⋙ Read Bird Box A Novel Josh Malerman 9780062259653 Books

Bird Box A Novel Josh Malerman 9780062259653 Books

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Bird Box A Novel Josh Malerman 9780062259653 Books

*This review contains minor spoilers.*

I just finished Bird Box and I'm quite torn about it. The novel is fast-paced and a real page turner. I devoured it in just a couple days and couldn't wait to see how it ended. But now that it's all said and done, I'm left with a tinge of disappointment. I feel like the ending left something to be desired.

The good:
- The author wastes no time getting the action going. From the first chapter, I was invested and needed to know what would happen. There was no long hike to get to the good stuff; it was already there.
- The plot is quite fast-paced, alternating between flashbacks and present-day events. You find yourself torn between needing to advance the story, and know where Malorie is headed with her children, but also desperately wanting to know the backstory here and how this dystopian future came to be. The author provides both, satiating you nicely.
- The feelings of desperation, fear, anxiety, and helplessness that Malorie feels are palpable to you as the reader. I felt legitimate sorrow and fear for her. I felt quite invested in her well-being, especially after learning her backstory. She is a respectable, strong, and likable character.

The not-so-good:
- The "creatures" really could have used greater development. Their behavior is inconsistent and erratic, making it feel almost as if the author doesn't have a clue about them either and is just as much in the dark (no pun intended) as the characters.
- In a similar vein, I found it very strange that everyone seems to know that, before the madness sets in, people see something. How would anyone know? Those who see it immediately kill others and/or themselves. Who is offering this news? How is this confirmed? Did someone see one, start to go mad, call the local news, explain what he/she saw, and then go on a killing spree? This plot hole felt a bit lazy.
- Malorie's children are the strongest, most intelligent four-year-olds on the planet. I would have found them more believable had they been six or seven, not four. Also, they are not superheroes. Explaining that the boy has the ability to closely identify the page number of a book his mother is on after hearing her flip through it is ludicrous.
- Finally, just how unbelievable the survival of some of these characters would be. Imagining wandering a neighborhood or driving a car without sight, and always managing to come back with great new supplies, was just a little too much for me. Swinging a broomstick around as you walk and hammering a small stake into the ground to note your residence...I had a very hard time believing these activities would be as simple and effective as the characters would have you believe.

So, overall, give it a read if you're up for something spooky and thrilling. The book is quite unsettling and eerie and the author sets that tone very well. I just feel that more detail could have been used to really propel the story to the next level. I would definitely read more by this author in the future.


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Bird Box A Novel Josh Malerman 9780062259653 Books Reviews

I'll confess the following straight away I have three favorite spooky, creepy, super scary books this year. The Light of the Fireflies remains my #1 favorite. It's so "cult classic," yet deserves a much wider audience. Finished it weeks ago, and I still think about it. Unlike any story I've ever read. Then my 2nd choice The Last Days of Jack Sparks. Awesome. Funny in a way that often makes one feel a bit guilty for laughing, but oh my goodness, does it ever offer up a bunch of scares. And now to my 3rd favorite The Bird Box.
This book was also unusual, and that's no easy feat with a post-apocalyptic, dystopian story. We don't really ever find out too much about what all went wrong with the world; we learn only that no human can survive seeing whatever horrors remain out in the open world.
The protagonist describes her daily life to us as best she can, given that she has been unable to EVER open her eyes outside. She also cares for a 4 year old. Part of the story is also comprised of her flashbacks to a time when there were a number of people in her party.
It is such an unsettling story. The absence of sufficient information to allow us even the most elementary grasp on what has happened, what horrors exist that would so affect a person just by being seen that they would cease to be human or alive, or in any case, would no longer be counted amongst the living, these ideas creep the hell out of the reader...or at least they did me. Maybe they die from the sight. Or perhaps it drives them mad. What is not questionable is that seeing one of these horrors marks the end of that person's life.
Quietly unforgettable, and superb at getting under one's skin, I highly recommend this awesome horror story. And lucky for us all, it's another one of those books that grabs hold at page 1, and won't let go until the last page. I hope those of you who end up reading the book enjoy it AT LEAST as much as I did.
You know that feeling you get when you are walking up the stairs out of a dark basement? You know the one – that something unspeakable is lurking behind you, ready to pounce, and that to turn and look will only confirm your worst fears? And you rush to find a lighted place, leaving said lurking creature in the darkness? I’m sure you do.

Now, imagine an entire world where that feeling is with you always, and there are not enough lights in existence to chase it away. That is the mood of Bird Box for the entirety of the novel. The premise is simple – that something unnatural has entered the world as we know it, and that to look on whatever-it-is for even a second drives a person into immediate murder-suicide insanity. The story follows a small group of survivors who hole up in a house with all the windows blacked out, and who never venture outside unless sufficiently blindfolded. To raise the tension, the novel interleaves two stories of the protagonist, Malorie, between the past and the present – the present consisting of her escaping with two four-year olds on a river to a hopefully “safer” place, and the past of the how she survived the world going mad and killing itself. The telling is crafted in a manner that would lend itself to a very creepy and disturbing cable series or horror film.

So – if you are into creepy, ominous, foreboding, oppressive, and occasionally unspeakably violent stories, then you will love Bird Box. I could not put it down. In fact, I may have been afraid to put it down because of the unspeakable thing lurking behind me …
*This review contains minor spoilers.*

I just finished Bird Box and I'm quite torn about it. The novel is fast-paced and a real page turner. I devoured it in just a couple days and couldn't wait to see how it ended. But now that it's all said and done, I'm left with a tinge of disappointment. I feel like the ending left something to be desired.

The good
- The author wastes no time getting the action going. From the first chapter, I was invested and needed to know what would happen. There was no long hike to get to the good stuff; it was already there.
- The plot is quite fast-paced, alternating between flashbacks and present-day events. You find yourself torn between needing to advance the story, and know where Malorie is headed with her children, but also desperately wanting to know the backstory here and how this dystopian future came to be. The author provides both, satiating you nicely.
- The feelings of desperation, fear, anxiety, and helplessness that Malorie feels are palpable to you as the reader. I felt legitimate sorrow and fear for her. I felt quite invested in her well-being, especially after learning her backstory. She is a respectable, strong, and likable character.

The not-so-good
- The "creatures" really could have used greater development. Their behavior is inconsistent and erratic, making it feel almost as if the author doesn't have a clue about them either and is just as much in the dark (no pun intended) as the characters.
- In a similar vein, I found it very strange that everyone seems to know that, before the madness sets in, people see something. How would anyone know? Those who see it immediately kill others and/or themselves. Who is offering this news? How is this confirmed? Did someone see one, start to go mad, call the local news, explain what he/she saw, and then go on a killing spree? This plot hole felt a bit lazy.
- Malorie's children are the strongest, most intelligent four-year-olds on the planet. I would have found them more believable had they been six or seven, not four. Also, they are not superheroes. Explaining that the boy has the ability to closely identify the page number of a book his mother is on after hearing her flip through it is ludicrous.
- Finally, just how unbelievable the survival of some of these characters would be. Imagining wandering a neighborhood or driving a car without sight, and always managing to come back with great new supplies, was just a little too much for me. Swinging a broomstick around as you walk and hammering a small stake into the ground to note your residence...I had a very hard time believing these activities would be as simple and effective as the characters would have you believe.

So, overall, give it a read if you're up for something spooky and thrilling. The book is quite unsettling and eerie and the author sets that tone very well. I just feel that more detail could have been used to really propel the story to the next level. I would definitely read more by this author in the future.