francesmthompson's Reviews (976)

There were some very funny moments and the writing was solid, and I really like the idea of the narrator's true identity being very sparsely hinted at (although it was a bit obvious who it was) but I feel like this whole book was built around the final few sentences (again obvious), and even that wasn't quite strong enough to make me not ask "What's the point?" which I did again and again during this novel. There was so much hype for this book and I should have taken that as a sign as it often means I won't enjoy it in the same way.

ESSENTIAL READING if you are British and human. Heck, even if you're not British. And possibly even if you're not human. Actually, maybe all the more reason if you've lost touch with humanity.

Opened my eyes to so many multi-faceted issues that we should be really looking closer at, and brilliantly combined humour with information and learning. It made me sad about how hard trans people have to fight to essentially be who they are, but it gave me hope about future generations who are already fighting transphobia and gender bias, and the results of this will liberate and improve life for so many.

This was a very curious book. It informed and entertained, and left me wondering about so many psychological and social concepts, but I found some chapters much easier to read than others.

This was very highly recommended to me by a few people I trust when it comes to books, and so I decided to take a chance even though the topic of Greek mythology has never really appealed to me despite my attempt to alter this. Indeed I did enjoy reading it, but did I feel the same satisfaction upon reading the final page and paragraph, no, not really. Truth be told I struggled through the first few chapters and then once it did become interesting and in some ways more 'human' - which I know is not the point because it's mostly about gods and demi-gods, duh - I just felt a bit let down as while the language really does sing, the stories, which are obviously firm in their telling over millenia, just didn't win me over or change my opinion of Greek mythology.