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Mel (490 KP) rated Lincoln in the Bardo in Books

Oct 2, 2019

Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry

8.3

(6 Ratings)

Book Rating

The parts of the story surrounding the graveyard characters (0 more)

Style over substance (0 more)

Contains spoilers, click to show

When this book first came out it seemed to be publicised everywhere so when I saw it on a daily deal I picked up a copy.
I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't quite what I got. While the main thread of the story focusing on the death of Lincoln's son and the ghosts in the graveyard was interesting it felt like this was essentially a short story bulked out into a novel (given the author is far more famous for his short stories this probably isn't surprising). The use of historical quotations to tell the parts of the story taken from real life seemed more of a clever affectation than actually a useful plot device. While I finished the book and felt like I knew a little more about Lincoln the man afterwards overall I didn't think it lived up to the hype surrounding it

Kudos

Elli H Burton (1288 KP) rated Small Steps in Books

Aug 20, 2019

Small Steps

Louis Sachar | 2013 | Children

8.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Short and sweet. (1 more)

Real life issues, that I genuinely still live by.

Wish it was longer not a fan of the ending. (0 more)

The forgotten sequel to a classic

Louis Sachar does it again with this sequel to the classic Holes. I loves Holes when I was at school so it was only natural I'd pick this one up.
I know many people that love Holes but haven't even heard of this book. Because of this, over the years I have loaned my copy of this out unfortunately with no return which I will eventually get round to replacing because I LOVED this book.
It's not the longest book, when I was a teenager that was what drew me to it tbh but as an adult I still love it.
It's got some wonderful moments in, it's a book that I think might even be taught in schools (in the UK Holes by Louis Sachar was one).