anyaemilie's Reviews (1.57k)

This "fast-paced thriller" almost bored me to sleep

Too heavy on the lit fic, not enough focus on the mystery. Not even the fact that this is for a book club can make me finish it

I don't usually rate books so highly if I can't really tell someone what happened in the book. But this one I think was more a matter of reading the right book at the right time. This book, to me, was mostly about the main character's personality in relation to the rest of the characters, who were stand-ins for "regular" people as we know them, while she was defined as an "other."

This book is definitely dystopian and definitely disturbing in parts. It is not a fun or comforting read. It leaves the reader with many unanswered questions, just as the main character is left with many unanswered questions.

I think this book interested me so much at this particular point in time because the main character (who doesn't have a name, but is referred to as The Child) had several traits I noticed in myself. Within the last six months I've been coming to terms with the fact that I most likely am autistic and while this wasn't a complete shock, I'm still coming to terms with what that looks like in me. Now, I don't know what the author intended when she wrote this book, but the MC definitely reads as autistic to me. Throughout the book it's constantly explained away by the fact that she does not remember life before the prison that she and the 39 other women are trapped in. The other women all had "regular" lives and families and grew up in what we (the readers) would recognize as modern society. The MC, though, remembers nothing of that because she is significantly younger than the rest of the women.

Because of this, there are large gaps in her knowledge about things that the other women just take for granted. For example, she doesn't know to be ashamed when she uses the toilet in front of everyone because it's all she's ever known.

I think a lot of her behaviors can be explained by this world (the prison, the outside world when they escape) being the only world she has ever known. But I also don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that she might be autistic. 

I recognized many behaviors and attitudes in the MC that I see in myself: not liking to touch or be touched by other people; lack of emotions in situations where others were emotional; wanting to know things for the sake of knowing them and not because they would have a particular use. This last trait reminded me of my own particular way of getting into hobbies: I have to know as much as I can about that particular topic even if it won't ever be useful for me. And there were multiple times throughout the book that one of the women asked why the MC wanted to know something because it would never be relevant, but she insisted she learn it anyway. 

It's hard to think of everything the MC did that made me think she was autistic (mostly because I start to forget things about books immediately after I finish them), but I think other autistic people might recongize the same behaviors and traits in her.

The story itself was also very intriguing, so I recommend reading it if you're someone who doesn't mind a book with many questions and very few answers. It's definitely a book that will stay with me for a lont time, and one I might consider rereading.

I had a hard time sympathizing with any of the characters. And I think I just don't like cannibal books

Clunky writing, hated all the characters, not impressed by the "twist." It was a fast read, but I did not enjoy the experience of reading this book one bit

Do people just…not care about plot holes and annoying main characters if a book has sex scenes every other page?? I skimmed through a handful of 5 star reviews of this book and I am. Baffled. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good smutty book but it at least has to make sense! And it helps if I’m not rolling my eyes at everything the main character does! DNF’d this at 25% because I have so many other books I’d rather be reading

SOOO much happened in this book!!! It took me a while to remember book 1 since I read it at least 3 years ago. I was not expecting the ending, and I must read book 3 immediately (honestly glad I waited until the last one was out - unintentionally - so I didn't have to wait YEARS for the last one)

Mostly entertaining but the 3rd act breakup was completely ridiculous. Also not a fan of how Sybil’s mom didn’t have anything positive to say about her until after she started dating Kieran 🥴
Side note: Sybil seemed very ADHD-coded but it’s never mentioned so I wonder if it was intentional

This was fine as a continuation of The Haunting of Hill House, but the witchy elements seemed a bit out of place and forced to me. If the author had stuck with just the original haunted house motif, I think it would have been better. I kind of lost interest around the climax of the book, which is never a good sign