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ssodders3's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
aliciabdqb's review against another edition
4.0
Loved it! Definitely will be reading it again next year.
daydreaminthepages's review against another edition
2.0
"Sometimes he had the feeling that he existed only on the fringes of other people's lives, not at the heart of his own."
I did enjoy 'the void', the first story in this collection, which did raise my expectations for the collection as a whole. These expectations were quickly dashed however as the subsequent stories were a complete let down.
The characters were all incredibly irritating, the tenuous links did not make the individual stories any more compelling and each story on its own felt like incomplete ramblings. Would not recommend.
I did enjoy 'the void', the first story in this collection, which did raise my expectations for the collection as a whole. These expectations were quickly dashed however as the subsequent stories were a complete let down.
The characters were all incredibly irritating, the tenuous links did not make the individual stories any more compelling and each story on its own felt like incomplete ramblings. Would not recommend.
dameagles's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
megantee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
jamierobyn's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
macyashby's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this! Atkinson is so clever with her writing. I loved how all the stories sort of wove together, the little ah-ha moments.
lucymcgoosey's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
hannah2896's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
This is the first book by Kate Atkinson that I've picked up, and I kinda wish I hadn't. This is a weird concoction of interconnected short stories, however I only picked up on a couple of links throughout. After the first story, which I really enjoyed, I found the rest quite confusing and hard to follow. I'm hoping I rate some of her novels higher than I've rated this!
cheerbrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Behold, the first of two short "ack wait I'm not at my goal" books I read in the past three weeks to try to get to my 52 books a year goal. Am I going to make it? No. But I've made peace with it. But onward to the book!
I hadn't read any Atkinson before but in my push to read more books as the year came to an end, a collection of short stories seemed like just the ticket. It's the perfect medium to keep you reading and give you a sense of accomplishment when your goal seems out of reach, I mean you finish an entire STORY in only a number of pages. WINNING.
I didn't know anything about the collection, grabbing as I did in a panic, so it was surprising when I figured out that these were 11 loosely connected short stories. I don't think I've ever read a collection like that, where characters and plots double-dip across all of the short stories, so that was a fun surprise. I applaud Kate's imagination and creativity. These stories were, in a word, zany. In additional words, she traveled genres and tones covering mystery, apocalypse, fantasy, a bit of horror, and even fairy tales. Overall they lean dark, but with underlying humor and amusement.
It was a bit of a wild ride, the only downside being my goal of putting this book down and coming back to it, as I have done with other short story collections, wasn't without consequence as it was tougher to follow. You're better off reading this straight through, like a novel, so that you can easily benefit from and see all the connective threads.
I hadn't read any Atkinson before but in my push to read more books as the year came to an end, a collection of short stories seemed like just the ticket. It's the perfect medium to keep you reading and give you a sense of accomplishment when your goal seems out of reach, I mean you finish an entire STORY in only a number of pages. WINNING.
I didn't know anything about the collection, grabbing as I did in a panic, so it was surprising when I figured out that these were 11 loosely connected short stories. I don't think I've ever read a collection like that, where characters and plots double-dip across all of the short stories, so that was a fun surprise. I applaud Kate's imagination and creativity. These stories were, in a word, zany. In additional words, she traveled genres and tones covering mystery, apocalypse, fantasy, a bit of horror, and even fairy tales. Overall they lean dark, but with underlying humor and amusement.
It was a bit of a wild ride, the only downside being my goal of putting this book down and coming back to it, as I have done with other short story collections, wasn't without consequence as it was tougher to follow. You're better off reading this straight through, like a novel, so that you can easily benefit from and see all the connective threads.