The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

One of our winning group reads for August 2022 is The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd. Please discuss here and remember to use spoiler tags as needed, as everyone may start at different times and reads at different speeds.



What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps...

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.

Just got started and it has grabbed me!

Started this on Monday and hoping to finish it today!

Nearly half way through and throughly enjoying it so far. I think it’s about to get even more interesting.

I enjoyed the book as it was something different and not something I usually would pick up. Curious what everyone will think and if will like the magical realism/fantasy component to the book? I really enjoyed the main character Nell and her search for the truth. Happy Reading!

I'm halfway through, enjoying it so far :)

Finished it! I enjoyed the majority of the story. By approx 2/3 of the way through I’d guessed the ending though. Still a solid enjoyable read.

This was a great read!! So well written and kept me engaged the whole way through. I too guessed the ending, could even be a sequel? who knows but quite enjoyed it

I’m about half way through and really enjoying the story. I’m guessing at the upcoming twists - we will see if I’m right.

Finished it a couple days ago! Here's my review The Cartographers

It was not my favorite. The way I built it up to be national treasure / Indians Jones…. And it was not. At. All.

…honestly pretty good…could be better though

I so wanted to love this book, but it just never came together. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I agree with what a lot of people are saying, which it was good but could have been better...I especially agree that it felt like it was marketed wrong. Yes, it does have that magical realism/urban fantasy spark, but it's not very adventurous or really that mysterious? At least not in a way that felt /magical/ to me, if that makes sense. Still, it surprised me in the way it ended up going. The Cartographers

I’m a third through and finding it pretty boring. Pushing myself to continue….. :/

Such a unique book and story - and the author’s footnote at the end is fascinating. I loved the magical aspects of the story; never really “got” some of the character’s motivations which took away a bit from the story for me. I also felt it was obvious what some of the twists would be before they were revealed. Enjoyable read!

Just finished reading. The beginning was pretty slow for me but I got into it the last third or so and ended up enjoying it overall. One thing I didn’t understand…

SPOILERS




If Wally was the one who had been buying up any copies left, why didn’t he have one of them?? Or were the auctions and things Felix and Nell found in their research, where someone had bought a copy, before the day they “all” burned??

I also wanted to love this book. I wanted another adventure like in the DiVinchi code. It had some of what at I what I wanted. But I felt no connection with any of the chars. I also could not understand the villains motivation.

I loved loved loved this book. To be fair though I'm only an occasional fan of magical realism and this book was only mildly in that category which suits me just fine. I love maps.... like so much that my husband makes fun of me for it. I also love academics and libraries, especially large and prestigious ones. I also love ensembles and only tolerate minimal romantic story lines. I enjoy mysteries but not when it's improbable twist after improbable twist-- just build good characters and ain won't care that I see where it's going. Soooo... this book was kind of made for me.