BUT. Good news. I am going to start scheduling reviews this summer and hopefully year. From here on out, a new review will be posted every Monday and Thursday. I really do hope to be able to turn this blog into a real thing with real followers. And so hopefully a bit of structure will help me get there.
The Thousandth Floor is not my type of book.
The character’s weren’t the most well thought out characters. The prose was quite nice at times, but never blew me out of the water. The plot itself was pretty much nonexistent, instead it was 400 pages of subplots and chaos spiraling out of control. (That being said, I was intrigued from page one. Because right from chapter one you know this book is going to end with someone falling off the building. But who??)
So why did I end up NOT hating it?
Well. Isn’t that quite the story.
This book comes out August 30th, 2016
Stats:
Genre: Futuristic
Feelings: Not for me?
Cuteness: I shipped like...no one. That being said I really liked Watt. Lil bean.
Fast pacing: there is like...no plot arc. But it's a quick read. Despite being 400 pages
Series: .............yes. Which I didn't know going in.
Read if you like: Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars
Content: A lot of kissing. A lot of aggressive cuddling but none on-page. Drugs, partying, cursing, the works.
Trigger warning? Drug addiction, parents cheating, relationships cheating, suicide.
In summary... Set in a futuristic Manhattan, where the Tower looms a thousand floors tall, home to teens of all ways of living...and all full of secrets
Thoughts: Glass
Messages: .....this book is like cotton candy. Enjoyable, but not much to it.
Overall
Rating: 2.5/5
Overall
Rating: 2.5/5
Note: This isn’t a conventional review. Objectively speaking, I wasn't a fan of this book. It had some great character conflicts, but besides that....I wasn't a fan. But in this review, instead of picking it apart, I want to talk about Bad Books...and how there's no such thing.
I honestly don’t remember how I started watching the show Gossip Girl, but I did. Instantly, I knew this was Everything I Normally Dislike About Television. Melodrama, nasty people doing nasty things, and just overall “what are you doing with your life”. Like I needed more drama in my life?
Emma and I started watching it around the same time and went through the same cycles. The initial repulsion…and then…the slow…slow…descent…into obsession.
Yeah.
Let’s just say this show kind of hooks you and all of a sudden you’re three seasons in, munching popcorn, gasping in horror because oh MY goSh NO HE diD nOT!!!! Second guessing your life because what happened to actually watching all those thought provoking television shows you used to watch? Why are you spending so much time with this?
And then you realize because despite the drama and un-relateable circumstances…this story has done One Big Thing right. It made you care about characters, the worst kind of characters.
This book is like that.
“Let me know what you think.” I was told when given this ARC.
Distinguished-Reader inside of me adjusted my hypothetical monocle. “But of course.”
(That can be read in a British accent.)
Right off the bat I knew this book was going to be a futuristic Gossip Girl. “Let’s see how long I last,” I said, casting a knowing glance at all my “distinguished reader” books, all the classics on my desk.
I scoffed. Laughed. Rolled my eyes. Because of course the hugely fancy book blogger I am, I would only appreciate quality young adult fiction.
Because, from what it looked like, this book was not for me.
Anyway. So the next day I dove in. And the book reviewer inside of me inspected every sentence, grumbling when descriptions were cliche or characters irrational.
But there I was, after getting home that night, staying up till the crack of dawn because OHMYGODWHAT does she KNOW that she’s actually HER HALF SISTER???? What if she finds out that he’s been SPYING on her BROTHER??
It was the type of book that every bit of the Distinguished Reader inside of me wanted to loathe. And yet somehow I ended up enjoying every second of reading this.
Why?
Well. I call it the Gossip Girl Effect.
There are characters. Characters who overreact, characters who are spoiler or privileged, characters who do really dumb things. Characters who you should dislike, especially if you’re a character-first writer/reader. But for some weird reason you just want to know what happens to them.
In Gossip Girl, this is because the writers use a lot of sneaky methods of t r a g i c b a ck s t o r y (which is a dangerous method but somehow works). Blaire is not just a mean little jerk, she’s just trying to get some control over her life after being driven to bulimia years ago. Serena used to be an even worse person and she’s trying to turn her life around.
We’re literally seeing these characters in their worst and their best. I didn’t relate to barely any of them in their weird situations they got themselves in. And those idiots made me care. These character dynamics made me care. That awful show somehow snuck up on me.
And then there’s that epiphany where I realize that I may not be a drug addict or teen drinker, but I’m still a pretty awful person myself. I make loads of mistakes...so who am I to complain about a character making their own?
The Thousandth Floor is like that. These characters are n o t good people but neither are we. I think a lot of readers are really closed off to bad characters.
From a writers standpoint I can roll my eyes and say “They really react too much and that was super unrealistic” but…there comes a point when I treat these characters as actual people doing things actual people do. They might not meet my standard…
But would I meet my standard if I was a character?
So that’s why books like The Thousandth Floor are important. They’re there for enjoyment and you’ll probably forget them in about 10 years and most likely never actually give it as a solid recommendation. But they’re important reminders of characters who are realistically awful.
And also, they’re reminders that it’s OKAY to read a book just because you enjoy it. It’s OKAY to tell Distinguished Reader/Blogger/Writer to shut up and just read a “bad” book.
Because if you like it, if you maybe get the tiniest thing out of it…then is it really bad?
I just got back from a writers conference I go to every year. The most important thing I got out of it, was the story told by one of the speakers about something he was told once about the book Twilight.
But basically, he was told by this man that Twilight was not a bad book, but “It just wasn’t written for me.”
And that stuck with me. Because it’s easy to go into Distinguished mode and say “No that’s a bad book.” When really it wasn’t a You book. But it was a Them book. It was a book that touched that kid in the back of the room. A book that helped some girl through a tough time. A book that made that boy laugh, that girl feel like she could write a story one day.
Basically there is no such thing as Bad Books. There IS such things as “Bad for you” books, books that weren’t written for you.
The Thousandth Floor is not for everyone. It’s not quite for me, despite the fact I enjoyed it. But, this is not a Bad book. Because I still cared. Not enough to rate it higher then three stars. But this book is going to find its Readers, its People. The People who DO care more. And if some Gossip Girl addict finds this and declares “THIS IS THE BOOK I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR…”
Then this is definitely not a bad book.
Alright. To finish this, I want to return to something I used to do. I did this for Kill me Softly, and The Darkest Part of the Forest.
I am going to make a diagram for the relationships in this book. Be prepared. Also. Complete spoilers. So if you intend on reading this, go read it FIRST, then return.
You're welcome
And so, overall, this book is a book of good twists and turns, writing and conflicts, but weak plot arc. But I do think a lot of people are going to really love this book. And that'll be cool to see.
