Life is too short ( )

I was so taken with PopCo that I decided to read more from Scarlett Thomas so this is my fourth and final book.

This book just starts and you are dropped right into it without much pre-amble or lead in. There is a family tree at the front of the book, something that always fill me with dread and to be studiously ignored, which doesn’t really work in the ebook format anyway. The thing with family trees (and maps too) is that they are visual and detract from the imagination. I have on occasion thought that they are put there because the author lacks imagination.

However I digress. I ignored the family tree and it didn’t seem to matter. It doesn’t take long to work out who is who and at least they do not have long Russian names.

So what is this really? Hard to say, it is not one that spans generation after generation although the immediate ancestors figure by their absence. The story is fantastic so be prepared to suspend disbelief as it is well worth it. Part family drama, part soap opera, part fantasy but all pulling equally to bring about a very readable book. Nice to come across some weird sex that is believable, at least in my experience!

As said in a previous review of her work I found this one hard to define and crossed several genres but in a good way. It also touches on many subjects along the way. Did I enjoy it? Hard to say, I don’t even know if it is intended to enjoyed, at least not in the way that PopCo and The End Of Mr. Y are. It is very well written and crafted, the characters are distinct enough not to need the family tree!. Well worth a read though and easy to dip in and out of it, a good commuting book.

As this is my last Scarlett Thomas book I can look back and see four books all so different in nature and scope. I endured Our Tragic Universe rather than enjoyed it but I suspect that may have been the intention. It was the least favourite purely due to my tastes and not to the quality of the work. I just loved PopCo for its hipster superficiality. The End of Mr. Y is not to be read if you have to get up in the morning and The Seed Collectors is like The Archers on LSD. Well done Scarlett Thomas! ( )

I didn’t really enjoy this. I found it terribly confusing at first as there seemed to be so many names thrown in at once. By the time I got to know who the characters were I had pretty much lost interest.

I enjoyed the chapter that described Bryony’s shopping trip in Selfridges. It very cleverly described the thought processes of an addict, whether it be drugs, alcohol or shopping – just one more designer bag after this one!

The seed pod premise sounded intriguing but the pods were hardly mentioned in the first part of the book. They do have a huge part to play in the ending but I felt a bit duped into reading a book that I felt was mainly about adultery and incest rather than the clever quirky book I expected.

I received this e-book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

What a disappointment this book is. I've enjoyed previous novels by this author very much. I stuck with reading it for over 100 dreary pages, but, as another LT reviewer said, life is too short ... Why would I, or anyone, want to read a novel without a single likeable character? It's too bad, because this has elements of a potentially intriguing story. But if there is no one to care about, who gives a shit what happens?

Not the book about botany that I thought it would based on the title, description, or the first few pages.
Thankfully there is a family tree at the front because I needed it often to keep track of the characters, there are so many and so many perspectives are used.
There are parts of profoundness in the novel, and I have no criticism of the writing, so I wonder if it was the publisher who steered this book from its botanical origins into a sex-driven dysfunctional family saga about nirvana that does not reach its seventh heaven.
Re-incarnate into a better story in your next life, book. You did not fulfill your potential here. ( )