Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#gillerprize
review
Robotswithpersonality
Minds of Winter | Ed O'Loughlin
post image
Panpan

Well that was gigantically disappointing.
There were hints of a story I wanted to read: a mysterious, possibly cursed object with a long history of doomed adventure, investigated in the present day by a pair with their own secrets/possible dark pasts, the promise of answers to both historical and contemporary mysteries; 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? maybe even magical realism/ghost stories in the possibility of appearing and disappearing land and people in the far North, which even today seems foreboding despite being no longer a place unmapped/unexplored. 1mo
Robotswithpersonality 3/? Unfortunately the present day framework was a collection of bare snippets with seemingly needless drag out of distrustful banal reveals between two strangers. The looks back in the past too often dragged on - trying to each be their own story in adding to the MacGuffin's mystique. It made it hard to care about any set of characters when you know you're just passing them by and looking for the clue buried inside the anecdote. 1mo
Robotswithpersonality 4/? I'm not a polar exploration historian so I have no context for how much the author completely made up or just reported verbatim from history, so it kind of loses its liveliness if one's left to wonder if this is mostly torn from a textbook. There are any number of melodramatic conversations which obviously the author would have had to extrapolate, but as interludes between men obsessed with exploration and ambition and the women left behind, they all start to blur together. 1mo
See All 9 Comments
Robotswithpersonality 5/? The link from the modern woman to the grandfather was the most intriguing, but we didn't get near enough of it. 1mo
Robotswithpersonality 6/6 The book seems to mourn the loss of an age of exploration, of mystery, to the extent that it tried to both leave the mystery unsolved and give the most baffling, unsatisfactory answer to it at the same time. In modern times looking back, exploration is associated with conquest, invasion and resource stripping, I'm afraid there was no romance left to recapture, and the more fantastical fiction floated was too fragmented to enjoy as an alternative. 1mo
Texreader That‘s so disappointing! Love the cover 1mo
Robotswithpersonality @Texreader Exactly! Serves me right for being seduced by a cover. It's always a risk, me experimenting with historical fiction, but the synopsis definitely played up the mystery plot in a way I don't think the book makes good on. 🙎🏼‍♂️ 1mo
Texreader Oh I would have grabbed it by the description too! So glad for your honest review. 1mo
Robotswithpersonality @Texreader It makes me slightly happier to have read it knowing I saved someone else from doing so! 😅 1mo
5 likes9 comments
quote
Robotswithpersonality
Minds of Winter | Ed O'Loughlin
post image

Polar explorer math. 🤦🏼‍♂️ Or is that accounting? 🤔

8 likes1 stack add
review
Hooked_on_books
post image
Panpan

I feel like there‘s a really excellent, moody, disturbing short story buried in this book. But as a novel, even a short one, it‘s a meandering mess. And yet it‘s a prize winner! Baffling. #tob24 longlist

BarbaraBB Agree!! 2mo
squirrelbrain Completely agree! 😬 2mo
dabbe #hailthebail! 🖤🩶🖤 2mo
50 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
andrew61
post image
Pickpick

The reminded me of 'Discomfort of evening' in its depiction of an unsettling narrator within an uncomfortable environment. It is a disconcerting read as we find ourselves possibly considering uncertain sibling abuse as well local folkloric belief in witchraft. The theme of the living with the sins of the holocaust also is implicit. A challenging read + I put it down, scratching my head but wanting to pick up again.

Tamra I‘m curious about this one. 4mo
BarbaraBB Great review. I am glad you got from it what I didn‘t. I like the comparison to Discomfort! 4mo
Anna40 Great review 4mo
44 likes3 comments
review
Chelsea.Poole
post image
Mehso-so

I‘m so torn on this one! I listened to the audiobook quickly; it was over before I could get my bearings. I kept thinking the setting was northern UK in 1666 (where my previous read took place!) but then the narrator would speak about Microsoft Teams! This is somewhat brilliant on the author‘s part: a timeless story, layering experiences of women over millennia of abuse and forced obedience. However, it was a confusing reading experience.

Chelsea.Poole There were definitely some things I missed here…but it felt like a grown up fairytale. Also, spoiler, was she poisoning/killing/hurting her brother? Hardcore unreliable narrator territory! 4mo
See All 10 Comments
AmyG Let me just say….this is my Aunt‘s name. Made me chuckle. 4mo
Chelsea.Poole @AmyG lol! (edited) 4mo
Hooked_on_books Curious! The hold for this one at my library is super long, but I‘m on it regardless. Not sure I want to see this make the short list, as if it doesn‘t I may skip it. But you have me intrigued. 4mo
TheKidUpstairs My least favourite of the year. I was left with an overwhelming feeling of “Why?!“ Why tell this story, in this way? Why these characters? Nothing felt in any way justified or necessary to be told. And every article or interview I read where she talks about the book, I feel totally disconnected, like I read a completely different book than the one she wrote! 4mo
BarbaraBB I can‘t remember much beyond not liking it 🤦🏻‍♀️ 4mo
Chelsea.Poole @TheKidUpstairs yes, solid point. There are many titles that are celebrated by prizes/lists that baffle me. If you want to make a point to your readers, do so, and don‘t be so obscure with the meaning. By no means a favorite of mine either, but I did appreciate the feeling of timelessness the author created. Also, at least it‘s short, lol! 4mo
Chelsea.Poole @BarbaraBB probably because everything is so vague to begin with…nothing to really hang on to with this. Except for me it‘ll be the book “where the adult sister dresses her adult brother” 😬 4mo
67 likes10 comments
review
MysticFaerie
post image
Pickpick

3⭐️/5⭐️

blurb
TheKidUpstairs
post image

This year's #GillerPrize Longlist was incredibly strong, diverse, intriguing, thought-provoking, and challenging, with many beautiful, engaging stories that played with style while delivering on substance and story. I'm glad other readers are finding more in Obedience than I did.

I highly recommend checking out some of the other titles from the list, especially The Double Life of Benson Yu, All the Colour in the World, and We Meant Well.

BookNAround I haven‘t read this one but did really like We Meant Well. 4mo
TheKidUpstairs @BookNAround this was, by far, my least favourite on the list. I guess I'm missing something! 4mo
Lindy This was my favourite on the shortlist, so I‘m delighted to see Bernstein win. 4mo
See All 8 Comments
BarbaraBB So surprised by this… there were so many books on that list I‘d preferred to win 🤷🏻‍♀️ 4mo
TheKidUpstairs @Lindy I'm glad to hear it worked for you! It seems to be one of those books you either love or hate, very little middle ground. 4mo
TheKidUpstairs @BarbaraBB me too. Some of my favourite reads of the year came from the Giller list, so I was disappointed that my least favourite won. @squirrelbrain did you see this? What do you guys think, will she go 2 for 2 and take the Booker as well? 4mo
squirrelbrain It would be unusual for one author to win 2 prizes in a year, I think but, clearly, what do I know about book prizes?! 🤣 4mo
TheKidUpstairs @squirrelbrain I agree it would be weird, but I was so surprised it won last night it just feels like anything could happen! 4mo
62 likes8 comments
review
Jas16
post image
Bailedbailed

After a long week I just couldn‘t do it and I honestly didn‘t even try very hard. Two more books to go on the Booker short list but I won‘t read them in time and I am ok with that since I reading the list was a total impulse.

squirrelbrain This was my least favourite on the whole longlist. In fact I shouldn‘t even use the word favourite…it was the worst book on the longlist. 4mo
AmyG Ha! That was my aunt‘s name! 4mo
See All 6 Comments
TheKidUpstairs I'm with @squirrelbrain - this book is on both the Booker and Giller shortlists, and I just don't get it. I actively disliked it. I know it worked for some people, but if it wasn't working for you, bailing was the right call! 4mo
Jas16 @dabbe @squirrelbrain @TheKidUpstairs Thank you all for making me feel better about my decision. I am always to reluctant to give up even when I am at the point where I am essentially skimming. 4mo
dabbe @Jas16 Life's too short, and there are too many other fantastic books out there for you! 💜🖤🧡 4mo
54 likes6 comments
review
Kazzie
Polar Vortex | Shani Mootoo
Pickpick

Wow. This book is tense and sad and really floored me. I was breathless with high heart rate at times. Everyone is unreliable and self serving and it‘s difficult to know what real. But there is very visceral emotion throughout. And foreboding dread

review
BookishTrish
post image
Mehso-so

This one definitely got me out #audiowalking but I‘m not sure what to make of it. Yes, the writing was skilful but things were so freaking vague that it‘s hard for me to get excited about the book.