Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Harper Collins Publishers Inc.
Publication Date: May 13, 2014
Date Read: November 12, 2014
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1.5 Stars
I am so very disappointed in this book. I tend to be a rather easy reader to please. There are quite a few books that I absolutely love that other seem to hate. I really just want to be entertained and I try not to over-analyze anything I am reading. So when I saw decent reviews for this book, I checked it out on Amazon and when I saw that it was only $1.99 at the time, I clicked that Buy Now button so quickly it could make your head spin. One of my friends on Goodreads was also planning to read this book so we decided to read it together.
This book was okay for really most of the book. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. Sure there were some things that bugged me. I hated that Malorie kept calling the kids Boy and Girl. If my husband called me Woman all the time instead of Carole, we would have some problems. I really did not like how the book jumped around in time. Because of the way the book jumped around, I knew that I should not get attached to most of the characters because they are not around anymore during the scenes set in the present.
It wasn’t all bad. The concept was different and I really like the books I read to be different. I liked the scenes set in the house with all of the residents. A group of people working together to survive the unsurvivable. People love that stuff, myself included. I liked the dynamics of the house and really liked some of the characters. I thought Tom was the kind of person you would want to have around in this kid of situation. He was a true leader willing to take risks. I found that the scenes featuring Tom and the other housemates were really the best in the book.
There were some things that really, really bugged me about this book. I didn’t really care about Malorie which was a problem since she is the main character. I know I would have liked the book more if I had liked Malorie but as it was written I didn’t really care if she lived or died. There was few scenes that still bug me. Malorie drove herself to the safe house only opening her eyes every once in a while. How did that work? I sometimes wonder if the drivers that I see on the road at times have the eyes closed but this does not make any sense. I HATED the final scenes of the book. I was waiting for that moment when I would finally see everything come together. I had high hopes for that moment and thought it was going to be great. It ended up being one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever read.
I can’t recommend this book to anyone. If you are looking for scary, this book is not scary. It is weird. This is the first book by Josh Malerman that I have had a chance to read and I don’t plan on seeking out any others to be honest. I am really a little mad that I spent real money on this one.
Sorry you didn't the book. 🙁
It's good that you gave your honest opinion about it though. 🙂
A lot of people really liked this book. I am glad I read it even though it did not work for me.
Oh, it's a shame that you didn't like this book :/ And it's a bigger shame that the characters don't seem too likeable enough for the reader to care about them. I know that I wouldn't like being called Girl by my mum either…
Check out my review: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2014/11/carrier-review.html
It is really hard to love a book when you don't care about the characters. I kept thinking how hard is it to give the kid a name every time she said Boy or Girl.