jessicaxmaria's Reviews (1.04k)

These books are great. I love the characters and the story and the SHOCKERS. And there are a lot. The first book was a little bit more predictable - but still not as predictable as most things go these days. The characters relationships and their struggles with this new zombie-ridden world is the best part; I've gotten to know most of them and I often think of how I would react to these situations and if I were a part of this group. It's the most self-reflective reading I've had in a while.

This novel's major plotline is probably the most taboo story I've ever read. I think the manner in which Joyce Carol Oates' writes the characters, displaying and describing their feelings, but not entirely judging them (with some authors it's obvious they like this character, they don't like this one - not with Oates), made me perfectly uncomfortable, and also embroiled in their decisions. I can't stop thinking about this novel, and the characters, and the era it takes place (1950s). The descriptions are amazing, and I could almost see it play out in my head as I read it. I'm still wondering how Enid Maria continued after the book's end. I wonder how the rest of her life played out. All of the Stevick's lives.

An action-packed, satisfying end to the trilogy. I'm slightly miffed that these characters are done, since I've grown to know them so well. And all of them! From Lisbeth to Blomkvist to Berger and even Giannini, I am sad to say goodbye to them.

I think I've kind of just accepted Blomkvist for what he is, going from woman to woman, but I think that's okay by me since most of the other leads in the book are women, and women I like a lot. I'm unsure I've seen so many strong female characters in one place, especially in a popular bestseller. I like it.

The trial scene was particularly riveting, as well as the fantastic dramatic irony at play between the Section, the cops, the SIS and the journalists. I felt like one of the players in it all, a powerful one, since I could see what each person was doing. Even Berger's slightly off-track storyline about her new job was good to me, as I've really grown to like her as a character.

Thoroughly enjoyable series, and I think each book was more interesting than the last.

A+ on creativity. Truthfully haven't read anything like it. The book was a true tome though. I'm not sure I would have gotten through it if I hadn't been on vacation. It's an *active* book - there are points where I had bookmarked three different sections with my fingers in order to flip back and forth to get the whole point. There are many codes/riddles within to try to figure out, and I'm sure I didn't figure out all of them. I almost wish the movie the book is about was real. I liked the parts about the documentary more than the Johnny Truant narrative. I understand they're semi-linked or related, but his voice got exhausting.

There were some parts that gave me goosebumps, but the ending fell particularly flat compared to the rest of the novel. An adventure, though. For sure.

Before this novel I had only read Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, which I liked immensely. There is something here that I couldn't quite grasp - the book straddled the line between plot and religious or political philosophy too much for me to fully enjoy it. There were moments I genuinely enjoyed, but they were too often cut off by a rambling monologue.

This volume is always one of the most enlightening books I read every year; there's usually nothing that can top the eye-opening reporting and splendid writing accumulated here.

My only gripe is the reason this is 4 stars instead of 5 stars - less columns/reviews, more feature writing, reporting pieces! I think it's been more geared toward longer pieces in the past, but this year there were a good amount of the shorter pieces - and while still worthy, I wish if they had won for "three columns over the year" that all three were featured instead of just one. And columns also tend to be narrowly about the events/time at present - which is past now. Just a lot less relevant to my interests than the longer, expertly-reported pieces...my absolute favorites were:

"The Deadly Choices at Memorial" by Sheri Fink (NY Times Magazine - this article won Pulitzer for reporting)
"Still Life" by Skip Hollandsworth (Texas Monthly Magazine)
"The Last Abortion Doctor" by John H. Richardson (Esquire)
"The Cost Conundrum" by Atul Gawande (New Yorker)
"Vanish" by Evan Ratliff (Wired)

Some of the best writing in all the years I've been reading this volume.

I didn't think a book about four absolutely despicable and insipid people could be so good. Perhaps it's because the book doesn't try to make you like these people.

The unreliable narrator and the way in which the story unfolds makes for a great, sometimes comedic, but always bleak read. The Good Soldier is probably one of the most depressing books I've ever read, but like Didion's Run River and Yates' Revolutionary Road I read last year, apparently I just really like portraits of disintegrating marriage. Perhaps it's the ol' emo kid in me grown up.

Fun fact: apparently Joan Didion always reads this novel before she starts writing her next fiction novel. I can see why. And I'm sure I'll be re-reading many times in the future as well.