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Reviews

Avalon by Nell Zink

saestrah's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A free advanced reading copy of this title was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:

While full of pretentous characters who think they're much smarter than they really are (as many twenty-odd year olds do), I did enjoy this book. It reflected a lot of my own struggles of leaving behind what I knew as home in search of something bigger, but took on a character arc I've not seen often, where the writer intentionally starts of with an interesting character feeling isolated from the world, and makes her conform to society and become, literally, a 'basic bitch.' Unfortunately, I think the constant references to other texts could only work so much, and by the end of the book felt over-done. Additionally, if the references are unfamiliar to the reader, then the entire exchange is rendered meaningless and makes the characters' pseudo-intellectualism more frustrating than endearing.

bookishmornings's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

forkdora's review against another edition

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fast-paced

4.0

vapourwavey's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

while reading this, i deviated from giving this either 2 stars or 3.5 stars and settled on a solid 2.5. there are some really funny moments of brilliance in this novel - however, the characters are so deeply unlikable that it made parts a bit difficult to get through (i'm looking directly at you peter). by the time i was nearing the conclusion, i had to start pushing myself to finish - and then all of a sudden it just ends? what.

lene_kretzsch's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

fran17's review against another edition

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challenging tense slow-paced

2.0

parablesarah's review against another edition

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funny medium-paced

2.75

It's hilarious and facile. 

erinsbooklogue's review against another edition

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funny medium-paced

4.0

jstor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

callmeamelia's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced

5.0