Reading Stats (63 books)
So wholesome and cute! 😇 And not to mention amusing too. I was wanting and in desperate need of something lighthearted, sweet and that is exactly what I got from this book! I'm very happy with this story, it gave me exactly the experience that I was looking for💓
Really great read full of meaningful and important messages.
I quoted some lines that I especially liked and I will share them here:
"I don't mean to be insulting. It's just, I love to watch people too much, I guess."
"No one has time any more for anyone else."
"You always dread the unfamiliar."
"We beging by beginning, I guess."
"We all do what we do,"
This was a prolonged and unenjoyable fever dream with no purpose. I felt that the characters had potential but towards the end of the book my indifference to them hadn't changed and some characters could have been explored more. It was all too repetitive and pressing, I wasn't entertained. I don't understand the appeal surrounding this book
Brilliantly sad but thoughtful, definitely a top tier book for me
Religious & rainbow cat, buried gods, child abduction, murder, secrets, I mean... it all makes sense once you reach the end. Story was difficult to get into with very disorienting first chapters but built up to be a very interesting psychological thriller. I do feel though that the ending may have been rushed and could have continued in the same atmosphere as the rest of the story.
Good book and definitely recommend going in (mostly) blind!
An intricate, mesmerizing story for those who have the patience to enjoy it. Super imaginative, vivid, clever. I recommend it for those who want to read something obscure and profound but mystifying too
Okay, here is my take on this book. The disgust many feel for it is understandable and I felt that I would drop reading it after just around 10% of the book but I did not and for that I'm very glad.
The story indeed contains graphic content and details, many, many crude, violent and bizarre doings, has that specific atmosphere of repulsiveness about it. Buuuuuut! But even with all its savagery, the book can still be appreciated – if you can find it within yourself to do so. I believe this story is rich, complex and offers more.
It offers aspects of life, death, religion, change in dynamics of power, test of piety, magical realism, spirituality. It is a thought-provoking portrayal of humanity at its most inhumane through impulsive actions, distorted/new world views, twisted beliefs, village disasters, etc.
It offers great twists and just when you get used to something, it turns out that the truth differs from what you know already.
The characters are very well thought out, albeit with collectively strange personalities and activities, and are so very fitting for a setting such as this medieval, dark village. They all have their certain weirdness about them and are unique. Equally unique and interesting as they are fully morbid and strange.
I believe that it doesn't follow the standard structure of plots - the characters run around and go about their weird businesses - but at some points the absurdity of the situations at hand begin to seem comical, so there is some of that grotesque element too, which helps balance out the weirdness between the scenes.
Everyone in this book holds a religious view that contradicts another's, and I found that really entertaining to read.
"But a person should never judge someone else's faith. Nobody knows the truth."
While I found a few parts to be somewhat abrupt, I consider the book ingenious overall.
Isaac Marion paints us a picture of a different kind of zombie from what we may think of when we speak of them. Yes, they kill and eat flesh. Yes, they wander about and don't have a purpose. But here, their souls are still intact and we can see how this plays out for our main character, an 'audiophile and a food snob', R, who learns of what it means to be human again by interacting with Julie, by eating brains and reliving memories of other people, and by contemplating on his new thoughts and vague memories of the world before.
We are also shown what humans are like from a zombie's perspective and I really like that this in the story. Makes you appreciate the nature of humans, the small and big details of us.
"... everything that made him who he was - just started rotting."
It's scary to think about how a person could lose the things that makes them, them. How someone could die, in a way, without dying.
There is meaning to what makes us, us and we should hold onto these things.
In this world, even zombies have some sort of order. A chaotic order at that but they seem to have their own unspoken rules and mutual doings at times. I like this thought of connection between living beings. Words are powerful but sometimes in lack of them, we can still understand each other.
First half of the book is mostly slow-paced. Later the storyline proceeds but some aspects of the entire plot just don't seem to connect somehow. Some parts feel like puzzle pieces that don't fit together. Upon finishing the book, I was left with a lot of questions regarding some characters of the book unresolved.
