I am fascinated by (and somewhat envious of?) couples who regularly read the same books. Awhile ago, I was talking to a friend who said that when he and his wife go on vacation together, they bring a few books that they share — reading one at a time and then passing it on to the other person. Another couple I know also regularly swap books, though they also each both read a lot of things that they don’t think the other person would be so into. I love this kind of intimacy — overlapping but not completely shared reading experiences. My partner and I rarely read the same books, but we somehow decided, to my delight, to read this novel together. It had been so heavily talked up to me that it couldn’t possibly live up to my hopes, but it actually most did, until the final act, where the wheels came off a bit. But he had much more mixed feelings about it — he found it often frustrating, and overall sort of depressing, which really surprised me. To me the story was actually quite sweet and optimistic, with characters who were just the right amount of flawed and self-centered, without being horrible. I just sort of knew that they would be ok in the end, not in the sense that nothing bad would happen to them, but that they had the emotional resources and support to not be totally destroyed by it. Maybe that’s why it didn’t seem sad to me? It was an honest reckoning with a world that is often sad, but it was more focused on something really good and beautiful (though not without its problems) within that world.
And of course, I was absolutely hooked by all the stuff about video game design and world-building. I felt like I learned a lot, in a really fun way. In general, the novel was such an instantly and consistently engaging read, for me — it just worked. I could come back to it even after a few weeks away and reliably fall right back into it. I don’t know that I would even claim that it’s a Good Book, but it was a comforting read, in the sense of being utterly absorbing.
Kasia Reads 