natashak1's Reviews (265)

I admit, going into this I did feel like it was a bit of a re-hash of The Secret History. In fact, the focus of this was entirely different. 
I'm still not completely sold - the author clearly wanted to focus on the second half of the story, and she does it very well, but it does leave the first half feeling somewhat neglected. I did really feel like Richard in particular was not very well characterised, and it meant certain parts later on in the book fell a little flat. 
But overall for a debut it is undoubtedly fantastically engaging and the scope of the book alone deserves quite a bit of credit.

I took a little while to get into this one, and then finished the last 3/4 in a day. 
The character growth is fantastic and all of the characters are believable and fully formed. 
The prose style is really nice too, and it was very easy to get into the rhythm of Magee's writing.

These are probably poems to spend hours with, so I admit I don't fully understand them after reading this in about three days. But I did very much enjoy them, regardless, and will probably be dipping in and out of this for a while.

Douglas Stuart has already gotten himself a completely unique voice and knows how to use it. I actually prefered this to Shuggie Bain, although I'm not quite sure why. 

Somehow had never read this. Despite all my knowledge Thorin and Fili and Kili did make me cry a tiny little bit.

Short and sweet. Perhaps too short to be something I'll come back to though. Read the whole thing in about an hour or two, which isn't a bad thing in itself but does mean I'll invariably forget a lot about it. Definitely had a good couple of hours though.

Ah the tragedy of wasted potential. An amazing concept and a strong start, which then quite rapidly dissolves into a pedestrian fantasy that really gave me nothing I couldn't get elsewhere. 
More frustrating than anything else, but there is the spark of something great, so I'll not be too harsh.

I agree with a large part of the sentiment in this, and the third part in particular was an interesting read. But I did feel like in places there was a lack of direction or a certain amount of talking down to the audience when points were reiterated again and again as though they might not be clear enough otherwise. 

Both better and worse than I expected. 
Probably improved by a certain level of nostalgia having read this for the first time probably about 6 or 7 years ago when I would have been about 14 and completely obsessed with Marilyn Manson. But I will admit it's not the best written thing on the world (and the more recent history of both Manson and his ghost writer definitely didn't give me a particularly favourable perspective). 
The last chapter is probably the best - clippings of outraged interviews and leaflets distributed by infuriated Christian groups interspersed with Manson's diaries made for a seemingly more honest account.
The little details of the circles of hell being mentioned when relevant, the well placed photographs etc. were also pleasantly interesting and made the book seem more polished than certain bits of writing might suggest.