Alysa’s Comments (group member since Jun 27, 2015)

Alysa’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

It was an abridged adaptation, done as a play, in one of those "Scholastics" Magazine type thingies. I think the whole point was to get the 11 & 12 years olds thinking about those issues.
Dunno if it worked, or if it was preaching to the converted.

Sonia, that spell-it-out looks awesome!
And nowadays, I have a partner with a degree in engineering and a daughter who (so far) loves math too, so it is always around me. Things dramatically improved after 6th grade :D

In general? No.
But in 6th grade? Yes. Especially when it came after my one and only chance to get petted by that boy!

Lenny was being played by a boy that I had a huge crush on at the time... so I was actually looking forward to getting... petted...
Dammit.

We probably had to go to Math after or something boring like that.
Dammit.

I actually played Curley's wife in a short adaptation of the play in 6th grade... but we ended up running out of time in class and never got to the death scene.

I think Sonia is fixing to remedy that...

Hey! I am not that bad!

*do not squish me*

That last bit, about the roasted chestnuts for parents to eat, would be okay possibly.
But I still think it is better that there is a whole section about Erik and Anne Sejer-Lassen and their big house in Klampenborg, an affluent "exclusive" suburb of Copenhagen, and it is made clear that Erik has made a lot of money, ergo "successful" in the sense of avarice/greed:
Pg 139: "The[ir] house is one of the biggest in Klampenborg... [with] imposing electronic metal gates"
pg 227: "Anne Sejer-Lassen is described as an upper-class airhead who is... obsessed with money and luxury"
Pg 169: "Erik had made some lucky investments in various biotech companies"

Oh dear, I am going to be thinking about Lenny and George and Curley’s wife all day now.

Way back in the day, a few years before I discovered Goodreads, a friend of mine recommended Outlander to me. I was a few chapters from the end when I saw that friend again, and it came up that the book was merely the first one in a long series. I was like “WTF? Why did you not tell me that in the first place?!”
It’s not that I hated it outright, but it is not something I would ever have read without that particular friend selling me on it, or if I had known going in that it wasn’t a stand-alone.
I tried the first episode of the TV show, having been told it was well done, and apparently not having learned my lesson from the book. I was like, “Yep, it is well made. Still not my thing.” And not how I pictured any of the characters, but that part is my problem.

Re The Chestnut Man: aren’t there some wealthy characters who live in an “exclusive” neighborhood?
I have the HC so can’t do a quick word search, but even if that word is not used, it could still fit. [eta: I think all of us have the HC, actually. o_0]
Maybe “successful” too, for successful businessman or whatever. In which case I could move my “successful” book to a different square.

Ugh I may have spoken too soon on being able to do 4 complete long books this week, so I am going to remove one of the 2 that I haven’t started yet.
The “crown” one. Should be easy to replace!

LOL, I think that is a stretch.
Isn't there at least one scene where the characters eat food though? Like, leftovers or take-away or something? Still a little funny when there are more food-related books out there, but less of a stretch. ;)

I do think it is red enough, actually, but based on your description it would also work for the Man square.
Right now Allison has "The Chestnut Man" in there, but people can duke it out based on what other squares come up as being a potential place for your books (or anyone else's) as you are reading...

Worst case scenario, I guess either the Jordan book or the Chestnut Man would be moved to Color Cover.

DQs Day 7: Chapters 114-End

31. When Genz started to torture Rosa, it made me think back to the other murders. It started off with 1 hand, then 2 hands, then 2 hands and a foot. What do you think the significance was of cutting of the victims' hands and feet? It didn't appear that he did the same to his prior victims so why the escalation?

Because the details in this book make no sense? For a real answer though, one could posit that he was just working his way up to Rosa, his "ultimate" victim.

32. On that same note, now knowing that the girl was not Thulin in the first chapter, do you still believe the same or have another theory on why Thulin reacted the way she did when she saw the chestnut man at the first crime scene? Was there a valid reason which was not explored, or was it more for dramatic effect?

Just dramatic effect. Unless perhaps Thulin had at some point encountered old crime scene photos -- some of the same ones that Linus Bekker had seen -- and her subconscious made a connection that the book never explored.

33. Some of us guessed earlier on but we now know what happened to Kristine. Why do you think Genz kept her alive this entire time? And after what was done to her, why do you think Astrid went along with this plan? Was she of sound mind?

Genz doesn't hurt children, only adults who have victimized children (plus Rosa, because reasons). Astrid was not of sound mind, and was easily manipulated by her brother, whom she trusts deeply.

34. I thought the plot was wrapped up nicely in the end but that last chapter with Linus Bekker was a little ominous. What do you think he will do next? Do you think he'll take over where the Chestnut Man left off?

Not unless he escalates to killing, which he has not done yet that we know of. It would be a smarter choice for future books to have him hacking in the background and just using his smarts to mess with the cops.

35. With how lengthy this book was, did it keep your attention throughout? Did it end as you expected? How did you rate it?

It kept my attention, but I only gave it 2 stars. I thought there were way too many loose threads, red herrings that made zero sense upon examination, and soooo much sexism. Seriously, if this is the kind of thriller that mainstream and thriller-genre fans readers tend to enjoy, no wonder the world still suffers from so much unconscious, internalized misogyny. I cannot even begin to list the instances of sexism in this book, some overt and some not.

36. I read that not only is Netflix adapting this novel into a series, but that the author is writing a follow-up novel. Are you interested in reading more by this author? Interested in reading more in this world/series?

Not really, no. Re the Netflix series... Well, I used to watch quite a lot of Police Procedural / Thriller type TV shows and movies, but grew less and less tolerant of sexist tropes there too.
Re future books... Since this book held my interest (like, the way Twilight held my interest -- compelling in a certain way and got the job done) and it's nice to read outside of one's preferred genres once in a while, I would probably read the author's next book if it were a BOM, but not on my own.

BTW, Team Ira, we are in the lead again by a margin that's more or less equal to the difference between our BOM points and the 2nd-place team's BOM points.
So let's keep it up! Glad we seem to have more surprise!BOM readers too!!! I hope we get selected for DQs again, but even if we don't at least we have a nice cushy margin there :D

Greedy old miser?
Yes!

Cat, are you implying that the Frosty Pants are... BROWN?

Not sure why, but I think "adjusting his FROSTY PANTS to try and hide his excitement" (from Wrath) is my favorite line of all the stories. LOL.

Oh haha, I had not even noticed that!

There's a thread for stories linked in the Week 5 check in.
Says everything we need to do.

2 whole stories and 1 partial, not bad Team Ira!!!

Nice! I can post that, if you wanna finish logging some books between spreadsheets?

ETA: you are too fast for me. did it already ;D