Reviews

I expected this book to be a lot funnier. There were definitely some parts that were funny, but for the most part, it was repetitive, which made it too easy for my mind to wander. I really liked the concept, but in execution, the author needed to have tried just a tiny bit harder. It was like McLeod had stretched just before reaching past the line that would've taken the story from ok enough to brilliantly fantastic. I think my major issue was the structure of the book where we start with the protagonist in the first part, who is then omitted in the next part in order to explain why he's the hero of the book, and then we come back to him trying to be heroic.

There are also some scenes that made me cringe, especially on behalf of the children (including Noah).

The book is pretty obvious in that it exaggerates the impact of social and news media. I'm certainly a victim of this - the more the ultra-conservative MAGA lovers dig into MAGA, the further left I run. So the divide keeps getting bigger and bigger between us, and when I try to have discourse with people I love who sit squarely on the other end, it often ends up with both of us holding our heads and wondering what's wrong with the other one's brain (and in my case, I also wonder what happened to their heart - where their compassion fled to).

In this sense, I think this is a necessary and effective book to remind of us of how people we should be close to, like family, are the first people we are judging (and yes, I'm judgy about their prioritization of commerce and "mine" over human decency!). I can easily see how their selfish little hearts can be consumed by the greed that comes with perceived influence and power. I can easily see both sides want to scream at the other to open their eyes and wake up! (To all my MAGA friends whom I'm not yet ready to give up on, please, please, please do!!!!, and please also stay with me and not give up on me either. We were important to each other before the red hats were printed and sold. We are important to each other still. Let's keep it that way!)

oakreads's review

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

lenemsl's review

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I think I would recommend audio for this one, the production is pretty good and I can imagine some of the parts of the book comes across better on audio than text.

While there are some interesting points towards how easy it can be to go down the rabbit hole from seemingly innocent interactions, and I definitely felt uncomfortable more than a few times, but it was also too much on the nose and in your face about the point that it felt like the author was beating me over the head with something obvious you already know. After a while I noticed I started to lose interest, and finished mostly to see if it would come to some saving grace concousion, but in the end I was just left with a small head ache from said point beating me over the head again and again and again.

onadarkshelf's review

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dark tense medium-paced

3.75

aliwali77's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

ziggymusic's review

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.25

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