Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.22 AVERAGE
3.22 AVERAGE
Just so good. Not for everyone but I enjoyed it. Found it to be a very clever way to address larger themes of relationships and emotional maturity.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow what a disappointment.
I love ghosts, and I love books about peoples relationships with ghosts, but this book was just a mess of introspection with incoherent themes and disagreeable horny characters.
First of all the book wholly failed to carry through its premise. The bureaucracy of death that’s introduced at the beginning of the book is over explained, detracting from the liminal feeling it was trying to give, while also never giving any due explanations. A poor man’s The Good Place without any humor or heart.
And then the lack of thematic resonance in this book. All signs suggest that this book is supposed to be about regret, yet nothing meaningful is said about regret AT ALL, the obvious thing I assumed Thomas would regret being the drunk driver in the accident that killed his best friend is introduced and then never mentioned again. Instead this is a book about desire and a search for human connection (that the characters only look for in sex). But it doesn’t even have anything interesting to say about desire or lust! The relationships between characters in this was so surface level and lacking in development that there was never anything I found sensual or erotic about it. I didn’t help that the characters were so unlikable.
The writing itself had some ups and downs, the pacing was fine except that it was so anticlimactic (kind of ironic really). And some of the similes/metaphors were creative but way to over explained. One sentence, “The fucking was fucking fantastic.” Burned it’s way into my brain it was so poorly constructed. The tone was introspective and pretentious even as it attempted to be crass at points.
This book and Thomas should have just both been dead on arrival.
I love ghosts, and I love books about peoples relationships with ghosts, but this book was just a mess of introspection with incoherent themes and disagreeable horny characters.
First of all the book wholly failed to carry through its premise. The bureaucracy of death that’s introduced at the beginning of the book is over explained, detracting from the liminal feeling it was trying to give, while also never giving any due explanations. A poor man’s The Good Place without any humor or heart.
And then the lack of thematic resonance in this book. All signs suggest that this book is supposed to be about regret, yet nothing meaningful is said about regret AT ALL, the obvious thing I assumed Thomas would regret
The writing itself had some ups and downs, the pacing was fine except that it was so anticlimactic (kind of ironic really). And some of the similes/metaphors were creative but way to over explained. One sentence, “The fucking was fucking fantastic.” Burned it’s way into my brain it was so poorly constructed. The tone was introspective and pretentious even as it attempted to be crass at points.
This book and Thomas should have just both been dead on arrival.
I noticed other reviewers draw parallels between this book and Melissa Broder's "The Pisces" and I completely agree - the larger strangeness of events coupled with a careful eye for detail, the bizarre sex, dark humor, female protagonists that are each adrift in their own ways. I don't know that I can articulate why I loved both books so much but I just vibe so strongly with Broder and Bonnaffons voices - like if my heart and mind had their own dialect, this is written in it.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was honestly just a heap of wasted potential. As the book starts the writing is really beautiful, the imagery and descriptions I was into. Thomas is dying and being taken by an angel. And
then the angel grabs his dick….
And it goes downhill from there. Thomas’s story starts like something I would picture in the “handbook of the recently deceased” which I loved but it never goes much further than this we get a quick scene of him in a office with a angel apologizing for his rapture not going correctly because he had previously met the angel that was supposed to take him. And the first encounter is underwhelming, this encounter is also supposed to have deeply affected him, but his characters actions never really reflect this.
We also meet Theresa who was supposed to be a central character yet we never confirm what happened to her.
Rachel and Thomas are both unlikeable characters, maybe this is why they are drawn to each other. This was supposed to be a romance but neither character has chemistry with each other, the relationship revolves solely around sex. They spend chapters just staring at each other and then Rachel chases him and after some awkward conversations they decide they really like each other.
It feels like both of them were trying to fill some void in each other and that slowly becomes a toxic codependent relationship. With Rachel cutting off all her friends to spend every second with him.
At one point Rachel sexually assaults Thomas, he is out of it and Rachel tries to convince him it is okay because it’s “just her” and when he starts flickering out like he’s dying she freaks out and starts deep cleaning the house. I feel like there was supposed to be a joke somewhere in there? It wasn’t a funny situation but the story continues:
Thomas becomes an apparition and starts haunting Rachel and at first they are both into it but eventually Rachel ends up sleeping with her ex and going to a metaphysics to get rid of him.
And that’s it.
We never get details on him passing on, or where he went, just the chapter before with him cursing Rachel out when his spirit watches her cheat on him.
The story ends with her buying a new mattress.
There was so much that could’ve been explored, the angels, the nightmares that predicted things, the black stones, Rachels family dynamic, her psychology (bc baby girl had issues!!), the office and how it’s run, Dr. Moon, a better ending for Mark.
And we never really found out what it meant that he incurred regrets. Did this make him die quicker? Or affect how he passed on? Or where he went to?Because as he’s pissed and haunting Rachel he doesn’t really seem to be regretting how he’s turning her life upside down. Instead he’s enjoying it. The only person regretting this relationship, is Rachel.
This is a bit of a vent but I really was hoping this book was going to be better than it was.
then the angel grabs his dick….
And it goes downhill from there. Thomas’s story starts like something I would picture in the “handbook of the recently deceased” which I loved but it never goes much further than this we get a quick scene of him in a office with a angel apologizing for his rapture not going correctly because he had previously met the angel that was supposed to take him. And the first encounter is underwhelming, this encounter is also supposed to have deeply affected him, but his characters actions never really reflect this.
We also meet Theresa who was supposed to be a central character yet we never confirm what happened to her.
Rachel and Thomas are both unlikeable characters, maybe this is why they are drawn to each other. This was supposed to be a romance but neither character has chemistry with each other, the relationship revolves solely around sex. They spend chapters just staring at each other and then Rachel chases him and after some awkward conversations they decide they really like each other.
It feels like both of them were trying to fill some void in each other and that slowly becomes a toxic codependent relationship. With Rachel cutting off all her friends to spend every second with him.
At one point Rachel sexually assaults Thomas, he is out of it and Rachel tries to convince him it is okay because it’s “just her” and when he starts flickering out like he’s dying she freaks out and starts deep cleaning the house. I feel like there was supposed to be a joke somewhere in there? It wasn’t a funny situation but the story continues:
Thomas becomes an apparition and starts haunting Rachel and at first they are both into it but eventually Rachel ends up sleeping with her ex and going to a metaphysics to get rid of him.
And that’s it.
We never get details on him passing on, or where he went, just the chapter before with him cursing Rachel out when his spirit watches her cheat on him.
The story ends with her buying a new mattress.
There was so much that could’ve been explored, the angels, the nightmares that predicted things, the black stones, Rachels family dynamic, her psychology (bc baby girl had issues!!), the office and how it’s run, Dr. Moon, a better ending for Mark.
And we never really found out what it meant that he incurred regrets. Did this make him die quicker? Or affect how he passed on? Or where he went to?Because as he’s pissed and haunting Rachel he doesn’t really seem to be regretting how he’s turning her life upside down. Instead he’s enjoying it. The only person regretting this relationship, is Rachel.
This is a bit of a vent but I really was hoping this book was going to be better than it was.
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Want to come back to it I was just busy and wasn’t feeling it atm
