unimpressed

Lalla's life began as the world started to end. Famine, floods, disease, governments failing, thousands of people dying on a daily basis......the complete destruction of civilization. She lives in what is left of London with her parents. Life is constant hardship. Threats of death if required identity papers are lost. Long food lines. Government news broadcasts showing mass killings of those without identity papers. It is a life of horrors. Lalla hears her parents talk about The Ship. A vessel that will take them to safety. Away from the killings. Away from the dangerous, starving masses in the streets. Lalla isn't sure the ship is real. Maybe it's just a story. But then the day comes when it's time to board the vessel and leave the last remnants of society behind. 500 people on a ship stocked with enough supplies to last 20 years or more. The last bit of humanity. But even if everyone else follows her father like some sort of cult hero, Lalla is confused. Is the ship their salvation? Or just another horror?

I have to honestly state that this book was hard for me to read. It's well written and a beautiful piece of fiction. But, I had a hard time finishing this book because it was just emotionally draining.

Depressing.

Lalla's realization that The Ship and her father's plan to save humanity was completely flawed was just rough. The story made me feel so many emotions, and more than once I wanted to stop reading. But I continued with the tale to the end. I can't really imagine how a 16-year old girl would feel to be basically living through the end of humanity. Rough topic.

The end was the worst part for me. No spoilers from me.....but the lack of any resolution just left me with a WTF-did-I-just-read feeling. It's hard to enjoy a story that is basically without hope. I kept waiting for some glimmer of something besides doom, but nothing ever materialized. Then the ending basically left everything unresolved.

Looking back, if I had fully realized what this story was....and how it would make me feel....I wouldn't have read it. Too bleak.

Well written.....just not my cup of tea.

( )

The premise of the book really intrigued me. The world is falling to pieces but this group of survivors has this ship that they escape on. A young girls father plans for years on how to get his family and 500 others out of the fallen country by leaving on a ship. Lalla has grown up sheltered from the horrors of much of the world and has never wanted for food or shelter. They were poor but not starving on the streets like most people were. So when they finally get to the ship and it appears that they have food, clothes and shelter to last 20 or more years I couldn't stop thinking about where it all came from? The ending was also pretty anti-climatic but could have left it open for another book? But honestly I kept waiting for something huge to happen and it just never did. ( )

I so desperately wanted to like this novel that I felt disappointed in myself for not enjoying this book. It had such an interesting concept but it was just not written in a style that worked for me. The main character, Lalla, is by far the most annoying character I have ever met. She is spoilt, and naive, and just seems to miss the point. Every single person on the ship is trying to explain everything to her but she chooses to ignore their words constantly. While I think she raises valid points, she just doesn't get them across in the right way, and ended up frustrating me (and the actual passengers on the ship) to no end. There was this really awkwardly created love story put in, and while I understand why the author chose to put it in, it didn't really work for me, either. The author's writing style was also terribly convoluted and confusing, making me wonder what was the point of half of the words used. It's like the author was trying to take a concept and present it in a very impressive way. But by overdoing it, she lost the message. In the end, this novel just did not work for me.
I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Good but slooooooowww - skipped to end