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timinbc's review
1.0
Zzzzzz, uh! Wha... oh, I must have dozed off again just thinking about this book. Makes sense, because only insomniacs could find value here.
Take one standard seduced-by-professor plot, add a "science fiction" premise that doesn't stand up to even a moment of analysis, stir in a bland, dull schlub of a protagonist, and have her talking to a fetus as your big opener.
Then go on and on with nothing much happening, and when there finally is a moment of action, make it dull and unclear.
Big nope. Couldn't finish. I have some really good books in the queue.
Take one standard seduced-by-professor plot, add a "science fiction" premise that doesn't stand up to even a moment of analysis, stir in a bland, dull schlub of a protagonist, and have her talking to a fetus as your big opener.
Then go on and on with nothing much happening, and when there finally is a moment of action, make it dull and unclear.
Big nope. Couldn't finish. I have some really good books in the queue.
magyklyxdelish's review
1.0
DNF - pg 123
So this premise was really interesting. The way this story was told, her talking to her unborn baby, was cool and fun. However the story was so dull.
I kept chugging along hoping I would start caring about this main character, Hazel, or really anyone but I didn’t. I kept hoping the story would start to pick up and it didn’t. I found myself skimming and I’m not a skimmer. I have made a rule to not waste time on books that can’t get my attention and over a hundred pages into the book, I should at bare minimum, give a damn about the main character.
So this premise was really interesting. The way this story was told, her talking to her unborn baby, was cool and fun. However the story was so dull.
I kept chugging along hoping I would start caring about this main character, Hazel, or really anyone but I didn’t. I kept hoping the story would start to pick up and it didn’t. I found myself skimming and I’m not a skimmer. I have made a rule to not waste time on books that can’t get my attention and over a hundred pages into the book, I should at bare minimum, give a damn about the main character.
cindyjac's review
4.0
Some reviews talked about this being a "funny" book in places; I guess I missed the humor. Satire, disturbing, insightful, and strange would be more appropriate. The plague that makes blonde women turn into crazed, mindless creatures is really the back story. The internal journey of Hazel Hayes is the front and center focus. Sometimes her helplessness really bugged me, but just like the book Blindness, this story will stick with me for a long time.
beastreader's review
1.0
This is a book that I was really hyped to read. So when it arrived I picked it up right away. Just knowing I would be in for a fun ride with this book. Yet I got to chapter six which is 123 pages into the book. I put the book down and have not come back to it for a few months. As I picked the book up again to attempt to read it further, I was left wondering just how I made it to chapter six in the first place. The only explanation I could come up with is that I kept hoping that the story would pick up and I would feel something for the main character. This did not happen and therefore I lost interest in the story as a whole. No regrets.
erincataldi's review
3.0
Any book that has rave reviews from both Margaret Atwood AND Stephen King deserves to be checked out. Plus the premise of a plague that only targets blonde women (natural or dyed) and turns them into frenzied, evil attacking machines is just too cool to miss out on. The plot is cool, but the pacing and the main character left a little to be desired for me. I didn't hate it, I just didn't love it. The main character, Hazel Hayes, isn't the most likable of characters. She's pregnant and unsure of anything she kind of drifts around in her narration and it can be a little maddening at times. The other characters though are pretty memorable. Her lover's (and baby's father) wife is pretty over the top, but in a weird, good way. I would definitely give this book a try, I just don't know how much you'll fall in love with it.
literarylover37's review
2.0
Meh. This book was a character study disguised as an apocalyptic thriller. It was okay for what it was, I just felt like it was subject to false advertising. If you are looking for a reflective recollection of someone's brief brushes with a pandemic, then this is for you. If you're looking for a fast-paced, engaging horror story, then pass on this one.
rachel_smrt's review
3.0
Good, but more lugubrious self reflection than I expected and less thrilling apocalyptic hellscape action than I expected
johndiconsiglio's review
3.0
Just when you thought you’d read every genre, here comes feminist-sci fi-horror. A rabies-like plague strikes only blonde women, sending them into zombieish rages. Revenge of the Babes. One wolf whistle & she’ll rip your lungs out, Jim. Clever. A little too proud of itself. (The About the Author lists a viral blog post among her accomplishments.) Our heroine, a mousy grad student pregnant with her married prof’s baby, is a dud. More fun is the feral pack of perfectly quaffed stewardesses tearing apart a JFK terminal. Less “Blindness” than “Blondeness.”
mellabella's review
2.0
I don't know.
Say you throw reason and plausibility out the window... Hazel (the protagonists) narration is so dry.
She doesn't seen to care about anything. Or, get enthusiastic (or sad, angry, confrontational) about anything either.
Hazel has an affair with her professor Karl with a K. She gets pregnant at the beginning of what looks to be a pandemic of "Blonde Rabies".
Now we trek with Hazel as she tries to find her way to somewhere safe. She winds up at Karl's out of town cottage. That he shares with his wife. Only his wife is there at the time.
The story is told as Hazel talks to her unborn child.
I'm sure this was an amazing read for a lot of people. I continued to read to see where Hazel would wind up. That's pretty much all.
Say you throw reason and plausibility out the window... Hazel (the protagonists) narration is so dry.
She doesn't seen to care about anything. Or, get enthusiastic (or sad, angry, confrontational) about anything either.
Hazel has an affair with her professor Karl with a K. She gets pregnant at the beginning of what looks to be a pandemic of "Blonde Rabies".
Now we trek with Hazel as she tries to find her way to somewhere safe. She winds up at Karl's out of town cottage. That he shares with his wife. Only his wife is there at the time.
The story is told as Hazel talks to her unborn child.
I'm sure this was an amazing read for a lot of people. I continued to read to see where Hazel would wind up. That's pretty much all.
routergirl's review
2.0
This book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley.com and St. Martin's Press.
I was excited to read this one, as the premise sounds interesting. A new virus appears and only affects blondes, who become impaired and exhibit violent behaviors to those around them. There doesn't seem to be a cure, although some women dye their hair and/or shave it off. The main character, at one stage, is in a drugstore shopping for hair dye, and the girl working there points out the "Sable and ebony" are all gone, but there is still "Ash brown."
The main character, however, is a bit hard to connect with. Given, she's fresh out of an affair, has just learned she's pregnant, and is far from home. I could understand her scattered thoughts, her struggles to understand all of this, the shock. But Emily Schultz is almost too good at putting us into the character's head, because it left me feeling disconnected as well. Schultz has quite a way with wordsmithing, and there were times I highlighted fragments, thinking how well she wrote. But overall the story just couldn't draw me in enough.
You have to suspend your disbelief with some powerful suspenders, as well - even women with dyed blonde hair are affected.
I was excited to read this one, as the premise sounds interesting. A new virus appears and only affects blondes, who become impaired and exhibit violent behaviors to those around them. There doesn't seem to be a cure, although some women dye their hair and/or shave it off. The main character, at one stage, is in a drugstore shopping for hair dye, and the girl working there points out the "Sable and ebony" are all gone, but there is still "Ash brown."
The main character, however, is a bit hard to connect with. Given, she's fresh out of an affair, has just learned she's pregnant, and is far from home. I could understand her scattered thoughts, her struggles to understand all of this, the shock. But Emily Schultz is almost too good at putting us into the character's head, because it left me feeling disconnected as well. Schultz has quite a way with wordsmithing, and there were times I highlighted fragments, thinking how well she wrote. But overall the story just couldn't draw me in enough.
You have to suspend your disbelief with some powerful suspenders, as well - even women with dyed blonde hair are affected.