Sarah > Recent Status Updates

Mary is a bit too much of a sad sack still. I feel like the author has changed her character because she thinks this is the only way we can empathize with her. I want more of the Mary who appears to enjoy herself even if others think she "wants taste".

Frustrated that not only did we spend so long foreshadowing Mary's disappointment when she wanted to be closer to her father, she anticipated his reaction and hid the gift without even offering it to him rather than bear it.

Annoyed by Mary's thought processes. Why wouldn't she have been aware that her mother would not approve and why? Why has she determined that her error was caused by feelings and passion?

I wish Mary's personality was not all about her being plain. There seems to be no reason why Lizzy considers Charlotte her best friend and shuns Mary when the focus is on appearance.

How old are the girls at the point where Lydia brings the news about the Meryton Ball? Surely the younger girls are not considered out yet? I will have to check how Austen handled it but I thought she mentioned the impropriety.

I am growing exasperated with Mary's thoughts, or at least with the narrator's insistence on her unhappiness. Her distance from her sisters seems unnatural or at least oversimplified. And it annoyed me that she thought of her seeing the oculist as defiance when what happened was she told her mother she needed it and her mother disclaimed all responsibility but permitted it.

I was looking forward to this and am still planning to watch the TV adaptation but I feel like Mary is getting set up as too downtrodden in this book. Maybe I haven't paid enough attention but Mary isn't usually presented as retiring. What's with her depression over being plain driving her to avoid her sisters and dress in dull colours?

I am not really vibing with Carr's style.

Fascinating so far. I wonder how much I am missing by never having read If on a winter's night a traveler? Or most of the other works mentioned? I have read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

I will be shocked if Hugh and Mary wind up together. If none of them committed the murder, I presume Mary will wind up with the Doctor and Hugh with Vicky. And my guess is that the murder weapon was set up to go off when the victim crossed the bridge, ensuring that the murderer would have witnesses that he was totally somewhere else at the time. The "hair slide" must be part of the apparatus.

I am guessing that the murderer must have been the real heir of the victim's elderly mad cousin. Although I don't see how the love interests are going to work out unless either Vicky or Mary is the murderer.

I never enjoy Heyer's modern whodunits as much as her historical romances. Currently suspecting the doctor.

Why does this Atlas not seem anything like our Atlas? Fuming.

At last it has occurred to Reina to think about people who were not accepted. I'm not convinced it makes sense in that the six we know all seemed to have a lock on admission. And how Ezra factors in I don't know.

Definitely skimming, WTF Ezra?

Callum's tantrum is making me wish that we had had any insight into other people who weren't recruited. The whole system is stupid.

The plot is ostensibly moving forward but it's sluggish. I was willing to be interested in the various relationships and alliances but so far I am disappointed. Part of it is that even though I'm told these people are different from each other factually they feel too similar to each other and their reactions don't move me. There are probably too many secrets, both that I already know and that have been hidden from us

Callum and Parisa are extremely tiresome. What on earth was the point of that?

I may be about to start skimming. Libby's love life has been made tedious.

If the Forum is public, why is Parisa intrigued by it?

Bored with Dalton and a bit tired of the various specialties since it is unclear how they might be used. Annoyed by the security aspects.

I dislike Callum more than Parisa. I could wish for more differentiation in everyone's voices; it is starting to feel like a slog to remember everyone's specialty and how it applies. Raina is still my number one. I feel like Libby ia being described as annoying in the same way by all the others in a way that isn't coming through from the omniscient narrator.

I am interested to see how the group members interact with each other and whether the author intends to redeem the most unpleasant of them. Raina is the most appealing so far.

When action scenes go on for too long I get bored.

I hope I am not expected to like Parisa. She is driving me nuts.

Very readable so far. Less Shepherd than I expected. Maybe a slight quibble over why Nora didn't even think about whether there would be a problem working for the same company as Charlie before he revealed he was quitting.

Having fun with it so far. Waiting impatiently for the reappearance.of that first local attractive man to create drama.

Enjoying it reasonably well so far. Points for reference to Mr Knightley in passing and not Mr Darcy. However I don't know if I should be discouraged by the fact that the initial beef between the main characters is framed as whether he liked a book rather than whether he sees the market for it. I need them to acknowledge that those are two different things given publishing is their profession.