The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

jehane · 01-12-2013, 07:08 AM

Anyone here read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley? It's been recommended to me by a friend (disclaimer: said friend's girlfriend is a friend of the author). Seems to be quite a few good reviews around the net, but I'd be interested in hearing what other people liked or didn't like about it. My library has 9 people on the waitlist ahead of me, but there are loads of copies so I should get it in about a month. My friend's copy is doing the rounds in another state.

magicmonster · 01-12-2013, 07:40 AM

I have. It was excellent. I hope there is another one in the future.

ametzler · 01-12-2013, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jehane

Anyone here read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley? It's been recommended to me by a friend (disclaimer: said friend's girlfriend is a friend of the author). Seems to be quite a few good reviews around the net, but I'd be interested in hearing what other people liked or didn't like about it. My library has 9 people on the waitlist ahead of me, but there are loads of copies so I should get it in about a month. My friend's copy is doing the rounds in another state.

It is a shallow, occassionally fun read. I liked the initial setup (memory/identity loss) and the basic idea but it was not a page-turner. - The characters stayed too thin to make me care about them, and the plot is not thrilling enough to make one keep on reading.

A bit like Jasper Fforde, just less good.

Synamon · 01-12-2013, 10:50 AM

I listened to it as an audiobook. It was silly and weird and clever. The plot is silly, the characters are weird, and the writing is clever. Or the writing is silly, the plot is weird, and the characters are clever. Any way you slice it, the combination worked.

DianNC · 01-12-2013, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synamon

I listened to it as an audiobook. It was silly and weird and clever. The plot is silly, the characters are weird, and the writing is clever. Or the writing is silly, the plot is weird, and the characters are clever. Any way you slice it, the combination worked.

Makes me want to read it

I just put it on hold at my library!

Lynx-lynx · 01-14-2013, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jehane

Anyone here read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley? It's been recommended to me by a friend (disclaimer: said friend's girlfriend is a friend of the author). Seems to be quite a few good reviews around the net, but I'd be interested in hearing what other people liked or didn't like about it. My library has 9 people on the waitlist ahead of me, but there are loads of copies so I should get it in about a month. My friend's copy is doing the rounds in another state.

Are you currently in Antartica?

I'd be curious to know, in an ad hoc way, what your fellow compatriots take to read with them whilst there.

Do you all use ereaders? I guess there's also a paper library - with books people have read and left in the library?

I guess also that using the internet is not a problem, and that 'isolation' has been addressed somewhat by internet usage?

Good for you by the way ..... intriguing way to earn a living.

SeaKing · 01-15-2013, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synamon

I listened to it as an audiobook. It was silly and weird and clever. The plot is silly, the characters are weird, and the writing is clever. Or the writing is silly, the plot is weird, and the characters are clever. Any way you slice it, the combination worked.

I had to laugh at that. Actually made it sound interesting.

usuallee · 01-15-2013, 11:28 AM

For what it's worth, I found The Rook to be a poorly written disappointment & I gave up after a couple chapters. I was very excited to read it given the plot synopsis and all the positive reviews out there. But I tend to get distracted & rewrite sentences/phrases in my head when I find a book is not written well, and that's what I found myself doing with this one. But I seem to be in the minority, lots of people seems to be enjoying The Rook so there must be something good about it.

DianNC · 01-15-2013, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by usuallee

But I tend to get distracted & rewrite sentences/phrases in my head when I find a book is not written well...

I'm guilty of doing something similar. If an author uses a word that seems awkward to me to describe a situation, I veer off course in wondering why he chose that particular word. Talk about distracting!

jehane · 02-22-2013, 03:05 AM

Thanks all. Sorry I've not replied earlier, I've been a bit distracted - I've quit my job to go to graduate school in the US. I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but it's on hold (in paper) and I'll hopefully get it before it's time to leave. ametzler - hmmm, I found Jasper Fforde to be a "less good" version of Tom Holt and only got through the first couple of books.

Lynx-lynx - I'm not there right now, though I did two 6-month stints over the 10-11 and 11-12 summers there. The first year, there were 4 ereaders on station that I was aware of, out of about 80 people, and 3 of them (including mine) were sonys, with one kindle. The second one, there were a whole lot more, and more of them were kindles. I put this down to the availability of kindles in-store at dick smith and the like. Sadly, my sony died in the middle of the season so I spent the next few months reading off my laptop and paper books from the station library.

Internet is by satellite communications, so there is access, but the bandwidth is quite limited. But book files are so small (esp compared to music and videos) that it wasn't an issue to download a couple of book files a week from my home library.

The station library reflects the historical station demographic - typically 80-95% male. Lots of action blockbusters and science fiction pulp with a bit of sword and sorcery fantasy. Probably about a dozen novels aimed at the women's market. Non-fic was pop science and history, along with heavier science and the obligatory collection of Antarctic material. One of the most annoying things was books 2-4 of Julian May's Pliocene series... Most pleasant surprise was the first Stephanie Plum novel, which I read on a whim and liked more than I had expected. I mostly read pop science, Agatha Christies, and pulp SF.

ametzler · 02-22-2013, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jehane

[...] ametzler - hmmm, I found Jasper Fforde to be a "less good" version of Tom Holt and only got through the first couple of books. [...]

It was exactly the other way round for me. ;-)
Andreas

01-12-2013, 07:08 AM	#1
jehane Book addict Posts: 304 Karma: 1068788 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Antarctica/Australia/Ohio Device: Sony PRS-300/T1/Asus TF101	The Rook by Daniel O'Malley Anyone here read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley? It's been recommended to me by a friend (disclaimer: said friend's girlfriend is a friend of the author). Seems to be quite a few good reviews around the net, but I'd be interested in hearing what other people liked or didn't like about it. My library has 9 people on the waitlist ahead of me, but there are loads of copies so I should get it in about a month. My friend's copy is doing the rounds in another state.

01-12-2013, 07:40 AM	#2
magicmonster Zealot Posts: 143 Karma: 1033664 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: Kindle 3, Nook Color, & Dell Axim X50v	I have. It was excellent. I hope there is another one in the future. __________________ Finished dcoss stitch for sale - http://www.flickr.com/photos/magicmo...7630217978302/.

01-15-2013, 11:28 AM	#8
usuallee Media Junkie Posts: 181 Karma: 1395416 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Maine, USA Device: Kindle PW; Kindle 3; HTC Rezound	For what it's worth, I found The Rook to be a poorly written disappointment & I gave up after a couple chapters. I was very excited to read it given the plot synopsis and all the positive reviews out there. But I tend to get distracted & rewrite sentences/phrases in my head when I find a book is not written well, and that's what I found myself doing with this one. But I seem to be in the minority, lots of people seems to be enjoying The Rook so there must be something good about it. __________________ Check out my books on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9...e=email_widget

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01-12-2013, 10:50 AM	#4
Synamon Lunatic Posts: 1,311 Karma: 3206320 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Land of the Loonie Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G, iPad mini, iPod Touch	I listened to it as an audiobook. It was silly and weird and clever. The plot is silly, the characters are weird, and the writing is clever. Or the writing is silly, the plot is weird, and the characters are clever. Any way you slice it, the combination worked.

02-22-2013, 03:05 AM	#10
jehane Book addict Posts: 304 Karma: 1068788 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Antarctica/Australia/Ohio Device: Sony PRS-300/T1/Asus TF101	Thanks all. Sorry I've not replied earlier, I've been a bit distracted - I've quit my job to go to graduate school in the US. I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but it's on hold (in paper) and I'll hopefully get it before it's time to leave. ametzler - hmmm, I found Jasper Fforde to be a "less good" version of Tom Holt and only got through the first couple of books. Lynx-lynx - I'm not there right now, though I did two 6-month stints over the 10-11 and 11-12 summers there. The first year, there were 4 ereaders on station that I was aware of, out of about 80 people, and 3 of them (including mine) were sonys, with one kindle. The second one, there were a whole lot more, and more of them were kindles. I put this down to the availability of kindles in-store at dick smith and the like. Sadly, my sony died in the middle of the season so I spent the next few months reading off my laptop and paper books from the station library. Internet is by satellite communications, so there is access, but the bandwidth is quite limited. But book files are so small (esp compared to music and videos) that it wasn't an issue to download a couple of book files a week from my home library. The station library reflects the historical station demographic - typically 80-95% male. Lots of action blockbusters and science fiction pulp with a bit of sword and sorcery fantasy. Probably about a dozen novels aimed at the women's market. Non-fic was pop science and history, along with heavier science and the obligatory collection of Antarctic material. One of the most annoying things was books 2-4 of Julian May's Pliocene series... Most pleasant surprise was the first Stephanie Plum novel, which I read on a whim and liked more than I had expected. I mostly read pop science, Agatha Christies, and pulp SF.


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