SLIVER (Ira Levin) - July 30/22

 This one started out a little iffy, there are so many periphery characters that it becomes impossible to keep track of them all, but eventually settled down to become a very readable thriller. I blazed through the second half in a couple of hours. *** out of ****

UNIVERSAL HARVESTER (John Darnielle) - July 23/22

 What in the world...? This started out with plenty of promise, with the narrative following a videostore clerk who stumbles upon sinister clips, but eventually becomes a muddled and completely random story about...I'm actually not sure. I completely lost the thread of the various subplots, to the point where I had absolutely no idea what was going on or who anyone was. What was up with those videos? I haven't a clue! What a waste. * out of ****

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS (Jessamine Chan) - July 14/2022

 And on the other end of the spectrum is this absolutely interminable and loathsome novel. It started out okay but once I realized what the dystopian premise was, I knew I was in for a rough ride but this was so much worse than I expected. It’s just so pointless and repetitive. There’s nothing interesting about any of this and I was glazing over whole chapters towards the end. What an ordeal. No stars out of ****

STATION ELEVEN (Emily St. John Mandel) - July 3/22

 Wow! What a book! Station Eleven hooked me right from the jump and although I wasn’t sure about it after an initial flashback stretch (it seemed like the emphasis was going to be solely on the Walking Dead-like exploits of the survivors), I was drawn back in thanks to Mandel’s ingenious structure. (Things would be briefly mentioned early on and then brilliantly come around again.) I had a tough time keeping certain supporting characters straight, but the central protagonists were painted very vividly. I liked, too, that she didn’t dwell on the bad guys (the crazy cult thing had been done to death) and I really appreciated that the Prophet was killed fairly suddenly. I dug, too, that the book ends with some hope, with the sighting of a town using electricity. I loved this book. **** out of ****