absolutely lovely! I wasn't sure how i was feeling about this, but the end was SO clean emotionally, it really really got to me. it's a quiet story but in the best way possible. i do feel like i got an intimate portrait of both these girls and how much they changed over the course of a few weeks/a month. it was beautiful and strange and took its concepts with pride.
4.5– so close to perfect but let me not get caught by recency bias. I haven't sobbed this much over words since Deathly Hollows. Suzanne you are so incredibly brilliant and you embody your characters wholly as people and they're so flawed and so loveable and so human and it's breaking my fucking heart while I'm writing this because I have loved them since I was 10 and I will continue to and im so SAD HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GO ABOUT MY DAY. The world is so not okay right now I'm so grateful to have a story to relate to and mourn with and stoke hope from. Thank you thank you thank you
super interesting! the content didn't dig quite as deep as I wanted, but the writing was good! it was engaging and got me thinking about how cults utilize words to sink their teeth in the most. I also liked the comparison to things like workout stuff– but ultimately deciding that soul cycle is not a cult in the way that Jonestown was, since it doesn't always consume the lives of every member. People can engage in “cult” behavior without it being unhealthy. It's part of being human
I think I wanted to like this much more than I did. Her prose is absolutely stunning and philosophical in a way I enjoy. I appreciate the juxtaposition between the setting and themes with how deeply this book feels. I think my main issue kind of lies in the overall plot not feeling engaging enough despite being full of peril. maybe the stakes weren't high enough for me until towards the end.
owie! He always gets me by making me feel safe and lulled in by a comfortable atmosphere and now here I am. It's so powerful, like I know the stereotype here is “precocious teens get sad about life” but aza feels so real. I can see her for all her flaws and wonderful attributes. you get worse and then you get better and then you get even worse again. I know that story to my own personal degree. lots of people with anxiety disorders do. I am so glad I finally chose to put myself through this
completely tore my heart into pieces, entirely unexpectedly. i cried for the last 40 pages. I don't often cry at media, let alone books. what a lovely piece of YA that found me at the perfect time at my life, where I'm far enough removed from the subject matter to see it for what it is from the start, but close enough that the emotional resonance is even stronger than it would've been if I had read this when I was Sam's age.
I love literature. I missed books. thank you, ellie <3
gag city bitch! best of the series. kind of gets a little loopy towards the finale but I do think it works since katniss is so entirely uninformed.