Hannah

I go into every book with the mentality that they automatically get 5 stars and that rating fluctuates throughout my reading. This book quickly went down to a 4, a 3, a 2, a 2.5 and then finally a 2. The cause of the first lost star, which isn't mentioned in the blurb, is that the author is religious and most of the book is her preaching about God and how he can fix your problems. As an atheist, I prefer to avoid religious books, especially ones that preach too much, so I don't appreciate this being left out of the blurb. The cause of the second lost star is that the book is heavily anecdotal with no credible sources of information. It felt like I was reading the author's diary or autobiography. I understand that for the author to understand narcissists, they're likely going to have personal experience but just under half way through, her chapters lose structure and is made up of a formula of 'The narcissist will do this to you - I know this because this and this happened to me - so yeah, that's the fact, don't contact them'. That leads me onto the loss of the third star. Her main advice is: go no contact. Whilst this is legitimate advice for dealing with narcissistic family members, when the rest of the book is full of anecdotes and no new or scientific information, it simply becomes a needlessly stretched out passage of text that reads 'go no contact' in as many possible ways. The author even has one chapter that says to avoid holidays and vacations with toxic family, then one immediately after saying to avoid family functions, then another chapter saying to avoid funerals. To me, this read as the same thing stretched over three chapters. It went down to 2 as the book continued to go down the route of 'the narcissist will do this one specific thing to you. I know this because my mum did it to me (followed by another long diary entry)'. It had a small 0.5 boost when there were some comical sentences thrown in the ever increasingly ranty, sweary, downward spiral of the end of the book; and also when the author said that the church is toxic as hell and won't help you heal. It went back down to 2 when the author displayed her (likely religion caused) homophobia in the second to last chapter. Then the last chapter was almost entirely focused on the church and God, referring to family members as demonic and even included burning sage, spraying walls with Florida water (???) and mopping your floors with ammonia? I think this is good evidence of how unhinged and unstructured the book becomes the further you read. What kept this book at a 2 was that, at least at the beginning of the book, the writing started off quite good. She was using official terminology, providing examples that were contained and there were a couple of nuggets of information I found affirming. Throw in some witty or comical sentences and there was a recipe here for a decent and helpful book. Unfortunately, it wasn't delivered and like another reviewer said, I'm so glad I didn't buy this book. linktr.ee/hannxm

Somewhat disappointing, I'm not really sure why it's a classic?

This a weird book... to put it lightly. If someone asked me what this book was about, I honestly wouldn't know where I'd start. Although the book is weird, and possibly unnecessarily long in places (even the characters themselves said a few times their story is a long one), it managed to capture my attention throughout all 600 pages. This is because there's an air of mystery and (my own, mostly) confusion, with the odd tidbit of information here and there that *seemed* to bring the puzzle together, that keeps you reading in the hopes of understanding what the hell is happening. I don't tend to like a book that goes into too much detail about things but I found I was ready and eager for any and all information. I think Murakami is definitely a gifted writer. Some scenes came alive so vividly in my mind, other scenes almost set you on edge and the characters all come alive and have their own weird quirks. The accounts from the lieutenant were gut wrenching and near the end of the book, the talk of Boris and how dangrous of a man he is, made me feel that was definitely true - I could feel the tension in the characters. But in relation to Lt. Mamiya's stories, I have a hard time figuring out how some of his story related to the main plot, especially his last account about Boris. His previous stories seemed to unknowningly guide Okado to what he needed to do, as well as drew some links between what he was experiencing and Mamiya's experiences, but his last accounts seemed to be not that useful. Same for May's letters, they seemed sort of irrelevant but at the same time, she was an interesting character that you kind of wanted to know what was happening for her. Some have said this book isn't Murakami's best work but I'm surprisingly not put off and will continue to check out more of his books. linktr.ee/hannxm

4.25 This was a pleasantly beautiful read, with the occasional funny moments too. It's definitely cozy punk as others have said; it's a pretty laid back story that is somewhat philosophical and hopeful. I found a lot of what Mosscap said was healing in a way. Mosscap's character really came alive in my mind's eye and reminded me a bit of The Iron Giant. linktr.ee/hannxm

4.25* A fascinating read that was at times funny, shocking and morbid. I was a bit disappointed at the ending but I appreciated how the book broached on topics that aren't often represented in books. It was interesting to see how mental health was managed back in the day too. It is saddening to learn the author committed suicide at a young age, and at times, it felt like I was reading the thoughts of Plath. She was talented but obviously troubled. RIP. linktr.ee/hannxm

You can tell a book is going to be shite when there's pages and pages of introductions, trying to big up the author as something they're not, so maybe the reader will feel like they just don't understand the book, when really it's just a terrible book that some people have decided is "art". Thankfully I skipped the majority of the misplaced praise and could see for myself how crap the book is. linktr.ee/hannxm

OMG! The twists! Yes, there's more than one twist!! 😱😱😱 I will preface this review with the fact that I am not a big fantasy reader, so I don't have much of a mental catalogue of books to compare this too. But wow, I devoured this book! It's official - Lawrence has converted me into a fantasy reader and I hope to read the rest of this series! There are so many threads interwoven in the story that it's hard to dissect them for this review. My mind is swamped with the world that Lawrence beautifully curates, the loveable characters and the mysteries of the library and Crath City. I love how seemingly two separate perspectives are much more deeply interwoven than you could ever have imagined, and how it gradually unravels and everything slots into place. And the first twist! There were the subtlest of hints, yet I didn't see it coming AT ALL! I didn't see the second twist coming either... so many times I stopped and glared at the book like, this can't be happening (in a good way)?! I'll be honest though, the first few chapters didn't catch my attention. I wasn't too fond of Livira's character. But when we move into Evar's perspective where he's trapped in the library, my attention was captured. Livira does some crazy things at times, but as she grows into a woman, I enjoyed her character as well as Evar's, <spoiler>and the love they have for each other is so sweet.</spoiler> I've seen other readers saying they loved and preferred Livira over Evar, so each to their own. The story moved at a steady pace, with something happening all the time! Something was always happening, being discovered or things were clicking into place, so my attention stayed with the book throughout. It's not often that I read a book that has me pining to continue to read it, especially such a big one! I dislike books that spend far too long on description, but I didn't find that an issue at all in this book. Another reviewer said they felt there was a little too much description, but I guess because I was so hungry for more information about the world, I didn't see an issue. I actually really enjoyed how Lawrence writes and I'm intrigued by his other series. I could envisage everything pretty clearly in my mind's eye, though I couldn't comprehend the size of the library of course! Things get a little complex near the end and at occasional points, but I was still able to follow the heart of the story and really enjoy it. I was going to rate it about 4.5 or 4.75 out of 5, but I couldn't accept the very low star ratings and want more people to find and love this series, mwhahahaa! Lawrence has said that this book is almost a love letter to books and I totally see that. If you love books about books, then this is one for you. If you love books about time travel and robots then this is the book for you. This is also definitely a book that you can reread, if that's your thing. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/109016929-hannah