TLB: This book is good but it is slog

[Jeremiah]

I am a third of the way through the story and I am admiring the skill in its writing, the inventive structure, and the interesting world, but I am also struggling to read it. That is partly because the world described is so bloody awful. It is interesting, but in the way serial killers are interesting. Please tell me the payoff is worth the slog.

[Alan]

Jeremiah wrote: "Please tell me the payoff is worth the slog...."
Each to his own . . but this was hyped by being compared with Haldeman's 'Forever War' and Heinlein's 'Starship Troopers' .
Sorry. Its quite good, but its not up to either of those.

[John (Taloni)]

*shrug* I haven't participated this month because I found the book thoroughly unengaging. Didn't like it, didn't hate it either. The end was just the completion of a set of prose. I knew it was the "end" because the book didn't have any more pages. For me nothing of note occurred, just writerly tricks delivered with an "I'm so clever" wink.

I stayed out of discussions on the "let people enjoy things" theory. Perhaps someone else has better news for you.

[terpkristin]

Can the OP or a mod please add "TLB:" to the beginning of the thread title?

This is the first book for the club for me in awhile that hasn't felt like a slog, though I 100% agree that the scenes are tough.

I'm enjoying it when I'm reading but am not finding myself wanting to read all the time. That said, not every book is for every person. I used to be a book completionist. But this club has, aside from broadening my horizons, taught me that there are plenty of books out there and it's ok to give up (excuse me, Lem) a book if it's not working for you. Not every book is for everybody.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

It was an ok, but nothing special book.

terpkristin wrote: "Can the OP or a mod please add "TLB:" to the beginning of the thread title?"

Done. We've been pretty good with adding these (when forgotten)

It may take a few hours, depending on when the mods visit the site.

[Leesa]

I liked the book quite a bit, and immediately re-read it, both time in audio.

[terpkristin]

Tassie Dave wrote: "Done. We've been pretty good with adding these (when forgotten)

It may take a few hours, depending on when the mods visit the site."

Thanks!

[Lee]

the interrogation interludes and the "time puzzle" was enough to keep me going. but I agree with John, Hurley added alot of neat literary devices. that I appreciate but really did not add to my entertainment. the ending was good and closed out those big concepts but not "you gotta finish it" as Gideon the ninth. really a high concept piece of literary art.

[Lee]

I have a personal graph for this concept is debatable because I of course am not a literary expert, but if y'all will endulge a butcher from Georgia

if James Joyce literary masterpiece Ulysses that no casual reader wants to tackle is on one side and let's say Hemingway no non sense straight tell you what's they said approach is one side. Hurley would be more technical and closer to Joyce which is a good thing.

[Lee]

similarly on the y axes is entertainment with Practhett Douglas Adams' hitchhikers series or Twain at the top and stereo instruction at the bottom.

[Lee]

Tassie Dave probably has a graph like this already pretty basic level literary art 101. heck for all I know all S&L picks have been plotted on a graph like this for years I will shut up now.

[Aaron]

Jeremiah wrote: "I am a third of the way through the story and I am admiring the skill in its writing, the inventive structure, and the interesting world, but I am also struggling to read it. That is partly because..."

I definitely felt that the latter two thirds or perhaps the second half of the book accelerated. I think this was a combination of fragments coming together, the intensity of the story increasing, and the chapters getting shorter. Based on my progress updates, it looks like I read the latter two thirds in less time than the first third, and I definitely was deeper into "can't put this down" mode for the last third.

Whether the payoff was worth it, well I gave it 4 stars, so I guess so, but I can definitely see how it was not for everyone.

[terpkristin]

I honestly thought the book was too long. By the time I had 90 minutes left in the audiobook, I could see what was going on and was ready for it to wrap up. The last 90 minutes I could have done without (or bringing the final scenes in 50 pages or so, if my math is correct).

[AndrewP]

For me I think that if you have read All You Need Is Kill, The Time Traveler's Wife and Starship Troopers then there is almost nothing new here.

[Grimothni]

I started out reading it at the beginning of the month, thinking, “Finally, I’ll get a book finished fast enough to partake in the monthly discussion.”

I only finished it yesterday...

But it was enjoyable. I thought it particularly ironic that the author mentioned Ayn Rand by name, since the ending did feel a bit Atlas Shrugged to me, albeit with a different set of people to carry on after the evil Other killed itself off.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

At least it was ironically Ayn Randian, and not a celebration of that strange heartless woman.