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Friday, April 28, 2017

The Cepalopod Coffeehouse - The Bone Clocks


http://armchairsquid.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-cephalopod-coffeehouse-april-2017.html

Welcome to another edition of the Cephalopod Coffeehouse. The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.

This month I'm going to tell you about The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.

 From Amazon: Following a terrible fight with her mother over her boyfriend, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her family and her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: A sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as “the radio people,” Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life.

For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born.

A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting on the war in Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder.



This book was a New York Times Bestseller, Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Named one of the top ten fiction books of the year, Winner of the World Fantasy Award and Named to more than 29 year-end best of lists.

I, however, am going to buck the trend, and disagree with them all for my usual reason: characters I didn't care about. It's a good thing this book started with Holly Sykes because I might not have finished it otherwise. I loved Holly. I didn't much care for Brubeck the reporter, I definitely didn't like Hugo Lamb who was seemingly only out for the buck, and Crispin Hershey, the writer, was a jerk. If there had been more of Holly and the 'radio people' I think I would've liked this book a lot better but I didn't give a hoot about what happened to those other characters. They just weren't likeable enough for me to care.

I would love to hear what anyone else thought of this book if they've read it.

And for those of you participating in A-Z...you're almost to the finish line : )

15 comments:

  1. Sorry you didn't like this more. Characters are a key to a good book. Sorry, but I don't think I'll read this one.

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  2. At first I thought I might like this book reading the blurb but I always then read reviews as they are more honest. It's interesting how readers relate to characters and it's refreshing to find someone who doesn't just go with the flow. Great review.

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  3. Haven't read this one yet. I may still give it a try, just in case it reaches me in some other way. I will remember, though, that I've been warned. Not very likable characters can ruin a story. Thanks for the honest review.

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  4. That plot sounds far too complicated to have unlikable characters. I'm impressed you finished it. I find it impossible to finish even really short books if I don't like the characters.

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  5. This book caught my interest because of the title but the more I read of the blurb my interest waned. Then your review sealed the deal. I agree with Mich that it seems too complicated for a story with unlikeable characters.
    But I do still like the title LOL.

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  6. I think that's why I don't read more bestsellers. I find that they're overrated.

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  7. I did like it. I agree with you about some of the characters, but I don't have to 'like' characters in most novels - I just have to be interested in what they will do next.

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  8. Lack of likeable characters can be a problem for me, too. Every once in a while it works, though: Mad Men, for instance.

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  9. I read the blurb and it sounded like a hot mess! Way too much happening...and while I'm not a fan of unlikable characters, it's aggravating when they have to carry giant bits of the plot.

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  10. You know, isn't it interesting how differently we can feel about the same book? I've read so many stories people rave about that I just don't get. Adversely, I've read so many I adored that just weren't that popular rating wise. *shrugs* Awards, smuwards.

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  11. I haven't read this one but I agree that it's almost impossible to enjoy a book if I don't like at least some of the characters. If you don't have someone to root for, what's the point?

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  12. This is the first I'm hearing of this book. Is it written from multiple points of view? I find it hard to get into books that have multiple points of view for the same reason--I want to connect with all the characters, and it makes it harder if I don't like them all or they get diluted. Thanks for sharing your review.

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  13. I need good characterization. For that reason, I'm focusing on my own. ~grin~ Happy reading!

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  14. Never heard of the book nor the author--guess I haven't been keeping up with new releases and best seller lists.

    I like your honest assessment. Based on the story description it doesn't sound like my kind of a book to read and now you've added an additional heads up.


    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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  15. I haven't heard of this one, nor have I read the author. Thank you for the honest review.

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