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keen23's review against another edition
4.0
As someone else said, this book is almost un-reviewable. Seriously. There's some FUS (F*cked Up S*th) that happens in between the covers of this book. But, it's a great read.
The world as we know it is over, due to the FUS and a murderous, marauding iceberg (not a whole lot is mentioned about the iceberg, but the part that was was one of my favorite things in this book). There's nanotechnology, drones, the armies of Boeing, guns made by Coca-Cola, and a secret underground movement.
There's not an ending that wraps things up, so much as the book comes to an end.
If you like books about romance and happily ever afters, this is not the book for you. If you like the opposite of romance and happily ever afters, you need to read this book.
The world as we know it is over, due to the FUS and a murderous, marauding iceberg (not a whole lot is mentioned about the iceberg, but the part that was was one of my favorite things in this book). There's nanotechnology, drones, the armies of Boeing, guns made by Coca-Cola, and a secret underground movement.
There's not an ending that wraps things up, so much as the book comes to an end.
If you like books about romance and happily ever afters, this is not the book for you. If you like the opposite of romance and happily ever afters, you need to read this book.
gcgulick's review against another edition
4.0
I overall enjoyed the individual parts, but I never really felt a big payoff in terms of plot resolution. It felt more like a collection of short stories woven together in the same universe (which is fine) but the premise of the book is so grand and exciting that I kept hoping Boudinot would step up to the plate and really knock out a home run by weaving it all together but through the chaos towards the end I never really got that reward. Also I felt like the book couldn't decide whether it was science fiction or magical realism, which is fine, but I feel like in a sci-fi universe everything has a *somewhat* rational explanation, but some things were introduced and just left at the surreal level, which is fine. Jonathan Lethem's Amnesia Moon is a great book that also delves into an abstract reality, so in some ways I find it agreeable.
I liked the near future commentary about cloning and the bionet and apocalyptic scenarios. This is a big book in terms of having a lot going on and a lot of stories and ideas and imagery which really offsets the negatives, so definitely check it out if you love science fiction / magical realism / apocalypse fiction. I loved Woo-jin Kan, the seizure ridden award winning dish washer, I wish he had more presence in the book.
I'll definitely check out more of Boudinot, I think his writing is strong, I hope in the next book he ether makes a commitment to one genre, or figures out a way to better blend the two.
In the end, I need to think more about this book, there's so much going on and the crazy, chaotic world in this book is fascinating and really dark and fun.
I liked the near future commentary about cloning and the bionet and apocalyptic scenarios. This is a big book in terms of having a lot going on and a lot of stories and ideas and imagery which really offsets the negatives, so definitely check it out if you love science fiction / magical realism / apocalypse fiction. I loved Woo-jin Kan, the seizure ridden award winning dish washer, I wish he had more presence in the book.
I'll definitely check out more of Boudinot, I think his writing is strong, I hope in the next book he ether makes a commitment to one genre, or figures out a way to better blend the two.
In the end, I need to think more about this book, there's so much going on and the crazy, chaotic world in this book is fascinating and really dark and fun.
travisclau's review against another edition
4.0
"A+B=C is not the way to go here." In a Sternian way, the novel is frank about its absurdities like what Abby experiences as a data archaeologist. The plot folds on itself -- this is Boudinot's "slipstream" fiction, a kind of mixed-genre novel that plays with your mind and has you underlining all the wonderfully genius lines that Boudinot has buried in the prose. It is a novel that you consume quickly, but if you're looking for A+B=C, you're not going to find it here. It is expansive, full of spaces that appear and disappear out of sight but remain resonating as you oscillate between narratives. Blueprints is truly a "novel experience" that captures so much of the anxieties of our present. Boudinot provides some fascinating critiques and imaginations of capitalism and its flows, biotechnology and its frightening implications. Hard-hitting where you least expect it. He may have written an article that managed to piss off the world, but this novel is worth the anger.
unboxedjack's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Death, Eating disorder, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, and Emotional abuse
lattelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
The most hilarious, haunting, wonderfully articulated, confusing, lovable, rollercoaster of a book I have read in a long time. The characters are wonderful, well-written, and horrifyingly dismantled. The plot seems so simple, yet seemingly non-existent at first, and then sweeps away into a fast-paced confusing whirlwind that keeps the reader occupied and intrigued. Multiple things happen that I don't understand, probably because I personally read it in less than 5 hours, and I think that that was the point: it is the future, there is a plotline we barely know about, but everyone else in the novel doesn't really know what it is either. And that is the beauty of this novel. We have to try to figure it out ourselves while not losing what we think we know is real and fake on the way.
liketheday's review against another edition
4.0
This is very much one of those books you just have to go with and hope to figure it out later, whether because the book finally tells you what this whole building Manhattan thing is all about or because you think about it long enough and you realize that that thing that made no sense two hundred pages ago makes a little bit of sense now.
read more...
read more...
terrypaulpearce's review against another edition
1.0
#dnf
I'm always going on at people for saying the emperor has no clothes with a book; I think it's a deflecting, egocentric response. And I guess it's not Boudinot's fault the jacket compares him to William Gibson and Chuck Palahniuk, or that a lot of people mention this in the same breath as Infinite Jest. But... What?
I can only speak for myself, bt the writing quality here just does not belong in the same universe as such, for me. Having given up around page 100, I'm aware from what I've read that I probably gave up too soon to really get the twists or the wholeness of it, or what it was really about... but... meh. I didn't care. Maybe I'm just a prose junkie, or a character junkie, but it all just seemed a bit thin. I wasn't sure who or what I was supposed to care about, or on what basis. There was too much random weirdness for me (and yeah, maybe later it falls into place, but I need to care enough to find out). There seemed a kind of try-hardness to the writing, and some really strange absurdism that was way too random and absurd for straight-up fiction, and not enough so for Douglas Adams / Terry Pratchett type funny oddness. Random shock-value words and ideas seemed thrown in, and gross-outs, and just all kinda stuff... the language seemed to change from moment to moment, jarring and throwing me... and none of the characters seemed too deep, or real.
Also, I got the impression it was supposed to be kinda funny, but I really couldn't figure out how.
Maybe it's written for people a lot younger than me.
I'm always going on at people for saying the emperor has no clothes with a book; I think it's a deflecting, egocentric response. And I guess it's not Boudinot's fault the jacket compares him to William Gibson and Chuck Palahniuk, or that a lot of people mention this in the same breath as Infinite Jest. But... What?
I can only speak for myself, bt the writing quality here just does not belong in the same universe as such, for me. Having given up around page 100, I'm aware from what I've read that I probably gave up too soon to really get the twists or the wholeness of it, or what it was really about... but... meh. I didn't care. Maybe I'm just a prose junkie, or a character junkie, but it all just seemed a bit thin. I wasn't sure who or what I was supposed to care about, or on what basis. There was too much random weirdness for me (and yeah, maybe later it falls into place, but I need to care enough to find out). There seemed a kind of try-hardness to the writing, and some really strange absurdism that was way too random and absurd for straight-up fiction, and not enough so for Douglas Adams / Terry Pratchett type funny oddness. Random shock-value words and ideas seemed thrown in, and gross-outs, and just all kinda stuff... the language seemed to change from moment to moment, jarring and throwing me... and none of the characters seemed too deep, or real.
Also, I got the impression it was supposed to be kinda funny, but I really couldn't figure out how.
Maybe it's written for people a lot younger than me.
aleffert's review against another edition
4.0
Picked this up entirely from the cover, then discovered it was exactly my sort of thing. Weird, non-linear, occasionally meta, full of ideas, and the strange strange image of a destroyed New York rebuilt on an island off the coast of Seattle.
Anyway, it was pretty good, but it didn't quite come together. There were a few too many subplots and the whole thing felt a little too much stuff the author thought was cool that didn't fit together. And maybe it was just the phrase "Age of Fucked Up Shit," and some general vibes that reminded me of The Broom of The System, but I felt sometimes like he was trying to be David Foster Wallace and not succeeding.
Still, there was a bunch of good stuff in here and I plowed through it.
Anyway, it was pretty good, but it didn't quite come together. There were a few too many subplots and the whole thing felt a little too much stuff the author thought was cool that didn't fit together. And maybe it was just the phrase "Age of Fucked Up Shit," and some general vibes that reminded me of The Broom of The System, but I felt sometimes like he was trying to be David Foster Wallace and not succeeding.
Still, there was a bunch of good stuff in here and I plowed through it.
zimb0's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book better to read than review. An overabundance that generally works.
My only complaint is that I have no idea how Neethan fits into the narrative. What is his reality? The Neethan bits feel like a completely different work.
My only complaint is that I have no idea how Neethan fits into the narrative. What is his reality? The Neethan bits feel like a completely different work.