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Heavy. So many possible interpretations. Intense. Upsetting. It‘s all the things. 👁️

#WithTheBanned

I avoided this one when the buzz started but all of the Litsy reviews wore me down and I am glad they did. Such a wonderfully unusual book that sort of makes space in your brain and won‘t let you stop thinking about jr. A girl raised in a bunker with 39 other women. Why are they there? What was her life before? How does this impact every aspect of her being? You don‘t get all the answers you want but you do get a lot to mull over.

I really liked the writing and main character's “voice“. She was relatable/likable and I really rooted for her. In the last part of the book I started to forget who was who because there were so many new characters suddenly and we didn't know much of them.

Atmosphere was awesome and so well created.

As a story this was pretty simple but intriguing enough. This really was worth reading and I am happy how I finally read this.

Day off. Slept in, then went for my fasting blood tests. Then picked up some brunch and had myself a little picnic in the park (only in the mid 70s today!). Time to run some errands and then just chill at home.

Truly nothing to say about this series that hasn‘t been said. Wonderfully written, fantastically executed, distressingly still relevant. I reread the lot while waiting to reacquire Ballad on Libby as I got 3/4 of the way through it before it got automatically sent back.

I‘m glad I finally read this—and glad I read it as an adult, not in school. My history classes definitely didn‘t give me the necessary understanding of the Soviet Union (though perhaps an English teacher would have). I know a lot more about that period in history now, and I‘m sure that gave me a fuller appreciation of this satire. Don‘t let the pigs have all the apples, folks.

You either love or hate Ali Smith. I love her. This was a delight to read, I flew through this short dystopia novel about 2 siblings navigating the world on their own. 4 🌟

Books # 15, # 41, and # 69 in that order for this August‘s #roll100 !!!

Apologies in advance, bc I keep snapping photos of sections for myself. Not unlike Fahrenheit 451, Parable of the Sower, or The Handmaid‘s Tale, I‘m floored by how resonant this feels to right now. #WithTheBanned

Hmm… my biggest con about this book was the writing style. There were hardly any paragraph breaks, punctuation, or any quotation marks indicating people speaking- that drove me crazy. Within a page the scenario would change, different people would talk, and little to no transition in between. In spite of that, this was an interesting portrayal of a mother trying to hold everything together during a fascist regime. The writing made it hard to enjoy