so-soThis book was especially hard to read due to the fact that it was written during a timeframe I and everyone else in the world would like to forget. I get it that the author needed to capitalize or get over her writing slump, but I could not fly by as quickly as I've done through her other novels because there is still a lot of pain and misinformation about COVID.
so-soPart of why everyone here annoys me, I think, is no one appears to have real responsibilities, even as COVID hits. Rob and Alice have a daughter they ignore, Jay‘s life has mostly been wading through an art scene while being high, and the art anyone does finally do feels pretentious and light. They have disappeared into their art, a major theme. People return when they connect with others, and mostly everyone here is too selfish to do that.
pickI really loved this. It was an interesting look at memory and what we can see more clearly with the benefit of hindsight. It was also about personal responsibilities and perceptions of them. I loved the octopus content because they are facinating. There are a lot of flashbacks as the story is told. The ending answered some of the questions about what happened next but not all of them. Interestingly the author started this before the 2020 pandemic.
so-soClaire Fuller is a hit-and-miss author for me.
It's not the book's fault I wasn't really in the mood for a pandemic story. However, it felt like three books cobbled together: a memoir of Neffy's earlier life, mostly in Greece; Station Eleven; and one of the recent crop of octopus books.
It had interesting things to say about grief, guilt and a desire to escape to the past rather than face present horrors. I'm not sure it succeeded in saying them.
pickI immediately grabbed this book off the library shelf because the name and the cover got my attention. It did not disappoint. This was a fast paced, raw, and direct. When a new pandemic with a high fatality rate that only affects men breaks out, it‘s up to women to keep the world running, and some of the glass ceiling finally breaks. One thing I liked about this book is it explores all the different intersections in an event like this. Think⬇️
pick4⭐️ Really enjoyed this #bookclub pick. Got into it much easier than the previous ones that I have read of hers. #2025 #indigineous #contemporary #fiction #covid19fiction
pickGod, I love how she tells a story!
Without intending to, I ended up reading back-to-back pandemic books. The other was for library book group and had all the close-quartered sameness of that time. In contrast, ES delivers another of her quiet books and lets its rich and capacious interiority sing out.
pickAs always, Shusterman asks a very interesting question in his latest YA science fiction story. What if there was a pandemic, one with a mortality rate higher than Covid, caused by a virus that, if you survived, left you feeling content…happy…unburdened by negative emotions, a need for money, a new found wonder for the world… How would you react? Would this be good for the world? Or bad? Really, really interesting story & a lot to think about.
pickKate is struggling with self-isolating in November 2020, she breaks and goes for a forbidden walk in the hills of the Peak District. Her 16 year old son Matthew is home alone when he realises she‘s gone and turns to their elderly and vulnerable neighbour Alice. The fourth character is mountain rescue volunteer Rob, helping search for Kate. A third in, I was racing through this desperate to know the outcome. And when it comes, it packs a punch.
