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743 reviews by:
gwentolios
I liked how timely this book is, bringing to light issues of immigration, corporate greed, and power. But I couldn't really connect with the characters (my favs were Bryan and Lana, I found Clark meh).
Part of that might be because Superman is so iconic. I already have a relationship with him, and so I wanted to experience the emotions attributed to that here in the book. Some of them are there - his desire to do good, the farm boy nature of his - but other things weren't. I've always loved his relationship with his parents, and wish that could have been amped up a little. Martha doesn't even get named until the last third of the book.
Overall, a good read, but I just expected, idk, more, I guess.
Part of that might be because Superman is so iconic. I already have a relationship with him, and so I wanted to experience the emotions attributed to that here in the book. Some of them are there - his desire to do good, the farm boy nature of his - but other things weren't. I've always loved his relationship with his parents, and wish that could have been amped up a little. Martha doesn't even get named until the last third of the book.
Overall, a good read, but I just expected, idk, more, I guess.
This book starts off with Biden mooning over the good-ole-days when his bromance with Obama was in fully swing and only gets better from there.
I did have to keep reminding myself this is a fictional version of Obama and Biden, because they do things in the novel I doubt they would in real life, but as a story this has the grit of a noir film in modern times and adds fuel to the meme culture that Obama inspired. (At one point, Obama rides in on a glowing white unicorn. He also terrorizes a biker clan just for being himself.)
The mystery is well done, it didn't go where I expected, but I also really loved how Shaffer tied it with fictional-Biden's own emotional dilemmas. His relationship with Obama and the fear of being replaced, whether his mystery he's investigating really is a mystery or just something he's made up to feel useful/fit with his opinions of the dead guy, his desire to Go Good even as he feels like he's been unsuccessful in the past.
This is a good, fast read. And a great conversation starter when you leave it around the house.
I did have to keep reminding myself this is a fictional version of Obama and Biden, because they do things in the novel I doubt they would in real life, but as a story this has the grit of a noir film in modern times and adds fuel to the meme culture that Obama inspired. (At one point, Obama rides in on a glowing white unicorn. He also terrorizes a biker clan just for being himself.)
The mystery is well done, it didn't go where I expected, but I also really loved how Shaffer tied it with fictional-Biden's own emotional dilemmas. His relationship with Obama and the fear of being replaced, whether his mystery he's investigating really is a mystery or just something he's made up to feel useful/fit with his opinions of the dead guy, his desire to Go Good even as he feels like he's been unsuccessful in the past.
This is a good, fast read. And a great conversation starter when you leave it around the house.
I started this book was the idea was interesting, and I kept reading because the world, Italy in 1860, was something new and I wanted more information. But halfway through I realized I couldn't really read it much longer. 5-10 min tops was all I could spend looking at the pages because the story and characters didn't grab me. The prose is beautiful and Lampedusa has a great understanding of all his characters. I can see why years ago it was popular, but not so much today.
I have always found myself interested in wikileaks documents, but this book wasn't what I was hoping for. I wanted a selection of important documents that I could read and form my own conclusions about, not read an author's rather forceful views that seem bent on stirring up trouble instead of contemplative thought. Many of the documents he was outraged at I couldn't bring myself to much incredulity towards. Instead, I found his opinions overbearing and distracting from my own reading of the original documents.
I like the topic, I've read magazines articles on network science before and enjoyed them. And I like the concepts and ideas and what network science can tell us. But apparently, I just can't read a full book on topic. It takes awhile to explain things and while the text is accessible it just doesn't hold my attention. I had to put it aside.
Here's the thing - I think in another environment I would have liked this book. You know, the one where I'm at a cabin for a long weekend or such and have hours to read. As it was, my bookshelf and libraries at home called with more exciting things.
This is a slow moving book, which, personally, I know is not for me. Maybe one day I'll come back around to it - the first chapter brought up some questions I'm still wondering about but since the book then flash backed years and said answers are maybe a 100 pages away. I did like the prose. I did like the small, character building moments. But I wanted a touch more tension.
This is a slow moving book, which, personally, I know is not for me. Maybe one day I'll come back around to it - the first chapter brought up some questions I'm still wondering about but since the book then flash backed years and said answers are maybe a 100 pages away. I did like the prose. I did like the small, character building moments. But I wanted a touch more tension.
