Litsy

so-so

This book was a little too long and frankly I was glad to get to the end. I enjoyed a lot of it but I definitely prefer Link‘s short stories. Overall a good story and well written, but it did not need to be this long! 😆 #TOB2025

squirrelbrain Oh oh, still to start this one! 😬 5d

sarahbarnes @squirrelbrain I often enjoyed reading it, it just felt too long. I wanted to finish it; again, just wanted it to happen a little sooner. 😆 It felt like it dragged in places. 5d

BarbaraBB Thanks for reading it. I am still on edge about doing so 5d

33 likes3 comments

sarahbarnes

The Book of Love: A Novel | Kelly Link

I haven‘t had nearly the reading time I want these days, but I‘m slowly making my way through this very long book. Although I really like Link‘s writing so I‘m enjoying it. #TOB2025

BarbaraBB That is good to know. So many mixed reviews! 2w

squirrelbrain I borrowed this from the library as I‘m not sure if I‘m going to like it, so it‘s good to hear that you‘re enjoying it. 2w

sarahbarnes @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain I‘ll be interested to hear what you both think if you read it. I like that her stories involve elements of magic and fantasy but just casually as if it‘s normal. I don‘t like fantasy as a genre but I do really like her. 2w

36 likes3 comments

BkClubCare

The Book of Love: A Novel | Kelly Link

I am looking forward to this the more I hear that people didn‘t like it. Not sure why 🤷🏻‍♀️ Hope this approach works in my favor: Tempered Affinity? #ToBShortList

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2w

37 likes1 stack add1 comment

Robotswithpersonality

My Murder | Katie Williams

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pick

The Echo Wife meets How to be Eaten and The Final Girl's Support Group.
I am very glad I did not figure out what was going on until the reveal - I'm even more relieved this was not a 'the husband did it' plot.
I really admire the book for presenting the doubt in motherhood, and a character who is not shamed for deciding that motherhood and marriage were not right for her only after having tried it. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? The main perspective is that of the woman who chooses to be a wife and mother, who wants to stay, so subjectively the judgement could be there, but the narrative leaves room for an individual to make their own choice.
The commentary is clear on which figure society sees as more sympathetic - the young mother being the role model victim - the original clandestinely slipping away to a new life 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 3/? - though that probably has more to do with the fact that she can't just pop up without creating issues for the cloning company and possibly herself given the murder investigation.
I'll admit for a while there I was more enamoured of the first half than the second, when the first had the literary sci fi bent of examining how a woman fits back into her life as a clone of a previous self, how a VR setting could provide intimacy, 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 4/? could provide catharsis for murder victims - though I guess that last one's more a second half revelation; how the serial killer and the cloning board both seem to view the women as special and yet homogenous, replaceable, the idea of women feeling devalued, unrecognized even as they're unable to escape public attention. 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 5/? Then there are the non sci fi related questions around dealing with a sense of self, mortality, vulnerability, being a woman not automatically meaning victim, even as trauma, as media, as society keeps trying to attach that label; the struggle for control, obviously the concerns about trying to be a good mother, worries about connecting to one's child, physically and emotionally, even before post partum depression is suggested. 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 6/6 Because the second half shifted into murder mystery mode I thought I was losing the contemplative pieces but the last revelations, the choices available, the role cloning actually played, that the husband actually played, really worked for me.
Similar to The Echo Wife, all the comps above, really, I enjoyed how this worked out way more than I thought I would. Adding another 'clones' book to my favourites pile!

⚠️mentions of domestic abuse (edited) 4mo

3 likes5 comments

Robotswithpersonality

My Murder | Katie Williams

EXCELLENT word.

10 likes

Robotswithpersonality

My Murder | Katie Williams

That's so...sweet?

Sleepswithbooks 😂 4mo

12 likes1 stack add1 comment

Centique

Subdivision: A Novel | J. Robert Lennon

pick

Absolutely loved this weird twisty little novel! Thank you to @BarbaraBB for putting this on my radar a couple of years ago. I LOVE a novel where your brain is busy trying to figure out what is going on - and thats all i can say about this one without influencing the next person‘s reading experience. Except to say if surreal or fantastical isnt your thing, then this isnt your thing. @Reggie have you read this? I devoured it in one sitting.

Centique Photo: i cant give you an omnipresent crow but here is a NZ fantail. A very friendly flitty little bird 🐦‍⬛ 4mo

CBee What a lovely bird 🐦 4mo

Ruthiella I loved figuring this one out too. 👍 4mo

See All 6 Comments

BarbaraBB Glad you loved it! I felt exactly the same. Quite the read! 4mo

sarahbarnes Ah, I loved this one so much! 4mo

Reggie I haven‘t but will keep a look out for it. 4mo

61 likes2 stack adds6 comments

Gleefulreader

My Murder | Katie Williams

so-so

Another book that didn‘t quite work for me although I can see how and why it would be quite popular. A group of women have all been murdered by a serial killer and have been brought back to life by the “Replication Committee”. One woman works to investigate the mystery of her murder. An interesting conceit and covers some heavy issues like post-partum depression, but ultimately it just felt too far fetched for my liking.

12 likes

BarbaraBB

The Minders | John Marrs

pick

Both The One and The Passengers were five star reads for me so my expectations of Marrs‘s third speculative novel were sky high. I am so sorry they weren‘t met! This book, about four people carrying the state‘s secrets in their bodies, is good and clever but too many things just didn‘t feel right or were a bit off. I was left behind with some questions and a little disappointed. Still a light pick though.

(📸: Kushimoto, Japan)

81 likes

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