“Have you ever read one of those books where it feels like the middle part of a trilogy, like all the action happened just before the first page and then kicks into gear right on the last page?
I guess it doesn’t matter if you’ve read one like that or not. That little description makes sense enough, right?
Okay, how about this:
When I get a pizza, the first slice is awesome. Because I was so hungry and anticipating it. And then you get into a cycle of diminishing returns about three slices in. Then it just becomes another food, what you’re eating for that meal and nothing more. But THEN, you have the LEFTOVERS (haha!) the next day, and they are awesome again. The bookends of pizza are awesome, but the middle is kind of lame. Nothing really happens, and it’s just an unnecessary way of getting you from the beginning of the pizza to the end.
A smarter man would eat a few slices on day one, and then a second set the next day, after which the pizza could go out.
A smarter man would have also read the setup in this book, then skipped to the end to see what all happened without slogging through a lot of…I don’t know what.
What’s so weird about this book is that other than the setup, a large portion of the population mysteriously disappearing all at the same time, there’s almost nothing really remarkable about what happens. It’s all kind of mundane. Which I get. It’s realistic. Well, except for the rising up of a cult of people who don’t talk (except when they do) and smoke all the time (except when they don’t) and are pretty much harmless (except when they aren’t).
Plus, nobody mentions the benefits.
-Shorter lines everywhere.
-Less traffic.
-Free day at the zoo becomes tolerable again.
Anyway, if you’re considering this book, I’d say reconsider. It’s fine overall, but you can find what you’re looking for somewhere else that’ll be preferable, whether it’s suburban drama, attempting to put a shape to loss, or a miracle baby.”