Anna’s Comments (group member since Feb 26, 2014)

Anna’s comments from the CKBC group.

SPOILERS

I'm about halfway through, and I'll agree with E that the narration feels immature. I get that the perspective is generally from the point of view of teenage girls, but I'm wishing we could read something a little more challenging. I did love Carl's perspective though. The author has a good voice for him and included some turns of phrase that felt natural and real and very country.

I'm not loving that this turned out to be a sex-trafficking/rape mystery. It just seems so... predictable, like Caroline said. I'd love to read a mystery-style novel about women that DIDN'T involve rape. Like, new girl arrives in town and disappears, then another girl disappears and is found chopped up, what could it possibly be??? I feel like most people would have assumed sex crimes. Couldn't have gone down a new route, like Lila started her own crime syndicate, or actually was a witch and needed human sacrifices, or just like... anything else?

I realize my reviews of this book and Annihilation have been primarily negative, but I promise I'm enjoying this! I like the challenge of reading books that aren't my first choice. It definitely helps me broaden my horizons, rather than just comfortably rereading the same old books I have in my apartment. I'm looking forward to seeing the story wrap up and finding out how it all ends. I will say I'm a sucker for a happy ending, so here's hoping.

So I finished the book a few days ago and have been holding off posting to give everyone else a chance to start. SPOILER ALERT, this post is for people who have FINISHED THE BOOK.

I'm of two minds about this book. The first is one that was pretty unimpressed by the writing and irritated by the abrupt ending. I recognize that this is a trilogy, but it felt like the first third of a single book than the first book in a trilogy. I've always felt that books in a series should be able to stand strong on their own and not just as a piece of the whole. The story didn't have enough arc to me, where it raised all these questions and set the scene and started to build- and then cut off mid-build up. I'm not one to think that all the questions have to be answered or the story has to wrap up neatly to be a good book, but this felt like it was cut off at the knees.

That said, the book seriously freaked me out, and any writing that accomplishes that has some merit. The goal of the book was obviously to create suspense and mystery and it certainly succeeded, and made me want to read the next book in the series. I'm not turned off by the blunt, analytical tone of the biologist, but it suits her personality, especially as she goes on to describe herself as an introvert and a recluse, and as she describes her relationship problems with her boyfriend. What I'm less interested in is how much time is spent in her mind rather than describing the atmosphere. What I mean is, she seems to come to a lot of paranoid conclusions without a ton of explanation, and it drew me out of the text over and over again. Her attachment to the photograph of the lighthouse operator and then his subsequent appearance irritated me, because her random assumption about this photo just happened to come true. That's kind of lazy writing, if you ask me. Couldn't there have been more evidence to lead her to that conclusion?

As I suspected, the psychologist was easily my favorite character. Her death sticks out to me as the most interesting part of the book. Watching her crack and become this bitter, burdened person was thrilling and, in my opinion, the best written part. It sort of felt like the author lifted his head out of the water and took a breath of air for that part. Suddenly the veil of overly-manufactured creepiness was lifted for a second and we got a glimpse at the inner workings of this organization, and it was way creepier than the tower or the animals with human eyes.

So, I'll probably read the next book or two, if only because I want to know WHAT IS GOING ON, and not because I was particularly enamored of the book. Interested to see everyone else's thoughts!

JUSTIN, if you don't mind: I'm currently helping my English-professor-father develop his modern world literature class, and he asked me for help describing Murakami as a contemporary Japanese author, since he's my all-time favorite writer. More specifically, what makes him stand out, and what characterizes his writing style. I had some ideas, but I'd love to hear yours as another Murakami fan!

So I'm about a third of the way through (50 pages) and here are my thoughts so far:

First, I don't love the writing. While I get that there needs to be a ton of exposition to set the tone, it could have been crafted much smoother and in less of an info-dump. All of the information is presented very abruptly, sandwiched in attempts at more flowery descriptive passages that get confusing because they're over-wrought.

That said, it's still very readable and engaging. The plot is strong enough that it still grabbed me and I have to admit this book is FREAKING me out. VanderMeer does a great job at creating suspense.

I really just want to read more about the Psychologist. She seems like by far the most interesting character and I want to know her story. I'm hoping the story pulls away from the "tower" and gets into the organization funding all these expeditions.

Anyway, sorry if that was long! I'm excited to hear everybody's thoughts.

Just got it, can't wait to start!

Hey, I'm Anna! My URL is virginia-werewoolf, although I lurk more than post. I have way too many favorite books to choose from, but I'll say "Yo!" by Julia Alvarez. I'm currently reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. And a random fact about me is that I play roller derby and my derby name is based on one of the most famous woman authors of all time, Virginia Woolf!