Erin

Excellent resource for writers!

I listened to the audio version of this novel. The narrator did a great job with the reading, and it was an enjoyable novel to experience. It may be because I'm not in the target age range, but I was definitely not as enamored with the novel as I suspect I would have been as a teenager. The issues that the main character copes with are certainly not fresh or new, but neither are they insignificant. King handles them deftly, and only loses me with some of the characterization. The main character is highly analytical, and I wonder if King herself was that way as a kid, because all of the highly analytical kids I hung out with were also highly emotional. Astrid doesn't come off as being incredibly emotional. I did like that she struggled to figure out how to express her emotions, because goodness knows highly analytical kids do over-think things. But the emotions themselves weren't fleshed out or explored nearly as much as Astrid's fascination with Socrates. One of the strengths of this novel was the magical realism, which usually feels completely superfluous to me. In this case, some of it was superfluous, but the presence of Astrid's imaginary Frank Socrates served its purpose well, giving us some insight into the things she felt utterly incapable of figuring out on her own.

I might recommend this to some of the highly analytical kids that I know, especially since King explores the role of labels, as inaccurate as they can be, and the purpose that labels serve in life. I find that kids like me tend to reject labels when they aren't entirely accurate, but it's true that they do serve a purpose, and that purpose is worthy of discussion. Ultimately, I just wish that we had spent more time with Astrid after her coming out, as she grapples with her chosen label and with conveying her own truth to those who love her. The hardest part, the part that people often fear, is not the actual moment of coming out, but the aftermath. I wish we had stuck around long enough to see more of that aftermath and how she handles it. Ultimately, this isn't the book I had hoped it would be. I think it might have been a more interesting story if we had started with the big moment that served as the catalyst to her coming out, rather than saving that for the last half of the book.

Tl;dr: It was enjoyable, but isn't for everyone.

Highly recommended. I've read a lot of diet and nutrition books over the years while trying to figure out how to best manage my various food-related health issues, and some have worked better than others. The thing is, they all tend to be extreme versions of whatever it is that they are, and that ends up turning me off considerably. The author of Foodist avoided that kind of nutritional zealotry and zeroed in on things that just make sense to me. I know there are some people out there who see the organic and local food movement as its own kind of zealotry, and... well, I don't care. It's not an argument I care to participate in. The author, however, is very passionate about this argument, and yet still manages to temper her passionate point of view with a healthy level of respect for people who disagree. I have a lot of respect for someone who can do that.

The nutrition advice itself was spot-on when compared to my own personal experiences. While I can't quote the same kind of scientific articles and experience that she can, I can say that her advice really struck a chord with me. When I do the things she encourages, they work. I feel better. It's really as simple as that. The thing is, so much of what she says, while it makes sense logically, is contradicted all over the place in popular nutrition. This is bound to be a hang-up for a lot of people.

Ultimately, the author's writing was very accessible and easy to read. She explained the science very well, and succeeded in keeping the writing fresh and interesting. I don't remember getting bored or feeling bogged down by the details at all. The book itself seems geared towards people like me who need to lose weight, or who have health problems related to nutrition. While the advice in it is sound, those who are looking for nutrition information regarding gaining weight might get bored or frustrated reading through all the things related to weight loss. It is still light years ahead of other nutrition books in this aspect, even with the imbalance. The author's focus is on being healthy, and she does include information and tips on what can be done to help with necessary weight gain as well. A fair amount of the book is devoted to rethinking the way we approach weight management and diets, and was easily applicable to anyone of any weight, and especially to those with medical conditions not related to weight.

I think everyone can find something of interest in here, but I think I will ultimately end up recommending it to my friends and loved ones with chronic conditions for whom conventional nutritional approaches have not worked.

I bought this book in the wake of the SFWA kerfuffle about science fiction romance, and I'm very happy I did. This isn't normally something I'd pick up, mostly because I read a limited amount of science fiction, limited largely to my favorite feminist science fiction authors.

This novel is both solidly science fiction and solidly romance. It was enjoyable and the universe that the author constructed was interesting and engaging. I'd love to see another novel in this universe that focuses more on the question of how and why a person is selected to come back as a “ghost” alien. (Mind you the ghosts are alive and corporeal. They call them ghosts for a different reason.)

If you like science fiction and/or romance this is a good place to start off if you want to see how they get blended together. It's borderline erotica, but pretty tame, and definitely straight, so that's something to be aware of if you have strong preferences regarding that.

I read this book awhile ago, and never actually wrote a review for it. I was considering rereading it before watching the movie, but after paging through it a bit, I realize I do remember it pretty well.

I love the theme of this novel. I'm not in love with the delivery as much, since this is a prime example of John Green's manic pixie dream girl phase. But the theme kept me going and mitigated any annoyance I had about the MPDG. And I really do mean that. The theme is all about how we imagine others to be, as opposed to who they actually are. The MPDG is a great way to examine that.

Margo is ultimately not actually a manic pixie dream girl. She's an escapee from that trope, from that expectation. She does the unexpected precisely because it's not what people expect from her, and she targets Quentin to be her companion in it because she imagines him to be capable of seeing her more complexly. She is both wrong and right about that. He does end up seeing her more complexly by the end of the novel, but it takes an epic road trip and many clues to lead him down that garden path. It is not his default mode to be able to see women complexly. I'm not interested in casting blame or shaming anyone for that flaw--it's a common enough experience for teens to figure out that people aren't what they seem, after all. My main issue with this novel is that it's a mystery with Margo at the center of it, without her actually being present for most of the story. I think the theme could have been delivered just as well (if not better) if Green had included chapters from her point of view. Both characters struggled to see each other complexly, seeing each other only as people who could fill in the blank spot in a script they had running in their heads. Quentin wanted Margo to be his damsel in distress, and Margo wanted Quentin to be the nice guy who approached her without expectation. Neither one of them could be what the other one wanted, and both needed to learn to see themselves and each other in a more complex light.There's also the issue of the address being hidden in the hinges of Quentin's bedroom door. How the hell did that address get there? This is a question I need answered. I mean, from what I remember in the book, she only came in the window, and likely didn't get anywhere near the door without Quentin seeing her. So I'm inclined to think she didn't put it there. But then how did it get there? Who put it there? Why?It was a great book, however, despite all my whinging. I know a lot of people didn't like the ending because they didn't end up together happily ever after. In that sense, I feel like this is one of the most subversive of Green's books. He took the knight in shining armor and crushed his fantasy of saving the manic pixie dream girl princess. From what I've heard from people, this is infuriating, and I love it.