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katieosull's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
megswhitaker's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
julieb3a's review against another edition
1.25
3/10. An excessive amount of metaphors, similes, and descriptions of west Texas geography. The story unveiled too slowly, bogged down by all the descriptive language. But maybe that’s the point, creating intense visual images parallel to a boy who can only imagine.
thatbookishgem's review against another edition
2.0
I absolutely loved the concept of this book; it was so original. Oliver Loving is a normal 17 year old boy whose life is completely turned upside down. In a school shooting at his High School dance, Oliver was shot in the head and left paralysed. Unable to move, speak or communicate in anyway the Doctors and nurses looking after him, people in the town and even his own family thought him brain dead.
Sadly, that’s where this stops. Whilst the concept was innovative, the writing was lacking. There were some wonderful descriptive passages, but just too much description. Pages and pages dedicated to describing the Loving’s home and land; yes, it was beautiful prose, but when this is all you’re getting with no development of plot or character, I found it starting to grate on me a bit.
The characters themselves were also a little one dimensional either, and I didn’t find myself rooting for them or even liking them. The changing narratives of each chapter was messy with no real definition of voice, and no particular character really had anything to give.
Full review available on my blog: https://thatbookishgem.com/2019/09/27/review-oliver-loving-by-stefan-merrill-block/
Sadly, that’s where this stops. Whilst the concept was innovative, the writing was lacking. There were some wonderful descriptive passages, but just too much description. Pages and pages dedicated to describing the Loving’s home and land; yes, it was beautiful prose, but when this is all you’re getting with no development of plot or character, I found it starting to grate on me a bit.
The characters themselves were also a little one dimensional either, and I didn’t find myself rooting for them or even liking them. The changing narratives of each chapter was messy with no real definition of voice, and no particular character really had anything to give.
Full review available on my blog: https://thatbookishgem.com/2019/09/27/review-oliver-loving-by-stefan-merrill-block/
alexisveloz's review against another edition
3.0
Good
Sometimes the prose was a bit overwrought. Otherwise, enjoyable. Oliver is an interesting character and his family, while pathetic, were also fascinating case studies in what it means to love, to forgive, to be family.
Sometimes the prose was a bit overwrought. Otherwise, enjoyable. Oliver is an interesting character and his family, while pathetic, were also fascinating case studies in what it means to love, to forgive, to be family.
krittabug's review against another edition
5.0
Oh man this one got me. I listened on audio because Michael Crouch is the narrator and he’s truly amazing. So sometimes I wonder if his narration partially makes the book for me. He also read THE GREAT BELIEVERS and THE KNOCKOUT QUEEN, which are both in my top five, so I always wonder how I’d feel if I read the books rather than listened.
Anyway, this one is heavy. Deals with the aftermath (in a general sense) of a school shooting and how events before, during and after spiraled into what became of everyone ten years later and how it changed the Loving family. I loved the pieces slowly falling together throughout the duration of the book.
I’ve got a book hangover from this one for sure. I was deeply invested. Sigh.
Anyway, this one is heavy. Deals with the aftermath (in a general sense) of a school shooting and how events before, during and after spiraled into what became of everyone ten years later and how it changed the Loving family. I loved the pieces slowly falling together throughout the duration of the book.
I’ve got a book hangover from this one for sure. I was deeply invested. Sigh.
eloisebell's review against another edition
4.0
This was a beautifully written heart-wrenching read. Oliver Loving is shot in left in a vegetative state. Years later due to new technology they look at helping him, this will mean they finally know the whole story of what happened.
Told from Olivers POV and his family members this is a beautifully descriptive book. Heartwrenching and touching!
Told from Olivers POV and his family members this is a beautifully descriptive book. Heartwrenching and touching!
masonlou8's review against another edition
I am DNF'ing this book for the moment - I just can't get into it.I will try again in a few months. Thank you to Atlantic Books and Readers first for providing me with a copy
amothersmusings1's review against another edition
3.0
Oliver Loving was shot in the head during a shooting at the Bliss County High School dance ball and left in a vegetative state, wordless and paralysed, his fate unclear. Ten years later when a new medical test promises a key to unlock Oliver’s trapped mind, the town’s unanswered questions resurface with new urgency, as Oliver’s doctors and his family fight for a way for Oliver to finally communicate — and so also to tell the truth of what really happened that fateful night.
Although a little more literary and wordy than I would normally like, I appreciate that this book is beautifully written with poetic prose and intelligent narrative and that it genuinely deserves a little more attention to it when reading.
"Oliver Loving" is a heartbreaking tale but equally stunning. The author Stefan Merrill Block has a created a wonderful story of sorrow, love and hope that I'm sure will be hugely successful.
3 stars
Although a little more literary and wordy than I would normally like, I appreciate that this book is beautifully written with poetic prose and intelligent narrative and that it genuinely deserves a little more attention to it when reading.
"Oliver Loving" is a heartbreaking tale but equally stunning. The author Stefan Merrill Block has a created a wonderful story of sorrow, love and hope that I'm sure will be hugely successful.
3 stars
shallwehavetea's review against another edition
5.0
I first saw this book on the Readers First website, wrote my first impression and then a couple of days later, I received an email saying that I had won Oliver Loving. And just like Oliver's last name, I was loving the book.
I was first drawn to the novel because of the colors of the cover, the soft blues which drew me in and the simpleness of the cover, I felt intrigued and wanted to know more. Reading the first impression I felt drawn in to the world of the Loving's, their story hitting hard, harder than I think it would've done before hand since I received the book and started reading it a couple of days after the Florida school shooting.
Stefan Merill Block has written a novel which is almost poetic in nature, he has a way with words in which I haven't seen in a long time and it was a very refreshing read.
Oliver Loving is not only a story of a young man's life being stolen away early, it's a story of family, of the fear of the unknowing and sorrow of not wanting to believe the worst. It's a story of how a place or a memory can connect people, no matter where they may be in the world, the story of how a place or a memory could also keep people apart for the better and for the worse of reasons. But most of all, Oliver Loving is a story of ups and downs, of happy moments and moments which would probably want to make you cry and scream down at the pages.
I found that I was easily drawn in to the pages, following the lives of Jed, Eve and younger son charlie through their own battles to survive and to try and carry on like normal. But it's a hard thing to do when your child, your brother is lain up in a bed in a care facility, a body without the ability to move or even to respond to anything. But what if Oliver isn't just a body? What if he is still inside his unmovable body, a mind without a voice?
What would you do?
What could you even want to say?
Would you tell the tale of your story?
Would you tell the truth to the horrors of that night?
For Oliver, that's the impossible, but we learn of his horror, of his teenage life and the moments leading up to the night that put a stop to everything he knew in the world. We learn of his worries and his wants, but sometimes, that doesn't matter. It's the story of Oliver's life, a shooting star passing through the sky, both seen and missed. He's the words the we hear, the words that we don't want to listen too and the words that go amiss.
As taking from the book:
I still can't explain it
but I know that
somewhere
we are still speaking
all the words
we never said.
And that...that is enough.
I was first drawn to the novel because of the colors of the cover, the soft blues which drew me in and the simpleness of the cover, I felt intrigued and wanted to know more. Reading the first impression I felt drawn in to the world of the Loving's, their story hitting hard, harder than I think it would've done before hand since I received the book and started reading it a couple of days after the Florida school shooting.
Stefan Merill Block has written a novel which is almost poetic in nature, he has a way with words in which I haven't seen in a long time and it was a very refreshing read.
Oliver Loving is not only a story of a young man's life being stolen away early, it's a story of family, of the fear of the unknowing and sorrow of not wanting to believe the worst. It's a story of how a place or a memory can connect people, no matter where they may be in the world, the story of how a place or a memory could also keep people apart for the better and for the worse of reasons. But most of all, Oliver Loving is a story of ups and downs, of happy moments and moments which would probably want to make you cry and scream down at the pages.
I found that I was easily drawn in to the pages, following the lives of Jed, Eve and younger son charlie through their own battles to survive and to try and carry on like normal. But it's a hard thing to do when your child, your brother is lain up in a bed in a care facility, a body without the ability to move or even to respond to anything. But what if Oliver isn't just a body? What if he is still inside his unmovable body, a mind without a voice?
What would you do?
What could you even want to say?
Would you tell the tale of your story?
Would you tell the truth to the horrors of that night?
For Oliver, that's the impossible, but we learn of his horror, of his teenage life and the moments leading up to the night that put a stop to everything he knew in the world. We learn of his worries and his wants, but sometimes, that doesn't matter. It's the story of Oliver's life, a shooting star passing through the sky, both seen and missed. He's the words the we hear, the words that we don't want to listen too and the words that go amiss.
As taking from the book:
I still can't explain it
but I know that
somewhere
we are still speaking
all the words
we never said.
And that...that is enough.