Almost there, but lost it in the end
927767
This book did keep me reading and wondering what was next; however, the ending was a little abrupt and lackluster. It just lost the element of surprise towards the end. It was good for a quick read, but I'm afraid those looking for a good follow up to Gone Girl will be disappointed.
4632315
The beginning was explosive and I liked this book a lot almost till the end, but there was a not so good third and last part that made me change my evaluation of the book in its wholeness. I still consider this novel a very good one, but it seemed to me a story that didn't keep up with the expectations it has created in the first part of the book, but is just my evaluation and doesn't have necessarily be true for other readers.

L'inizio mi ha preso tantissimo e il libro mi  piaciuto moltissimo e poi molto quasi fino alla fine, ma la terza e l'ultima parte hanno in parte cambiato il mio giudizio sul libro nel suo insieme. Penso ancora che sia un bel romanzo, ma in qualche modo non ha tenuto fede alle aspettative create nella prima parte del romanzo stesso, ma questa  solo la mia opinione e non quella degli altri lettori.
3683929
It was great until the ending where I got lost
906053
Like many others I wanted to love this book and for the most part it was great. However, as deep and engrossing as it was in the beginning it lost it's momentom by the end. Or at least it seemed that way. The ending wasn't a disappointment but it wasn't as good as what I thought it would be either. Although I must admit I wasn't sure how I wanted it to end or if it ended differently if it would have been as good. I read it over a few days at first I couldn't put the book down and told everyone I knew about how good it was..but then by the end a couple days later that passion was gone. Either way it's a great book and that's why I gave it 4 stars.
3391214
The first part of this story was very good, compelling me to read further.  It was hard to imagine how a parent could do what David chose to do, however his reasons were not to cause pain, but to protect his wife from the pain he had known and shared with his Mother.  He had lived the joy and the pain with his sister June, only to have her die at a young age.

Caroline Gill is a remarkable character in the story and as it moved forward, I enjoyed the parts with Caroline and Phoebe more than the parts with David, Norah and Paul.

There was a disconnect for me after Norah, David and Paul went to Aruba.  The story became sporadic and was a challenge to read.  I also think David's death deserved more than a few lines coming out of nowhere.

All in all, it was an amazing story, but it lacked something in the style of writing.  I'm still glad I read it though.
815785
This book has the potential to go someplace good, but just doesn't quite get there. The ending, without a reveal, leaves me with many questions which I'm wanting answers to. I liked the flow though the character developement is just slightly lacking.

I'm confused in that the younger brother begins the story adamantly in love with one girl, deplores drink and is a good son even if he is not the favored son. By the halfway mark, the boy- and the author, seems to have forgotten the first love with no explanation or heartache or anything and is pretty much never heard from again. He becomes a favorite companion to the local tavern with the oldest brother without a qualm-farm work and father forgotten at home without any consequences and it's just not fleshed out well.

The ending involves intrigues and magics but without any explanations or plot it dies a quick death with the story's end.

Left me wanting a bit more than it gave me.
3259720
A great concept, even though he seemed, well, indestructible, but when it went off world and then the ending went where it went, I had high expectations for this book and a nice conclusion to the hero's odyssey.
The author lost me pretty quick, I finally just stopped reading it and moved on.
1539057
This book has all of the tools it needs, yet somehow it doesn't quite get there in the end.  The Mulvaneys are a lovely family that descends into madness when the only Mulvaney daughter is raped.  The narrative and explanation about this descent is compelling and gripping, and the characters invoke sympathy and affection.  Through this narrative, Ms. Oates effectively weaves themes of evolution and religion as reflective of humanity's moral failures and successes.  After thoroughly explaining the family's descent with an excruciating attention detail and development of characters though 350 pages,Ms. Oates takes the family from complete destruction to total reconicilliation in the remaining 20 pages of the book. The theme, the direction and the author's message are lost in this simplistic conclusion, so that the reader is left with nothing to show for 400 pages worth of reading.  I was sad to put the book down because I felt like the characters I had fallen in love with didn't get the closure they deserved.
3870304
This movie certainly isn't bad, the first half of it was quite strong.  The characters and their society fleshed out nicely, a good job was done building tension.  I have to admit some of the actors did not seem like the best pick for their roles, but the acting was fine.  The concept behind this film is an interesting one, but unfortunately not pulled off as well as it could have been.  The end of the movie has a very rushed through feel, and doesn't give a feeling of closure.  I can't go into too many details because it would give away the twist, but this movie could have gotten very philosophical at the end, but instead left me feeling like it simply didn't live up to its potential.
4796961
I would've given a 5-star to this story if the first half had been as engaging as the second half; just feel like it took off a bit slow.  But the writing was clear and simple prose and the grammatical editing was good, so I stuck with it and was glad of it.  The main character is, at first, hemmed in to a very narrow and constricted life.  In fact, it came to me that perhaps his name is what you get when you take the (individual) "I" out of the (communal) "UNIT" - all that's left is "Unt" which ain't much of a name, eh?  And Unt isn't much of an individual until he begins to have some adventures in his life and resulting wisdom and maturity.  Really good ending to this one!
3157866
I enjoyed "A Desirable Residence" most of the time that I was reading it, but the ending was missing something.
The story moved along at a good pace and the characters were interesting (if not particularly likable), but the ending seemed abrupt.  One of the main plot lines felt unresolved, and I was disappointed that many of the characters' "bad behavior" didn't result in real consequences, or personal growth/redemption.
When I finished the book, I felt like there must be some pages missing - the situations in the book just didn't feel fully resolved to me.
44257
Started off great, but I lost interested about half way through.
2775498
I loved it by the end. The way the setup was written annoyed me and I almost lost interest. Looking back, it was well done but nonetheless frustrating. The story would build then stutter and stall only to start again and repeat the process. Once it took off, I liked it and the foreshadowing kept a some suspense going in sections that were predictable. Not stay-up-all-night-reading suspenseful; but, very enjoyable and worthwhile.
3197181
In the end I thought this was a good book, although I found the first half a struggle.

Set in Leeds between July 1975, when Peter Sutcliffe ("The Yorkshire Ripper") killed his first victim and January 1981 when he was arrested, this is the coming-of-age story of the narrator, Rick. He is a delivery lad on a soft-drinks van: poorly educated, disaffected, rebellious and gay. The story is told in episodes, each at a time of Sutcliffe's attacks, and headed with the name and date of the victim and narrated in a sort of Leeds dialect.

By the end I was glad to have read this; the second half has decently developed characters, a story which has gathered enough momentum to grip and a sense of time and place which has finally become convincing and natural. There is a very good sense of how Sutcliffe's murders came to pervade people's and also of the attitudes of people toward gays and the political currents of the time.

Frankly, though, I found the first half of this book tough going. If I hadn't received a free ARC via Netgally and felt obliged to persist I might well have given up. In the end I was glad I had stuck with it, but the setting of the scene and time is pretty clunky, I found the use of Sutliffe's victims to mark the chapters in very questionable taste because it wasn't at all clear whether they were anything other than just chapter markers, and the narrative voice didn't really convince me.

The problem with Rick's voice persisted throughout the book. I like the use of dialect, and it helped generate a sense of place and character, but it seemed very inconsistent to me. In the same paragraph, for example, Rick says both "t'insect" and "the insect," he uses "misen" for myself but "my" rather than "me" and so on. I spent my youth with a similar dialect and this didn't quite ring true to me. Nor did Rick's very poetic use of imagery, simile and so on. He hated school, left early and actually says at one point "Why do folk bother wi' poetry?" and yet he says things like "Gordon smiled frugally," or "Mistrust hung between them like a pane of glass onto which each exhaled icily." Both excellent, evocative sentences - but from Rick? Hmm.

I don't want to carp too much. It's a good book in the end with important things to say and anyone who lived through those times will recognise the well-drawn attitudes and characters of the period. If you can get on with the first half of the book and can live with the inconsistencies in the narrative voice, you'll enjoy this and I can recommend it.

(I received an ARC via Ntegalley.)
3342903
I found myself struggling in the middle of this book to continue moving forward with it.  The story started out well with the mysterious "Alice" not having any knowledge of her past.  As the story progressed and the setting switched to the nursing home, I felt that there were a lot more characters referred to than necessary and I struggled to connect with Alice.  Her relationships with those around her were very strained, which does make sense due to her amnesia, but I kept waiting to like her more, or to become more invested in her story.  As more people died, I found myself drawn into the muster of the story, but I never really felt a connection or empathy for Alice and her plight.  As I reached the last quarter of the story I found myself drawn into the mystery even more and I very much enjoyed where the book went.  I think that the ending is unpredictable and I enjoyed it.  Overall, this book was lacking for me in my connection to the character, but as a mystery I did find it intriguing.
983914
"Ascend" was the conclusion of Amanda Hocking's Trylle trilogy, and there were plenty of good and bad elements to it. On the good side, we finally get to see Wendy take a proactive roll in what is happening around her. The character growth was very satisfying, and it was good to see the story become less about what happens to her, and more about her taking the reins and making things happen. However, there are still points at which you want to shake her and scream "What the hell were you thinking? Didn't you see the obvious?!?"

While it was a decent enough story, the ending felt rushed, and some of the decisions made were somewhat unbelievable and very dissatisfying. Add to that the fact that Hocking still needs an editor, and the result is a likeable enough story, but one that still falls short of its potential.
512524
Could have been five stars but the end was a little cloying and certain part of their situation were impossible.