pineconek's Reviews (816)

This was one of my favourite books when I was a teenager and it was fun to reread it over a decade later. I read a few pages a night before bed over the span of a few weeks and it was extremely relaxing. It's silly and full of tropes and Shakespeare and moments to make you chuckle. I recommend this as a starting point for anyone wanting to get into Pratchett's work - it's early enough in the series to be a good beginning but late enough that he's found his way. And everyone loves a good murder.

I loved the movie and the book was even better.

It's hard to explain why I like this so much. I appreciate the rawness, the character driven story, and the amount of (often horrifying) details. What an incredible novel about the evils that men do.

I love some good dysfunctional family satire. This book delivered on that front. I chuckled a lot and spent the book really disliking the characters. And yet it worked. Recommended to any adults who enjoy narratives about dysfunctional relationships with their parents and/or estranged siblings.

I wanted to like this book so badly. I'd heard great things and have had it recommended for years.
I didn't expect to feel like I was reading fanfiction of a series I'd never heard of. I might change my mind once this sits with me for a few days, but right now I feel more frustrated towards this book than not.

A few thoughts:
- wow the misogyny in this book was... Reel it in guys, come on.
- I agree with pretty much all the changes the movie made.
- the plot is wild, has a little bit of everything, and definitely surprised me several times.

Will I read the rest of the trilogy? Probably just the plot summaries because I love terrible horror. Should you read this if you liked the (original) movie (s)? Yes, but be warned that it's... weird, and not always in a good way.

In classic Ishiguro fashion, this is a slow-burn "journey not destination" book. Answers are offered slowly, very slowly, and many of the scenes are mundane but presented magically. I haven't read anything of his for a while, but I recognized the familiar meditations on identity (and a good old fashioned "what it means to be human" added in for good measure). I really enjoyed the long and slow (this book is very slow) exploration of "what if the entire purpose of your life was to live for someone else" - again, an Ishiguro classic, and explored here in a complementary way.

4 stars because it made me feel feelings and I recommend it to those of you who like slow-burn feelings.

Rereading Pratchett nearly a decade later has been a treat. I loved this book as a teenager and had a blast listening to it at age 27. I would recommend this as a good modern Pratchett starting point once you've gotten a sense of some of the established lore (having read the truth or something featuring captain vimes helps). What a fun adventure sir Terry takes us on.

2021 reread: Murakami really knocks it out of the park with this one. The mastery of creating a plot that can be understood with dream logic blows me away. This book has a ton of shortcomings and the bizarre sex scenes are among the worst of these. There is however so much that is unique and unparalleled that I can't help but love it. I'm keeping my rating at five stars and would happily read it a third time.

2021 reread: I was absolutely obsessed with this book as a child, and reread it upwards of half a dozen times. As an adult - holy crap was that amazing. This is a book that's thrilling whether or not you know the solution to the murder mystery. It's so clever and so well constructed that I'm sure I'll come back to it again.

I feel very meh about this book but am still glad I read it given that it helped shape the genre. I'd recommend it it you're into slow paced true crime.