aquapt

Cheesy

Revisado: 09-09-22

It’s hard to believe this was written by an adult. I exceeded my cringe quota and had to bail. Middle schoolers might enjoy it.

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Could have been so much better.

Revisado: 06-15-21

I kept listening for the potential. The premise was intriguing and there were a few likeable characters. (The protagonist, unfortunately, was hard to like - she's incredibly dense and needlessly antagonistic, and it's hard to see why anyone who could read her mind would be attracted to her.)

But the foreshadowing was unbelievably heavy-handed. There wasn't a single plot-twist that I didn't see coming, which made all of the belabored setbacks en route to those plot twists get frustrating and tiresome. I didn't give up, because there was cleverness that was interesting and I wanted to see how it all resolved. But, it didn't read like it was written for adults, and yet I can't see kids having the patience for it. It could maybe make a good movie, albeit fluffy, if done well. But as a book... I don't understand what happened to Connie Willis. The Doomsday Book was sooo much more nuanced and subtle and substantial.

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Narration could have been better

Revisado: 10-16-19

I really like Bradley Whitford as an actor, and was excited to listen to his reading of Ady's memoir. My disappointment surprised me. I've heard Ady on video, pre-ALS, and what has always been striking about him is his relentless energy. Whitford doesn't convey that; rather, he sounds fatigued. Bradley Whitford shines as an actor when he performs fast-paced dialogue like Aaron Sorkin's West Wing banter; but it seems as if the back-and-forth with his scene partners is what energizes him. When reading on his own, he sounds as if getting through the sentences exhausts him. Given the subject matter, this raises the level of pathos to a degree that, IMHO, detracts from the drive and passion of Ady's message. I understand why Ady and his publisher couldn't pass up a celebrity narrator who is also a personal friend, but I feel as if a voice actor with more strength in this genre could have given the reading a lot more energy.

That said, I'm very glad to have read the book - it strikes a great balance between recounting Ady's personal story, and delivering a real education in progressive organizing and activism. I just think that I might have gotten a truer sense of Ady's tone and energy by reading the Kindle book rather than listening to the Audible edition. Of course, Ady himself is the one to judge whether Whitford captures his intent - perhaps he feels the performance is perfect. I just felt like it came off a bit more listless than Ady's driven activism deserves.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Is suspension of disbelief your superpower?

Revisado: 01-08-19

I was curious enough about where this book was going to continue to the end. Having done so, though, I can't really recommend it. Several reasons:

1) Predictability. I saw literally every plot-twist coming, and I'm not one of those people who's impossible to surprise. I won't lob spoilers, but you can see for yourself, from a mile away, how Scott sets up the row of plot-dominoes in preparation for his various Big Reveals.

2) Breaks the "write about what you know" rule. Scott clearly doesn't know disabilities, nor has he engaged with people who *do* know disabilities in order to make this book portray them accurately and respectfully. These characters' disabilities are plot devices, not real-life variations in function. The portrayal of what is supposedly Down Syndrome, but bears really zero resemblence to same, is particularly problematic. And I seriously doubt that any blind consultant would have signed off on Scott's portrayal of the protagonist's experience of blindness. And that's even before you get to...

3) The painful illogic of Phillip's experiences of "sight." So, we have a blind protagonist who has never had sight in his entire life, but once another superhero can beam images into his brain, he can... okay, I'll spare you a long list of ridiculous examples, but can we start with where he recognizes someone he's never seen before... because... wait for it... he can READ her NAME TAG? Seriously, Mr. Scott?

4) The narration. It actually sounds more-or-less normal at 85% speed. Not that I wouldn't have liked to get through the story faster, but the sped-up recording is just weird.

5) The writing style. Heavy-handed and repetitive similes. Golly-gee-whiz action words. It's like really high quality high-school-level writing, but it lacks adult sophistication. True, it's a YA novel, but YA novels don't have to read like they were *written* by a young adult. I even looked it up to make sure I wasn't dissing a really talented 16-year-old, but nope, he's 43.

If it were just a little clumsily written but conscientious and insightful about disability issues, I'd be recommending it. But no, it isn't. I mean, it could be a lot worse. The characters do have personalities and aren't just caricatures. But getting disabilities right is hard work for those who don't really know them intimately, and this author skips over that work and just uses the disability-attributes as gimmicks to set up his plot. I asked myself, if my child had one of these disabilities, would I want him/her to read this book? (Speaking of him/her the gender balance is pretty bad too.) It's not so bad that I'd avoid it at all costs, but they wouldn't be missing much to skip it, and given how rare disability representation is in the genre, it sure would have been nice if the execution had been better.

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