Simulated Buttercup

Dull, no depth

Revisado: 12-01-24

This book reads like every <4.9 and lower movie on IMDB only in book form so it takes a lot longer to understand that it isn’t going to go anywhere. It’s just another patriarchal tale of an inadequate wife and mother that is never going to be punished enough for not being a trad wife. Relentlessly boring and overdone. No new ground here.

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Excellent inclusivity, but I found the book dull

Revisado: 06-03-23

I found the narrator’s voice to be pleasant. I usually prefer that a narrator not do voices, but hers weren’t grating. She didn’t do an Elizabeth Holmes low pitch voice that sounds like a surfer, nor did she do breathy voices.

The author captured the essence of children around age 10, though I think the kids are supposed to be older.

I think that this novel would have been much better as a short story. There’s a lot of what feels to me like padding. The book is over half-finished before there is a vampire. Before that, there was some meandering and odd authorial choices.

After there’s a vampire, the children become stupid and there’s a lot of repetition of things that don’t really need to have been said once, especially given that these children have parents experienced with vampiric lore.

I really want to like this book. For example, the author did a good job of including characters who aren’t white. I’m especially impressed with how well the author presented a non-binary, main character.

But overall, the book was very frustrating to me and a bit dull because of the endless padding and repetition of things the children have already said.

I have a hunch that a child around age 10 or who has a strong interest in gender inclusivity might not mind these things so much.

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These are standup notes

Revisado: 02-15-22

This book reads like a collection of notes for a standup act. Interviews with the author promoting the book and the description of the book here on Audible describe a collection of short, amusing essays, not quick setups and a funny joke. Chapters are often just a minute long, sometimes shorter.

If that’s what you’re looking for, then I think you might like this. It’s a very funny and clever set of fast jokes.

It just isn’t the book described and promoted.

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Spellbinding character study

Revisado: 02-09-21

I was spellbound by Tana French’s “The Witch Elm,” and finished it in just a few days. It is, however, character-driven, not plot-driven. As a character study investigating philosophical questions of identity, it isn’t for everybody. I think that many fans of French’s “Dublin Murder Squad” series might be dismayed at the different tone, pacing, and emphases of this book.

The story follows Toby, who believes himself to be a good man. As the reader, we can see that he’s more human than the angel he seems to think he is, but he has just as much potential for redemption as anyone. Something happens to him, though, that causes him to forget essential parts of his identity, and to become vulnerable, saddled with serious PTSD symptoms that he chooses to pretend he can get over easily just by being a stronger person.

We know from the start that Toby is an unreliable narrator because he tells us. But just as he worries what kind of person he really is, we must wonder what kind of unreliable narrator is telling us his story.

I love this book and will need to read (listen) to it again to pick up things I missed the first time. The book is packed with all manner of clues to Toby’s real self, revealed through conversations with cousins, uncles, other family, and police investigating an old murder. These conversations can seem like nothing if you aren’t listening closely. Even if you are, if you aren’t into philosophical character studies over the backdrop of a murder mystery (the murder mystery serves as just a convenience to tell the tale of Toby and his identity), then the conversations are bound to annoy and bore you.

I recommend choosing this book carefully. Consider if you want a deep, philosophical tale that needs more of your attention than many other books, or if you’re interested in something that has a more prominent plot.

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Terrible

Revisado: 03-26-19

This book was poorly narrated and grating to listen to. The writing is childish as are the ideas it attempts to convey. The author comes off as arrogant and foolish, which is mildly amusing on Reddit forums, but not while the grownups are talking.

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Terrible

Revisado: 03-26-19

This book was poorly narrated and grating to listen to. The writing is childish as are the ideas it attempts to convey. The author comes off as arrogant and foolish, which is mildly amusing on Reddit forums, but not while the grownups are talking.

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Science fiction noir

Revisado: 06-13-18

I loved this book. It’s the first hardcore science fiction book with a strong, fully-realized woman as the central character that I’ve ever read. Weir has a deft hand with a noir tone in a science fiction setting. Characters have his down-to-earth sense of humor as they change and grow. Artemis itself is a cosmopolitan city on the moon, and Dawson met the challenge of shifting among many different accents better than pretty much anyone could.

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Really bad

Revisado: 03-04-17

I feel duped by all the rave reviews, especially those extolling the richness of the characters. I found the characters to be cardboard cutouts. Most female characters are breathlessly desperate for sex. The mystery is meaningless. It seemed like the author was trying to write in a 1940s noire style with a modern setting, but the effect was rushed and often insipid. Overall, the book feels like the writer rushed through it, as though writing might be a race. Nothing catches my attention because it all seems so treadworn and self-conscious.

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