Eric Stone
Thank you to RBmedia and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.
When I read the description for this book, I had high hopes. A fragmented, balkanized United States where the "great promise" is forfeited? Sign me up. I was excited. But then I listened to it.
This book bills itself as a "Mosaic Novel," and I think that is where it falls apart. While the print version likely has section breaks to indicate jumps between the five stories, the audiobook provides zero transition. The narrator has one speed, one tone, and one voice. There is barely any variation between male and female characters, and none between the different male participants. The result is a level of confusion totally foreign to me. With 30% of the book left, I still had no idea what was going on. Is the soldier the same man as the doctor? It’s impossible to tell, and ultimately, it makes no difference - which is a major problem, imv.
The writing itself is good, but it isn't cohesive. While the sense of being unmoored might be an intentional reflection of a fractured land, it simply didn't land for me.
Furthermore, the promising premise feels empty. We aren't given meaningful information about how the government fell or what the power struggles actually entail. We're told the "great promise of America" is forfeited, but we don't see how that impacts society in a meaningful way beyond a guy living in the woods. I really wanted to love this, but the incoherence - compounded by the audio format - made it a pretty big struggle.
Thank you to RBmedia and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.
When I read the description for this book, I had high hopes. A fragmented, balkanized United States where the "great promise" is forfeited? Sign me up. I was excited. But then I listened to it.
This book bills itself as a "Mosaic Novel," and I think that is where it falls apart. While the print version likely has section breaks to indicate jumps between the five stories, the audiobook provides zero transition. The narrator has one speed, one tone, and one voice. There is barely any variation between male and female characters, and none between the different male participants. The result is a level of confusion totally foreign to me. With 30% of the book left, I still had no idea what was going on. Is the soldier the same man as the doctor? It’s impossible to tell, and ultimately, it makes no difference - which is a major problem, imv.
The writing itself is good, but it isn't cohesive. While the sense of being unmoored might be an intentional reflection of a fractured land, it simply didn't land for me.
Furthermore, the promising premise feels empty. We aren't given meaningful information about how the government fell or what the power struggles actually entail. We're told the "great promise of America" is forfeited, but we don't see how that impacts society in a meaningful way beyond a guy living in the woods. I really wanted to love this, but the incoherence - compounded by the audio format - made it a pretty big struggle.