The Earthspinner ~ Anuradha Roy

 

Endling ~ Maria Reva

Sorry Ukrainian brides, its me not you ... but I couldn't engage.

Sorry snails, but I have never really liked you

Meta-Fiction is Metta-Not-Me

I tried ... I didn't quit till 60% but at that point I realised that I was avoiding reading (yes, I know, hard to believe, but true!!)

Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief ~ Benjamin Stevenson

 

Exiles ~ Mason Coile

 

Exit Strategy (Murderbot #4) ~ Martha Wells

 

The Examiner ~ Janice Hallett

 

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone ~ Benjamin Stevenson

 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine ~ Gail Honeyman

** OK **

It wasn't "novel" and it wasn't "fine"
Been done so much better before

Early Riser ~ Jasper Fforde

The Expatriates ~ Janice Y K Lee

The End Of Eddy ~ Edouard Louis

Exit West ~ Mohsin Hamid

** OK **

Umm when is magic realism not science fiction?

When someone wants to highbrow it and call it "literature"

I was disappointed!  I very much enjoyed The Reluctant Fundamentalist (poignantly enlightening), and loved How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (wryly funny).  They were both very different to each other and Hamid has done something very different again - but this one missed the mark for me.

The plotting was thoughtful, the premise was interesting, the characters were engaging but unfortunately it did not make the sum of the whole a thoughtful, interesting, engaging read.  The writing style was both descriptive or stark, poetic or simplistic, pacy or plodding.   The whole thing lacked a cohesion.  

It wasn't about the victims of conflict, it wasn't about refugees.  At it's heart it was a relationship story - how it began and how it was strained by circumstances and how it petered out.  The beginning, set in an unnamed city under attack from unnamed forces, was good at showing that those caught up in a conflict are just-like-you (social media, coffee culture, studies).  The middle introduced random irrelevant characters.  The end was as strained as the relationship became.

It seemed to me that the only reason for the relocation doors was to fast track the movement of the characters as refugees.  Nothing of substance about the doors was explored.  They were just a narrative device but they could have been so much more interesting!

It is short enough and unusual enough to keep you from looking for an exit door but that's about it.

Everyone Brave Is Forgive ~ Chris Cleave

X NO X

Pompous & twee
Romance greenscreened against WW2

Everything I Never Told You ~ Celeste Ng

** OK **

Euphoria ~ Lily King

*** LIKE ***

Egg And Spoon ~ Gregory Maguire

**** RECOMMEND ****

Erebos ~ Ursula Poznanski

*** LIKE ***

Every Secret Thing ~ Laura Lippman

The Enchanted ~ Rene Denfeld

***** FAVOURITE *****

Brutally touching
Resonant

Eleanor And Park ~ Rainbow Rowell

** OK **