drplantwrench's reviews
129 reviews

you know when there's this amazingly funny comedian who can turn anything funny, they say "they could read a telephone book and have it be funny"? I feel the same way about Haruki Murakami, but instead it's more like "he could write a telephone book, and it would be surreal, compelling and haunting". not sure that made sense, but hey, neither does this book and i love it.

Well written, addictive, hardboiled detective story. To me, was more of a page-turner than *The Big Sleep*, and I think has a little more depth. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a noir mystery

I came into this book completely blind, but upon reviewing I'm not surprised this is his first book. the broadstrokes of this book seem very appealing to me, interesting 5 different characters representing the typologies of loneliness all while covering a variety of societal issues.

But it all seems half baked. Each of the characters don't seem to get the full attention their story deserves, and as a result, none of them feel fully fleshed out to me. characters are all unlikable, and the plot skimps out on the deeper exploration of concepts that I feel would be most interesting to me. Instead, right before the payoff, the chapter ends and moves to the next character's story.

I think I would have liked this book more if it was either trimmed down to focus on just 3 characters or 600 pages long.

Overall, rate it a 3.5 out of 5, still a pretty solid read.

About halfway through this book, I was starting to get tired of it. It's a story of an asshole and his descent from a presumably high status, all self-inflicted. Beginning with a humorous touch, it started to wade into the territory that reminds me of the dudebros who don't realize Walter White is the bad guy in Breaking Bad. Julian English was starting to increasingly like a morbid train wreck without any of the context or self-reflection that would have made it interesting.

But then the ending

Spoiler

of Julian's suicide really felt like a gut punch, and the exploration of each character's response was impactful.

I do wish that there was more exploration and context of many of the characters rather than the borderline voyeuristic exploration of Julian's increasingly self-destructive behavior.

Overall, an interesting book with a good ending and a bitchin' title, but felt like it could have used a little more meat.

another book i'd give a 4.5, the first 200 pages or so are a bit slow and maybe a bit cliche, but the book all comes together after a bit. unique structure and style, the gutpunches you expect still work really well, and very enjoyable to read

Overall a compelling, epic, heartbreaking tale with some life to it. There's definitely things I thought detracted from the story, as the tone can veer into a cringey territory at times, and I'm rarely a fan of the fat nerd as a trope. Hell there are parts that are downright problematic. On the other hand, the story is told well, the multiple perspectives were good, and captures the emotional truth well. There were a few things that could have been better, but overall it was well worth a read.

a silly funny book that just barely makes it above 3 stars to me. it's like Diet Douglas Adams, in that you get a lot of that silly british humor but its not just as well put together. that said, i'll probably continue the series over time

this was like if a bad Comedy Bang Bang character had, instead of 15 minutes of dumb jokes, talked for 8 hours straight where the only bit is that hes a horny Jew. funny for a bit on its surface but gets old real fast. the more i think about it the less i like it

you can tell Tagore is more known for his plays, the plot is heightened much like you'd expect of a play, but in a novel i found it to be a little crazed and cliche. like Sandip is such a flat evil character that i found the triangle and subsequent metaphor not very interesting. also its very weirdly written imo. but despite those things parts of it are still good, so a solid 3 out of 5

Here is my average routine reading this book:

> Oh god I should probably read more of this damn book
> Ugh this sentence has lasted three pages and said exactly nothing
> oh wow this is actually not too bad
> wait never mind. it sucks.
> maybe theres some beauty in it. but enough reading for now
> wait i only read 5 pages?!?!

The story in this is indecipherable and as i saw in another review, its a type of media that makes the reader feel the pain by actively punishing them for reading it. the language can be very flowery, which started off enjoyable, but became started to feel like wheels spinning, going nowhere. perhaps its best described as an alcoholic book - not in the sense that its a book about alcoholism, but rather its a book that reads as if told by an alcoholic - difficult to understand, occasionally enlightening, gratuitous and grotesque, and left me feeling like i needed a mint after i was done