NiceonaTuesday

Semi antiquated writing style using words like "lest" which made what felt like a modern protagonist hard to place and define. The research motive and subject to Lou staying in the house was just uninteresting and hard to follow - I'm not sure what overarching themes were meant to be connecting past to present if any.

I liked the protagonists honesty about desire and sex though. With the current buzz about women preferring to be alone in the woods with a bear than a man in real life, this er adds an alternative flavour to that argument. Still, for me, the most interesting dynamic was between Lou and Homer as we get a sense of Homer's character and voice whereas the Bear remains a voiceless object she cajoles and projects into her orbit. Maybe thats the point?

Stays tonally the same throughout with only a brief punch right at the end. It's like the writer is deliberately trying to swerve being engaging. Maybe this lies in the choice of the protagonist who remains emotionally distant throughout. A sense of emptiness prevails beyond anything else as a result, emphasized by tiny smears of context. I would have been more curious about the perspective of the doctor, security guards, chairman or any of the management as a protagonist over this guy. Maybe then that's the point, the protective yet overthinking bubble he resides in presents the information of what not to do.

There is some relevancy in the themes however which kept me reading on; prophetic dreamscapes, some nice self aware nuggets on choices are some notables. Most pertinently for our world - with the rise of billionaire apocalypse bunkers - I am curious about the social structures/roles that are expected to remain (and for how long?) if society for whatever reason does collapse.

Great world building. Particularly like how Piercy develops the vernacular for different groups and how that reflects the underlying forces and most importantly principles that those groups shift around. Sometimes I feel points are repeated and whilst there has been a lot of work to flesh out this world, sometimes the pages are busy with description and dialogue rather than momentum. The presumably expected crescendo toward the end therefore doesn't land so loudly for me. Protagonist is great, love her passion and inner world, felt fresh to be placed alongside her in a sci fi context.

Love the subtle sci fi elements woven into this book. I never read whodunnits but this one really kept itself hearty, considered and grounded throughout. Found it to be a quick engaging read.

Yoshimoto's light touch style feels too convenient at times. There are squeaky clean memories and characters that fail to provide richness depth or complexity alongside some morally ambiguous themes the book deals with. It was an underchallenging read as a result.