Hali

I finished this in basically one sitting from 8pm to 3am and am on the verge of sleep while typing this. my verdict: so fun, so great, so hopeful, very consistent and logical, loved it. gut feeling says 4 stars because some passages kinda annoyed me and this book didnt change my life or anything but I often round those up to 5 stars for books anyways because "changed my life" is an egregiously high standard to have

So cool and great. I think a lot of us rationally know that progressives have existed in any human era but actually reading a book from 1955 that's eerily relevant to 2026 is something else. Us humans in 2026 havent lived through some kind of nuclear disaster, yet we face very many of the same (almost exact) struggles as the people in this book: The USA, too, currently struggles with a surge in evangelical pastors and supposed believers spreading the gospel that demonize anybody who is different. The strength of the USA means that this thinking gets imported everywhere else, too. Rural communities have and still suffer from many a plight that may drive them towards conservatism, too. And those are just some examples.

This book reads like it was written by a person that is very empathetic and can thoroughly take on other people's points of view. There is an obvious moral and opinion presented in this book, yes, but differing opinions or characters aren't just explained away as stupid; they're fleshed out and have internally consistent or simply realistic viewpoints. It's great to read many subtle critiques out of this text, too.

The ending was a bit sudden and underwhelming. Didn't ruin the fun of reading the book for me though. All in all, it certainly isnt the BEST book ever written, but it's one of the books I will recommend to EVERYBODY.