I picked up the book because it was awarded best fiction by Goodreads but I found the book to be extremely underwhelming.
First of all, the plot was so predictable, a third into the book and you know exactly how it it's going to end and what the over all message is going to be.
Second of all , the book has no subtly, many times while I was reading the book, it felt like I was reading a non fiction or a self help book. Because it comes of us preaching a lot of the times
I love it when novels offer you life lessons but unlike non fiction it has to do it in a subtle manner, we are supposed to infer the lessons from the conflicts and the situations the main characters go through. This book has no such subtlety, the characters directly tell you all the life lessons. This for some reason made me feel like I was reading a children's book.
Sorry about the rant, also tell me what you thought about the book.
by shattered_nirvana
40 Comments
Agree! I wanted this novel to be about amazing things that happened at the library at midnight based on various books there. Instead, it was dull and unimaginative, and none of the characters were likable. A little before halfway, I just skipped to the end and found I hadn’t missed anything crucial. Such a disappointment.
Yeah, i dropped out after reading a few pages.
Apparently, people can read very different things from the same book 🙂
Couldn’t stand The Book Thief either, or The Alchemist, for that matter.
All seemed superficial while pretending at depth. Not that I don’t read a lot of crappy but fun books, but I like an author to know which kind of book they are writing
I hated it too for the same reasons and am surprised by how many ppl love it. It’s an interesting concept but the writing and plot were a big letdown. Oh well
It was the book that made me stop reading current top rated books. I realized that most modern books that are popular are based off of manufactured praise. I’d rather read books that have withstood the test of time, not what’s rigged by goodreads or trending on booktok.
I didn’t like this book for those exact reasons and decided to give it to someone else instead of keeping it in my shelf. The friend who got the copy has now given it away too. 😂
Now, we’re like passing the pain of reading it around.
I enjoyed the book, but I wasn’t expecting a great read, just a gentle diversion. It did make me think about the need to let go of some regrets I have.
I have a hard time with it because I saw it as saying the cure to mental health issues is to just be grateful for what you already have. I wish it was that easy lol.
i haven’t read it myself, but i worked as a bookseller while it was at its „hype peak“. So many people bought it and when they came the next time i asked if they liked it and almost everybody said the same thing, they didn’t like it, it was shallow and felt like it was trying too hard…
Went in without realising the hype. It’s pretty mid…
Not a bad read but not great.
Totally agree.
Books like this and Tuesday with Morrie to be are superficial and lacks depth since it basically just tells you what the lessons are and there are no reading between the lines. And all the lessons are the same we get it, carpe diem, treat your love ones nicely, have no regrets, okay.
Hype? I’ve never seen a book get more hate. Search r/books for the title and it’s just getting dunked on all year round. Only context I see it mentioned is saying it’s overrated, but I’ve never really seen anyone rate it much.
It was cute. The end.
asdfsadf
I liked it but I don’t struggle with mental health issues so I guess I’m not burnt out from hearing people say “just be grateful for the life you have” lol
I found it having no idea it was hyped and thought it was a very solid mid-tier book. Like it wasn’t good enough for me to recommend to people, but I enjoyed reading it.
I really liked the concept, but hated the main character. I feel like with a more fleshed out character and more nuance, a lot more could have been done with it.
The only part of it I enjoyed was the aspect of it where people were different in different time lines, almost the way you enjoy a time travel movie. Once the entertainment value of that wore off, I thought the rest of the book was pretty poor. The message was essentially “I know your life sucks, but it would have also sucked in all these timelines”
It always makes me feel bad when this book gets blasted on here because it’s the book that made me realise I need help. Sure it’s not perfect and the ‘”lets just be grateful for what I have” ending is a bit convenient. But it was the first time I read a character who I could identify so much with how she felt, that her response was killing herself gave me a kick up the arse to realise my thoughts weren’t healthy and hadn’t been for a while.
It’s easy to read, straightforward, and the life lessons inside are nice and digestible. So yeah, while it’s not for me, I can definitely see why people would like it. Most people reading for fun aren’t going to care too much about inferring messages, they’re trying to relax and turn their brain off. Also, with most self-help messages, the message is generally pretty simple, it relies on the reader being receptive to that message at that time.
That being said, I do think there’s a new type of books where it feels like the author is preaching through the main character, which honestly is a bit annoying to get through.
I read it and enjoyed it at the time and I don’t think I’ve thought about it since, I don’t think I could tell you any of the characters names either?
But it resonated with people so that’s why it had hype, its fine to dislike something other people enjoy. The beauty of books is there something for everyone.
I hated this book! It was recommended to me because I felt very similar to the MC but it felt like a slap in the face. To me the overall message seemed to be ‘don’t be depressed about your life, it could be different and you’d still hate it’.
I’m a bit fed up with people saying to look on the brighter side or be grateful for what you have. It’s not as simple as that! We can be grateful for health and the things we have, but still feel this pit of darkness that our life is not what we expected or insignificant or going nowhere. The book angered me 🙄
As someone who has struggled with mental health and has a tendency to fall back into a emo state I really liked the book. But I was also familiar with Matt’s history before reading the book, so maybe I had this is mind when reading it. I can really recommend his book Humans :))
I read without any prior knowledge and found it to be a nice and easy read (i picked it up at the airport and read it on the flight). I think it’s a book ruined by the hype – w/o it was nice, not super impressive but not disappointing either. For me House of the Cerulean Sea was ruined by my expectations – I liked it but it had some weaknesses I could not overlook.
The book may be popular for all the reasons you listed: it’s predictable, easy to understand, and not subtle. That’s what a lot of people look for in the books they read, and that is fine. Popular doesn’t necessarily mean good and vice versa. This holds true in many aspects of life.
I got about half way through. I agree with what you wrote, I just found it very predictable and preachy. Not very relatable as someone who has struggled with mental health issues
My favorite book to hate. Felt like I was promised cakes and chocolates and then was forced to eat boiled beef liver.
It’s one of those books that do well with book clubs. The conversations it generates are better then the actual book itself. I agree with your opinion about the the book.
My first time checking out Goodreads and picking up the top pick book of that year… and holy hell it’s such a turkey of a book. Last time I went to Goodreads for recommendation. My taste in book clearly doesn’t align with the majority of that community.
Agreed, I couldn’t even finish
I enjoyed it as an audiobook read by Carey mulligan. I didn’t think it was deep or groundbreaking but I just found it kind of a fun concept. Going into alternate universes to see how they played out is fun. I’d listen to it while I was doing another task like embroidery or photo editing and it was easy to follow when your mind is occupied with something else and entertaining.
I couldn’t finish it. Didn’t even get halfway through.
I was pretty disappointed with this book. For me, a huge issue in traditional publishing is publishers choosing what book they will market in a particular way to aim for awards and promote and promote and then naive book tokkers and reviewers go along for the ride in some weird Emporers New Clothes style fear of exclusion (thank you Tim Minchin for that lyric that sums up this sort of response). To be honest the book had a great premise with average execution. Each scene had a fortune cookie or instagram meme style epiphany and it really bothered me how they did that instead of letting the reader feel it.
Reading this book was like reading the script of a Lifetime movie
I agree with you — I disliked it so much I DNF after about 50 pages. I hated the heroine, the premise, the tone, and just felt like the writing itself was barely adequate.
I’m still gobsmacked by the rave reviews for it — much less that many people have recommended it for depressed people, when I read it while depressed and wanted to throw the book against a wall for being such a relentless downer.
This book is constantly shit on in this sub. This sub is fascinating.
I didn’t understand the hype either.
I found a copy of this book on a bench at King’s Cross station and thought what luck! Then I read it and realised why it had been left behind.
I liked it, but didn’t love it. I wouldn’t blame the author (or any author) for the modern hype or Booktok craze. A lot of that is beyond their control. LOTS of books being hyped right now are actually terrible. It’s just marketing.
As far as the book itself, I thought the premise was good but it got repetitive quickly. My biggest gripe was that >!upon entering each new life she could still remember everything from her old life and basically didn’t know what was happening around her. It would’ve been more interesting if she entered each new life and didn’t have to guess about everything or be totally unaware of her surroundings. Sort of defeated the purpose IMHO. !<
I don’t like how he presents her as a woman who wasted her time being too picky. It’s a very common misogynistic attitude about women who are unhappily single at her age.
He has her try on all these different lives but in not one of them does she have her basic needs met of family and stability. Except Ash, where she’s perfectly happy. She wasn’t even attracted to him at first, he’s just a basic competent adult. Her needs are simple but it’s like some revelation that she has everything she needs already and she’s sent back to her base life which is still completely empty. Ash is her only hope. He becomes elevated to savior in a way.
It’s the male fantasy that women are too picky and the “nice guy” is just sitting around waiting for them if they’d stop being so stuck up.
The author glosses over the idea of her trying on hundreds of other lives with partners and family but doesn’t actually show us. It doesn’t align with the character he’s done so well to define. It felt like an afterthought to sew up the plot hole that she simply needed her basic needs met first.
I really enjoyed reading the book but it smacked of depressed immature man writing about women.
Oh my goodness I’ve been waiting for someone to address this!!!!
Here were my thoughts:
– predictable
– too long
– boring characters
– honestly bland
– girl omg if Ms. Elm talks for 2 more seconds ima lose it!
I wanted to rate it 2/5.
However I had to remember the style of the book and lower my expectations. I’m used to thrillers and this is not that.
It’s not a bad book but it’s not amazing. It’s a good concept and an important lesson. It’s a great perspective to learn. However a whole book EEEK girl I wish I read a summary.
To each their own I suppose 🙂