sarah2438's reviews
992 reviews

I'm actually so annoyed at these books. I've been so hyped up for this for years and it had the nerve to be mediocre?? Weird decisions with audiobook narrators (different narrators on each section, regardless of POV) and I couldn't get emotionally invested in any characters because we either already knew what was going to happen to them, didn't spend enough time with them to care, or both. I thought Glass Hotel would be an exception, not setting the standard for her others. At this point I just want to read Station Eleven to get St. John Mandel's works off my TBR already.

I did a companion read of this one + the regular copy. It's helpful for giving a visual and keeping track of all the characters, especially toward the end, but by nature leaves a lot out.

Can't decide between 4 or 5 stars right now so I'm compromising. I may also need more time to sit with this. Summary of my feelings right now is that I love the plot but on a personal level the writing style wasn't always for me-- occasional sentences that I'd have to reread a few times for awkward phrasing, deliberately not including the details of things (letters, calls, interviews) that are referenced. But these are pretty complaints and the plot was fantastic, and the pacing very good for such a long story.

Bleak but beautiful. The post-apocalyptic trek through a depressing wasteland almost reminds me of The Road, except I actually liked it.

There were some good poems in here but the drawings were pretty cringey. Rupi Kaur did something new with her books and now everyone is trying to copy that style with the simplistic illustrations, but not everyone can draw. Additionally, this was almost 3.5 but as I got closer to the end, I started to feel a little uncomfortable with the attitudes Kevin had. My understanding from the poetry is that his partner had a secret relationship with another man while they were dating long distance. Once duscovered, the partner picked the other man over Kevin. There is a LOT of bitterness and anger directed at the other man, who Kevin himself even seems to acknowledge was clueless of the situation. If true, I don't love the idea of writing a book of poetry and using part of it to slam an innocent bystander. Obviously I don't know the full situation, but it's natural to draw conclusions from the information available, and this is the picture this book ultimately draws.

Heavy on the Zen philosophy, not really what I was looking for.

I think this is a good story for its audience, but I'm not that audience anymore. It's very melancholy and honestly not much happens with the plot. But I think it's refreshing to have a story about what came immediately after the end of the war because that's not as talked about and is worthy of conversation.

Completely unremarkable. The twist was underwhelming, the MC was too quirky for me-- it went past being relatable and into "uh okay, why are you like this?" There's MH representation but I think the way this was done made it harder for me to relate or sympathize.

My 5-star drought has finally ended! Holy shit this was amazing. Why aren't more people talking about this? When I say I like weird books, this is exactly what I mean because I don't even know how to summarize what I just read. The writing was gorgeous. The plot was unhinged. (Admittedly it started to lose me a bit at the end but by then I was all in.) There was a reluctant mother, a majorly oppositionally defiant and relatable MC, a dysfunctional dash of romance, an escape from a cult, GHOSTS, unsettling body horror, intense societal commentary, and sweet child characters that I DIDN'T want to dropkick. Honestly, what more could I want? Please read this.

This was just fun. It reminds me of the glory days of YA fantasy, when I was in high school and would just disappear into a fantasy novel for a whole day. It's not life-changing and I'm not even sure if I'll read the sequel (reviews are significantly worse so I may pass) but it was just a nice time. 4 stars for good vibes.