JuliaPer

Like Douglas Coupland for 2024

Revisado: 05-20-24

That is the highest compliment. A little dystopic, a little nostalgic, a lot of commentary on our modern life. I loved it.

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Excellent exploration of our current political environment

Revisado: 03-20-24

I didn’t agree with every word, but this book does an excellent job of explaining how we ended up in this era of hyper-partisanship and what those of us on the left can borrow from MAGA conservatives to win both the battle and the war. Using Wolf as the stand-in for the average radicalized individual was so, so smart. Every progressive and leftist (and even liberal, even though that’s become a bit of a dirty word on the left, including in this book), should read this book, and heed its advice.

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Not for me

Revisado: 02-11-24

Well written and well-researched but I found this book to be a bit dull. Maybe people who appreciate fine art would love it. My low rating is not a reflection on the book itself, it simply wasn’t to my taste.

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Beautiful story, beautifully told

Revisado: 12-20-23

This book took my breath away. The story was beautiful and heartbreaking without ever being saccharine or predictable. The burden of talent and loneliness of art; the beauty of connections that are so deep, you understand each other in your bones. This is also the one of the few explicitly post-pandemic books I’ve read that isn’t cynical or sneering. I really loved it.

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Intriguing story, beautifully written

Revisado: 12-09-23

This book won a Pulitzer Prize so it’s obviously good but I was surprised by how much I liked it. At its core, a book about capitalism and patriarchy, the less you know about this book in advance, the better. Let it surprise you.

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Beautifully written, beautifully narrated

Revisado: 10-26-23

What a compelling little story. Well worth the hour. And Ed Harris should read all audiobooks, absolute master class performance.

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Great fun

Revisado: 10-08-23

This books was fun and silly in the best possible way. Such a great reprieve from all of the Gone Girl-adjacent stories with unreliable narrators that have taken hold of this genre.

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A masterwork of literary fiction

Revisado: 09-17-23

This book is so wonderfully imagined. Every detail perfectly laying breadcrumbs to the end. Colton Whitehead is a generational talent. And the narration is among the best I’ve ever heard. Five stars honestly isn’t enough.

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Certainly interesting, maybe enjoyable

Revisado: 08-26-23

The plot of this book felt really original and I loved how the author brought us along to learn a little more about the main character, bit by bit but I don’t think anyone can say they enjoyed spending eight and a half hours with these people. This book feels like an emotional cousin to Yellowface, in that all of the characters seem amoral, performative and unlikable. It feels like a response to our post-pandemic era and that we’re entering a cynical time for literature, with stories full of hustlers and scammers.

Whether or not a book like this is enjoyable seems separate from whether it’s, strictly speaking, good. It was well written and the performance was amazing but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it for everyone in the way I did for a book like True Biz or Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. It almost feels like Audible needs to add a feature to review that let’s the reader know what types of books the reviewer typically rated as 5-star. That would do more to help me understand if a book was worth a listen for me personally than reviews from people who perhaps don’t like a book because they don’t like a character who was clearly written to be unlikable.

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LOVED this book but see why it’s not for everyone

Revisado: 06-10-23

I listened to this book on a recommendation knowing nothing about it and I LOVED it. It caught me totally off guard, which is so rare. I was a little surprised by the number of 1 and 2-star reviews and I think it’s because those readers a quiet book about the apocalypse. If you need something “to happen” this book is not for you. But if you’re comfortable with ambiguity and are interested in stories that explore the human condition, I cannot recommend this book enough. The writing is beautiful and the calm, measured narration is almost unnerving.

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