The billionaire may not be ordinary, but this book sure was. There was absolutely nothing compelling me to read it. The author spends much ink tellingThe billionaire may not be ordinary, but this book sure was. There was absolutely nothing compelling me to read it. The author spends much ink telling you how wonderful Dante--the titular billionaire--is and how super smart Sarah is. But there is no reason to care for either character. In fact as the book opens the guy is quite the prize asshole, and no matter how much telling she does I just had no desire to hang out with him. Skimmed to the predictable end. Not even good as an escapist read. ...more
Maybe if I had read this in fourth grade, long before I ever read Plato's Republic or Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and long beforMaybe if I had read this in fourth grade, long before I ever read Plato's Republic or Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and long before Charlton Heston screamed that Soylent Green Is People...maybe then I would be among the vast number who find this simplistic protodystopian child's book to be groundbreaking or life changing.
As it stands, though, I waited until now to read this and came away feeling like the odd duck. Everyone raves about this--according to the intro from Lowry people have named their children after the baby in the book, have changed their minds about death by suicide. For those people _The Giver_ was the right book at the right time.
I have tried to consider the book objectively, apart from my disappointment with the overall story and theme. Doing so meant that I dropped from the two-star "meh, it's not for me" to the one-star "this is a bad book." Because the construction of it _is_ bad. The characters are wax poppets, the dialog is stiff and unrealistic. In several places I felt like I was either reading an outline or an appendix to an actual story yet to come.
This book took me almost 3 months to read. Seeing as how I finish most books in 72 hours or abandon them after 50 pages, that should tell y3.5 Stars.
This book took me almost 3 months to read. Seeing as how I finish most books in 72 hours or abandon them after 50 pages, that should tell you a lot about this book. It's an intriguing story nestled inside a whole lot of very dense technical information. It's a rote dystopian drama that would be worth 2 stars on its own, coupled with a lot of speculative hard science and mathematics. Somehow the two together work to create a densely readable...well, let's call it a philosophical treatise wrapped around an elementary drama.
It took 3 months to read because I found I couldn't read it as I was falling asleep and there were 6 weeks of battling a systemic kidney infection where I simply couldn't process it at all. The book takes _processing_. That's a good thing. I like books that challenge and teach me and I feel like this book was ultimately meant to do that. It seems the author wanted to chew over these ideas and the bit of story is the spoonful of sugar.
The other author I enjoy who routinely writes this way is Neal Stephenson. As with Stephenson's _Anathem_, there are large sections of this novel which are more like going to class. I recommend it, but only if you're willing to put in the time. ...more
This book was so highly rated and the blurb intrigued me. But the writing style wasn't up to par for me. The way the author described everything made This book was so highly rated and the blurb intrigued me. But the writing style wasn't up to par for me. The way the author described everything made it very difficult to connect with the characters. It was one of those books where I felt like the author was merely recapping events.
I think that third person limited POV works best if the author brings their voice to it. I as a reader can connect to the author. This story was just dry. ...more
3.5 stars. The mysteries aren't very mysterious but I like the setting. I love the cat. 3.5 stars. The mysteries aren't very mysterious but I like the setting. I love the cat. ...more
I am honestly not sure why this exists. It has a lot of unproven allegations upfront, brings in someone to prove them and...that's it. It stops beforeI am honestly not sure why this exists. It has a lot of unproven allegations upfront, brings in someone to prove them and...that's it. It stops before the investigation is fully underway, let alone concluded. So all we're left with is a bunch of sordid accounts of boys being abused. ...more
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