Great for book club but brace for a hangover

Went through this very quickly! Couldn't start anything else for a while after as the mysterious side of this story, the unanswered questions had me going over and over the details for a week with what I've heard people call a 'book hangover'. It came highly recommended and I can see why.
Trying to imagine this life, how you would act and react in the same setting that no human has found themselves in before...it made for a great choice for our book club!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Unsettling and haunting

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was very different from what I normally read but was very engaging, despite the mundane nature of the narrators life.

The narration was excellent and really added to the story

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Thoroughly enjoyable

Deeply sad, nostalgic, hopeful and hopeless. A wonderful story told by an admirable protagonist. Left feeling full and empty all at once.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

A book that really counts

A truly beautiful book that leaves an indelible mark. The introduction outlines the whole story so you may want to skip it if you prefer but it's set out fairly early by the Child, our narrator what the outcome of the book will be. A group of women are trapped in an underground bunker, caged and unable to touch one another, watched only by three security guards. The child is both like and unlike the other women, never having known anything else. Living with little chance of any answers to their situation, an incident changes everything and there is a chance to discover more. What unfolds is a mesmerising work of speculative fiction that wrestles with our psyche as mortal beings, that explores purpose and mortality when answers are hard to come by. How do we hold each other in dignity even when there is little to hold on to. The Child seeks to understand but her journey is far from a straightforward one, as she counts her way through a strange world, step by step, she finds her own way to count in a place where there is no clear path for meaning.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I think about this book daily

Wow, I am writing this review a few months after listening as this book still hasn’t left my mind. So cleverly written, just mind boggling, you need to read this. I have bought it for several of my friends I like it so much!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Strangely powerful

This book had an unsatisfactory ending (I was longing for an epilogue to answer all the questions) but despite this, it was very impactful. The sense of hopeless loneliness in the last quarter of the book was so palpable that I almost felt panicked by it. The narration was superb.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Wow

I’m so glad I read this! It’s so thought provoking and moving. A must read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Life-changing. An absolute must read. Skip the intro!

What can I say about this book: I will never stop thinking about it. Haunting, dystopian, bleak, thought-provoking - and an incredible performance by the narrator. Would not hesitate to recommend

Leave the Intro and come back to it at the end!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I well told story

You might not get the answers as to why this happened but by the end you realise that’s not the point also loved the narrator highly recommended

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Powerful in its desolate beauty

Extraordinary writing and wonderfully performed, this book is thought provoking in its desolation and its beauty. Powerful reflections on what it is to be human, what it is to be alive, what it is to take control of one’s life.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!