horrifying. But I found it undercut by his use of one element. No spoilers, but he did something that he literally wrote about as a weak point in horror in Danse Macabre, and so it kind of made me laugh, rather than shudder.
If you like Lovecraft, King's short stories “Jerusalem's Lot,” “N,” and even “Crouch End” are far superior, in my humble opinion.
This was incredibly fun - mostly it's lighthearted and funny, but it carries a certain emotional freight toward the end. Nota bene: near the start of the story, there's a characterization of folks with Aspergers as being unemotional, which got under my skin quite a bit (challenged in reading social cues is emphatically NOT the same as lacking emotions). But if that bothers you, I urge you to read on. Remember, this is a first-person narrative, and a lot of the story is about Don's assumptions about the world and whether they turn out to be correct.
I also worried that this would become your standard Manic Pixie Dream Girl trop-ish story, but while Rosie qualifies for that role, the way Simsion makes use of the idea feels fresh and earned, not cliche.
Edited to add:
Reading a couple of negative reviews, I want to point out that the reviewers seem to have read the story at a shallow, face-value level.
Rather than taking a “point and laugh” approach, I felt like Simsion relied very strongly on sympathy with Don, twinned with a more savvy realization of where his perfectly understandable read on things is going to get him in trouble. For example, the argument about the superiority of his technical athletic jacket over a blazer. The reason it's funny to me is that Don's position is entirely justifiable and logical, and you kind of have to agree with him, but he's still totally wrong. (Or maybe the reader needs to have some rigid-ah, I mean organized tendencies herself to really get Don? It's possible.)
Moreover, Don is an unreliable narrator, and Simsion subtly and gradually brings out details that indicate Don's characterization of his experiences includes quite a lot of self-deception. There's plenty of “anguish and humanity” in him - it's just he has sophisticated defense mechanisms against realizing it.
Spoiler-free review, copied from my Audible account.
Where does The Girl with All the Gifts rank among all the audiobooks you've listened to so far?
Near the top. The narration isn't perfect, but the story is so fabulous, this is in my top five.
What other book might you compare The Girl with All the Gifts to and why?
I don't want to give too much away. I would say if you like science fiction or horror with really excellent characterization, relationships, and well-earned emotion, you will love this. People who like John Scalzi, or Let Me [the Right One] In will probably love this.
Also, this story is chock full of female characters who are fully realized and not valued primarily for their sex appeal. I don't feel like Carey set out to write a feminist novel by any means, but he seems to respect and like women and realize that we are people too, and can carry a story that will appeal to both sexes. It was a delight to read a gripping story that passed the Bechdel test effortlessly, without feeling strained or political about it.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
YES! I looked forward to waiting in line or doing menial chores, so I would have more opportunities to listen.
Any additional comments?
Finty Williams does a very good job overall. She gives the correct emotional tone to each passage, and the characters are easy to differentiate. The one thing that bugged me to no end was her pronunciation of Justineau (which is one of the most common words in the novel, unfortunately). I don't know if it was a bad attempt at a really authentic French accent, or ignorance of how “eau” is pronounced, but it comes out “Justinoo” and it annoyed me throughout.
It says “8 and up,” but this is a great book for any fan of weird fiction. Surely the titular uncle is named for M.R. James, and the scary stories are in that tradition. They all feature less-than-good children, and a comeuppance. The frame tale is my favorite part - Edgar and his uncle huddled by the fire in the study of the spooky old empty (?) house, with mists pressing on the windows and all manner of artifacts that inspire the stories.
The illustrations are clearly influenced by Edward Gorey, and they accentuate the stories perfectly.
Try to keep this on hand so you can grab it when fall is in the air, there's a thunderstorm (or at least a good chilly wind) outside, and you can read it by firelight.
When Captain Awkward and Ask a Manager both repeatedly recommend a book, ya gotta read it.
Here's what I wish someone had told me before I read this - if you want to learn about using intuition to protect yourself, and get some insight into red flags from strangers, co-workers, dates, etc., there is some amazing stuff in here, but it's salted in among a lot of other content, from a clinical discussion of risk assessment on a more mathematical level, to detailed stories of disturbed people committing suicide, murder, and assassinations.
Now, those chapters and sections are fascinating in their own way, but not what I was looking for, and for me way too depressing to justify the “Wow, that is an intriguing story” aspect. (At another time, I would actually be really interested to read a biography of Gavin de Becker, and an in-depth description of how his firm works and all the crazy cases they've handled, because it does sound fascinating in its own way, if you can handle the sadness/horror of the stories.)
Still, there's amazing information about how potentially dangerous people test, groom, and ensnare victims, the warning signs of a violent work incident and how management can mitigate the risk, and even a list of questions to ask your school about student safety. Lots of good practical advice that can make people be safer while feeling less afraid.
Finally, there's some wonderful information about setting boundaries, how women are socialized to interact, and what the warning signs are that a romantic interest is really bad news. I'm definitely excerpting this stuff for my kids when they start dating!
This is a pleasant little book, and a must-read for typography nerds. It never really grabbed me by the lapels and yelled, “KEEP READING - must find out what happens next!” but it was charming and funny, and the narrator delivers wry, nerdy quips at regular intervals.
The story flirts with transhumanism, but never really goes anywhere with that subject, except maybe to subvert it. This is a tale of reading and relationships, much more than one about eternal life.
There are frequent references to abstruse places, practices, and events that might or might not be real - I found myself thinking very often, “Wait, is that a real thing? Does Google really do that? Is there really a book copier like that? Is that an actual typeface we use?” I can't decide if these instances added to the experience by engaging my curiosity, or if they detracted by being distractions and messing with suspension of disbelief. I feel like this book (to the extent that it reflects reality in these things) could spawn multiple episodes of 99% Invisible and This American Life.
Ultimately, I recommend it. It was a fun, thought-provoking ride.
I wanted something pulpy and easy - a book that tells its story in a straightforward fashion and draws the reader on with an interesting plot. To some extent, this satisfied that need. But I found it a little ham-fisted. Characters are generally either all-good or all-bad, and the obnoxious ones we're meant to hate are introduced through physical descriptions that loudly, emphatically shout, “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO HATE THIS CHARACTER!”
Meanwhile, the plot developments to come are pretty obvious, especially if you keep in mind the law of conservation of characters. Still, it's not terrible - you get to feel smart for picking up the clues, and there are enough unanswered questions that I wanted to keep reading.
But the denouement is just plain silly, and really took me out of the story. From the bizarre plan of the heroes (which is far less believable than bloodthirsty monsters terrorizing NYC) to the explanation of how everything got started, nothing makes sense.
Add in the fact that the authors completely misunderstand what evolution is, and make other dumb science mistakes like confusing scurvy and rickets, and I just can't say I “liked” this. I didn't hate it, but surely there's better easy-reading fun out there!
I really enjoyed this. I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. As usual, King crafts amazingly relatable characters. In particular, I found his ability to bring life to the villains and evoke a reluctant sympathy in the reader (when you're not thinking about the terrible things they do) actually made me more engaged in hating them and rooting for the eminently deserved ass-kicking I was sure would come. Really artful, in my opinion.
I did have to skip some of the rumination on missing children because it was way too disturbing. But having a potential victim as strong and resilient as Abra made a nice counterbalance.
I feel like the constant drumbeat that AA is the Way, the Truth, and the Light was a bit grating (in part because I'm not a huge fan of the organization), but though it got a little over the top, for the most part it was a believable element of Dan's development.
I listened to the audiobook, and Will Patton was amazing. I'll be searching out more books read by him!
This starts out great, with all the sly wit I've come to expect from Scalzi. But I feel like the pacing is poor, and the story bogs down terribly when it gets to extended reflections on bioethics. Not only does this meditation last too long and clash with the tone of the first part of the book, but it feels rather contrived to deliver the outcome Scalzi wants so the plot can wrap up well, rather than an honest philosophical discussion.
Still, this is well worth reading and is overall very charming and fun.
My original rating for this was 3 stars, and I pretty much stand by that. In my mind, it breaks down something like this:Establishment of creepy house, which rightly influenced so much subsequent fiction: 5 starsAmbiguity and underlying social/emotional forces worthy of [b:The Turn of the Screw 12948 The Turn of the Screw Henry James https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443203592s/12948.jpg 990886]: 5 starsConstantly listening to Eleanor's neurotic thoughts and her telling herself incessantly that she's thinking something “concretely”: 2 starsLackluster banter among the characters: 2 stars*Obnoxiously out of place comic relief wife: 2 stars
I could have sworn I read this long ago, having been a Sherlock fan by my early teens. But while the murder scene rings a bell, I had no recollection whatsoever of Evil Mormons or the motivations and identity of the killer. I suspect my youthful mind lost traction when the extended flashback (with NO Sherlock!) began, and I never actually read the whole thing!
I've got to give this at least four stars - it's the original Sherlock tale, and establishes so many of the well-loved tropes of his adventures. It's amazingly readable for a modern audience - it's funny reading the satirical take on various biased newspapers spinning the murder story to their own political ends. Unfortunately as fresh and relevant as when it was written! And I'd wager this story is the main source of the phrase “judge, jury, and executioner,” how cool is that? (Defoe evidently used it earlier but in a much lesser known work.)
There is of course rampant and casual sexism and racism sprinkled throughout, but I try to read and judge a work in historical context and on that score I don't think I can dock stars. This is what white English dudes were soaking in in 1887, unfortunately.
However, I am deducting a star for two items that irritated me beyond that. First, Ferrier is supposed to be wise, shrewd, and stoic, but he's literally Too Stupid to Live when the plot requires it. One would think he could have managed to play along a bit and not set himself and Lucy up for disaster!
The other thing is What the fuck, Hope? You're the toughest Terminator ever when it comes to revenge, but you don't even try to rescue your true love? YOU HAD A MONTH, but you just wandered away because I guess once her hymen was torn she was as good as dead or something? Ugh.
A good story, but clearly the first novel of a short-story author. The plot and the scary interludes are surrounded by far too much padding. Especially considering that I knew exactly what was going on within the first few chapters, I got a little bored and impatient. There are far too many repetitions of the same scenario: Don has an odd experience. He does a little research or stumbles on a clue about his wife's activities. Then he blacks out or wakes up from a nightmare, and subsides into a booze-hazed senility, followed by rather tedious accounts of his navigating his everyday life in an addled and unhappy way.
It's kind of like if Call of Cthulhu had Thurston discovering his uncle's papers, but instead of energetically pursuing the research, he was so disturbed he got really drunk, then spent long passages arguing with his girlfriend, resenting his rich neighbors, and wondering if that other uncle of his was a spy, before proceeding to the tale of Inspector Legrasse and so on.
Worth a read if you're a Lovecraft fan - it definitely owes a lot to H.P., and recreates his approach to cosmic horror in a fairly accurate way. But don't feel bad if you find yourself skimming some sections.
Really good atmosphere, and a good creep factor. Also, a great book for those interested in Providence. It very much weaves the story with the setting.
This might be a little too, I don't know - soapy? - for some. The main character is a young woman, and her arc does involve her immaturity, growing up, and love interests. But it's not the focus.
The other drawback is the ending suffers from Quick Plot Resolution and is a little contrived. But with this type of story, I never rely on a truly stellar ending - it's hard to stick the landing with a creepy Lovecraftian story, IME.
This came up as a suggestion when I bought Harwood's The Ghost Writer (no relation to the Polanski movie), and its main failing is the same: after many pages of wonderfully creepy atmosphere and absorbing nested tales, the ending goes right off the rails with a truncated, poorly-explained resolution. I think both books are still well worth reading, as long as you realize they won't bring it home with a satisfying conclusion. I agree with another review as well: Cottam's language becomes repetitive in a rather distracting way. I think the adjective “blearing” was used at least six times, and it became a bit annoying. Still, he really delivers atmosphere, and I enjoyed reading this enough to check out his other work.
I can recognize the skill and care that went into crafting six different styles of narrative, but I wasn't drawn in by the stories very much. The Sonmi tale was the most engaging, but it was a bit silly and concluded with something akin to “it was all a dream,” which I always find annoying. Don't get me invested in a character and a story, then invalidate the whole story at the end!
The rest of the stories I just couldn't generate much interest in, and the central tale's use of phonetic dialect was so obnoxious I skipped most of it.
I'm also not sure this is a novel, so much as six slightly related short stories. The overarching theme that allegedly connects them seems fairly shallow to me, and the mechanisms by which they refer to each other also pull the old, “Ha, it's not real” trick that is so irritating to me.
In short, I can see why people like this, but it didn't work for me at all.
This started out strong, but as the mystery receded and the main characters' swaggering smugness came to the fore, I lost interest. The female characters are atrocious, the setting is too fluid and insubstantial, and there is hardly any characterization, aside from every key character being a violent egomaniac. As it progresses, the battle descriptions become the focus of the story, and they are extremely tiresome.
There are some interesting ideas, such as the narrator having amnesia and the magical playing cards. It's just not nearly enough to sustain my interest for a whole novel.