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a b c Schapira, Laurie Layton (1988). The Cassandra complex: living with disbelief: a modern perspective on hysteria. Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books. ISBN 091912335X. Self discovery and awareness become the byproduct for Cassandra as she tries to fix her responses to Will in their The book includes loads of Greek mythology references, which were interesting (to a point) and revealed part of Cassie’s way of processing; but it became a bit much for me. And there are a lot of descriptions of seeing emotions as colors, which is also interesting as it relates to Cassie’s way of processing information; but it’s also overdone. It really is enlightening to get a glimpse behind the curtain to see Cassie’s internal functioning.
If I have a real criticism, it is that the main secret, for which so many people have jumped to the wrong conclusions, is not really well prepared; it isn't likely to be worked out by the reader before it becomes obvious to the main characters. A good detective novel, of any sort, should allow the astute reader to figure out what all the hubbub is about. It's just sort of dropped onto the floor at some point, which was a bit of a let-down. Perhaps I'm just not astute enough. Premise: Cassandra is neurodivergent. The author portrays her as an annoying and anal character. She is dumped by her boyfriend and her job in the same day. Also, her flat mate situation has become untenable. So, let’s just say it is a very bad day for her. But it's not as easy to control time as she first thinks and through a series of time re-runs we discover Cassandra's history, her odd personality traits and who the woman she is trying to avoid at all costs is. Smale [] combines well-developed characters with laugh-out-loud humor….Readers will be drawn into Cassie’s life and won’t want to leave. This neurodiverse tale is ripe for discussion.” —BOOKLIST, Starred Review What the Cassandra woman sees is something dark and painful that may not be apparent on the surface of things or that objective facts do not corroborate. She may envision a negative or unexpected outcome; or something which would be difficult to deal with; or a truth which others, especially authority figures, would not accept. In her frightened, ego-less state, the Cassandra woman may blurt out what she sees, perhaps with the unconscious hope that others might be able to make some sense of it. But to them her words sound meaningless, disconnected and blown out of all proportion. [7] Jean Shinoda Bolen [ edit ]What a waste of a gift though. It was one reason I didn’t enjoy the story. I was hoping and thinking that Cassandra would start to do better or do things differently (not Will much, much earlier) but all I can say is that I would think it would be hard to make time travel boring but I was bored. I will add that I don’t often feel bored. Even the “romance” storyline felt boring. I don’t like romance books but this wasn’t even one. Not really. I don’t know exactly what it was. I think that what Cassandra eventually does is interesting though and I wish it hadn’t taken so very long to get there. I am a fan of magical realism. I was so ready for the magic. But this magic was pushing me in directions that just didn’t feel fun. My main gripes with this book are to do with how much it does feel very white, cis, and heteronormative—especially given that it’s set in London, which is such a cosmopolitan city, and also given how queer the autistic community tends to be. This also made the book feel initially less like something I’d get into: A novel that on the surface seemed to be about an autistic girl chasing a guy, with some Greek mythology thrown in. But if that impression had made me put the book down, I’d have missed out on a surprising, fun, and very enjoyable read with many thought-provoking depths. So. It's the 2040s~ and people wear smart clothes that keep them safe from germs and they can resist stains and so on. Emortality hasn't been invented yet, biowarfare is happening and people in Britain are trying to live like everything's normal, that the end of the world isn't nigh. This is the cool stuff in this book: the glimpses at this society and how it works, whenever the plot isn't occupied with the bland mechanisms of interviewing suspects and inter-police squabbling and the protagonist trying to piece together the clues. I'm sorry, Stableford, but you can't maintain tension. His writing skills just aren't up for it - he's a thousand times better with other plots and other settings, but this was a whiff.
if i could choose, i’d roll around in mud and laugh easily and be covered in puppies and take the world in my stride, but i can’t —i have never been able to— and the judgment i feel about that has always been for me.” I didn't want it to end, but I also couldn't stop reading. I really, really loved it' Keris StaintonWith a genius premise, hilarious and poignant writing, and a heroine who is both unique and so relatable, this is THE book for anyone who has ever wished life came with an undo button Sophie Irwin Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts. overall this was good! i didn’t love the way the ending turned out but i loved cassandra and thoroughly enjoyed watching her mature and progress throughout the story. Spy thrillers; political thrillers; techno-thrillers; "plain old" thrillers... now we have a bio-thriller, a detective novel (in the near future, so it's also sort of SF) that's a race to discover who destroyed an out-dated experiment in sociobiology and kidnapped its main critic. There is, of course, a secret or two to be discovered; what they are and who gets to them first is what moves things along. a b c Jean Shinoda Bolen, Gods in Everyman: A New Psychology of Men’s Lives and Loves pp. 130–160 (1989)
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