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ClareR (5603 KP) rated Q: The Novel in Books

Jul 11, 2021  
Q: The Novel
Q: The Novel
Christina Dalcher | 2020 | Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Q is set in the near future - or even an alternative ‘Now’. To say that this made me feel supremely uncomfortable would be an understatement. I kept picking it up, reading a bit, and then putting it down - until I got to the last half of the book where I basically inhaled it.

As a parent and a teacher, I found this novel really disturbing. The author has taken where we are now in our education system, and ramped it up to its most exaggerated end point. And it still didn’t seem completely over the top.

In Q’s reality, children are divided up in to their academic ability and put into one of three tiered schools - Silver, Green or Yellow. It’s a relatively new system, and for teacher Elena Fairchild, it’s a dream to teach in a top tier school, where the children are all motivated and high achieving. But when Elena’s youngest daughter is demoted from a Green to a Yellow school, Elena’s loyalty to the education system starts to disintegrate. And when her husband, who works in a senior position in the education department, refuses to save his daughter from being sent hundreds of miles away to a Yellow State boarding school, Elena decides to act.

Ooh, how I loved this. Yes, it’s uncomfortable reading. Yes, it has Eugenics written large all over it (And Elena’s grandmother even warns her and tells her about her youth under the Nazi regime). And yes, it’s uncomfortably close to reality.
But it was a gripping read with a satisfying end. I would recommend it!
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Catherine House in Books

May 21, 2020  
Catherine House
Catherine House
Elisabeth Thomas | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
5
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book totally stressed me out. I usually love a good boarding school novel (though technically these students are in their college years), but this was mostly just a bunch of kids drinking and occasionally attending weird classes. Why are there never normal people at these schools who just do their work and don't drink?

Anyway, besides that pet peeve, this book was incredibly slow and nothing ever happened. This was mostly a story about a lot of frivolous kids at school with some weird scientific plasma stuff thrown in. It was incredibly difficult to care about Ines for most of the book--or any of the other characters--and truly, most of the plot. I thought about abandoning the book, but wanted to see if anything interesting ever happened with the scientific aspect. (No, not really.) The book sells itself as a mysterious ride, but it's more a character-driven novel. About lackluster, annoying characters.

Now the last third was fairly enjoyable and somehow an irritating book with eh characters had a satisfying ending, but getting there was just painful. Thomas is a good writer and this is no doubt one of those smart books where not much happens that book critics will worship, but it didn't really work for me. 2.5 stars.