Bird Box
Ratings236
Average rating3.9
This was compelling, but overall I felt it tried unsuccessfully to lift itself out of the depressive, hopeless morass it so convincingly set up. The world Malerman presents really struggles to maintain suspense, because the only realistic expectation is that the ending will be “And they all died. The end.”
That, together with some really harrowing themes of child abuse, kept me from rating this four stars. I did like it, and while the premise seems to inevitably doom our characters unless there's colossal amounts of dumb luck on their side, it did serve to frame some spine-tingling set pieces that will be hard to forget!
It was pretty awesome. Suspenseful and thrilling. Keeps you guessing even at the ending. Hopefully they put out the film soon.
I'm not sure if it was just through the writing or the voice of the narrator (Cassandra Campbell) of the audiobook I was listening to, but one of my favourite things about this book was the way it establishes a sort of dreary tone that hangs over the whole thing. The suspenseful moments work well and you can feel the discomfort and fear of the characters.
There are some weird story beats and expository details that took me a bit out of the book as I wondered if they really made any logical sense, but the story kind of innately has a built-in way to dismiss people acting in such ways. And there are some moments and decisions that really do land well.
Definitely enjoyed it overall, curious to see how Netflix managed to adapt it.
Another book I didn't want to put down until I finished. It was very gripping and not like anything I had read before. While it has some flaws (what book doesn't) I absolutely loved it.
I agree with some of the reviews below about Don, Gary, and Rick not really being well developed enough and thrown in there merely to propel the story along. I would have liked to care more about them; I think you have to remember that it was also told from Malorie's POV and so we learn all that Malorie herself would know about them. Also, the ending - while I don't feel it was a cop-out or too sudden - didn't quite have the impact that it should have. I didn't feel what Malorie should have been feeling at finally getting to the compound and more social safety. I felt that this would also mean a whole different bunch of problems for her and her children that only a sequel (not that I want or need one) could explain. I did like how the entire book was told back and forth between flashbacks and present. It made the climax seem more dramatic.
Overall, a real thriller that I will recommend to fans of dystopian literature and/or Joe Hill, as I feel they have similar styles and tones.
I enjoyed this. I've been in a reading slump so this book was refreshing since I had the constant need to pick it up. It was a pretty quick read, to the point where I was confused at how it was going to end since there wasn't much left in the book. The writing was very atmospheric, the overall book was creepy not really scary but I didn't mind that.
I wish we had gotten an explanation for how this all started just because that's the type of person I am, but I understand why there wouldn't be one... that's life after all.
I think I will be thinking about this book for some time to come.
Interesting concept executed pretty well, good atmosphere and writing. I don't have any major complaints, it just didn't blow me away. Pretty solid horror (ish?) novel.
It was probably not the best idea to read this in the waning days of 2020. Several sentences were strikingly prescient of a pandemic.
Creepy right from the start. I liked it!
There's more that I would have liked to know, but the book was creepy and held my interest right from page one.
It's definitely scary to imagine it, but for some reason or may be due to too much hype, I haven't felt anything great about this.
But Kudos to author for trying this kind of subject!
Incredible! It's been a long long time since I devoured a book as much as “Bird Box”. I couldn't put it down. I won't give too much away, because I think everyone should get into this without reading too much about it beforehand.
“Bird Box” creeped me out more than any other book so far. It's the combination of hopelessness and emptiness with the ever present danger waiting for you to lower your guard and make one small mistake. Just as the characters in the book, you never know what the danger is, but you sure as hell know there has to be something because people die horribly. So you'll have to barricade yourself, you have to put on a blindfold, and you have to try to leave the house as little as possible. But in the same time you want to fight it, you want to try and make sense of it, all while keeping your eyes closed.
And this abundance of sight that Josh Malerman introduces, is an incredible medium of horror. Every moment outside the house, from small visits to the well, to the incredible voyage on the river is pure terror. Outside of your blindfold is the beautiful world with its vibrant colors that you haven't experienced for years. But you know that it's empty of most human life. But there has to be something with you, because you can hear it...
The story follows a handful of survivors as they barricade themselves in a house and try to cope with their losses and the hopelessness of the future. The characters are strong and you can feel the heavy burden on all of their shoulders.
It all feels realistic. You can easily believe that it would all play out like this, in such a scenario. Hope, love, hate, distrust, anger...
For me one of the best books I've read in years.
2.5 really.
The unsettling tension created in the first 1/3 of the book rather dissipated thereafter, for me, and the end was relief from a touch of boredom not suspense.
I never watched the movie, but heard the book was waaaaay better (again on youtube), and it was!!
You always have to be careful with your expectations when starting a book because a book can either meet them, fall short of them, or exceed them, so it is best you go in with no expectations at all. I, of course, had expectations, I had heard reviews and seen the movie trailer. For the longest time, I had an urge to read this book because it sounded good, but I hadn't read this book because it sounded scary and I don't do scary. But well I saw the movie trailer (Sandra Bullock!), and then the Kindle edition went on sale for $2.99 US. So I told myself if you can get through the book then maybe you can watch the movie.
The premise of Bird Box is scary. A mother of two four-year-old children has to make it 20 miles down a river to a haven blindfolded because if she opens her eyes, she will see something that will make her kill those closest to her and then herself. We don't know what this thing is but its real and it's out there.
Luckily for me, this book wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be, but that was also the disappointing part. I could have read this book a long time ago. I never really cared all that much about the characters, we didn't learn much about them before the Problem starting. I didn't need to see their lives before the timeline in the book but other than Tom we never learned much about their back story including Malorie's and she's the main character. I mean I don't need to like a character, but I have to them interesting and to find them interesting I need to know about them. I would have loved to learn more about Cheryl and Felix and Jules, even Don. I wanted to understand more of why he was the way he was. In survivor horror, I liked learning what makes a character tick and seeing how people react to situations differently especially since the real danger isn't what you cannot see but how people act when they do see whatever is outside.
There were a few creepy moments in this book it did have me compelled to finish it because I needed to know what happened at the end, but it didn't get GOOD for me until the last twenty per cent.
I'm only a few pages in, but I can't get past her as a mother calling them Boy and Girl. Maybe post-apocalyptic fiction isn't for me.
I am so conflicted about this book, so very conflicted. I am trying to read some more horror books, but apparently I'm way too picky and always find something I dislike. Almost always. This time it just lacked something. More of that later.
Malorie lives in a big house with her two children, Boy and Girl. They are 4, but never seen the outside world, but not because Malorie is some psycho. People who go outside with their eyes open will see things. We don't know what they are, but they make people go crazy, enough to make them murder and then kill themselves.
The story itself plays out in two different times; around the development of this problem, when Malorie finds a group of survivors to join and the present, with just her and her kids trying to find a new place, somewhere safer, with other humans around.
Don't get me wrong, I don't need a book to tell me everything, to explain all like I am a kid, but at the same time screw this for not explaining ANYTHING. Because newsflash, you will learn absolutely nothing about what the creatures are, what they want, how they ended up in our world, how they operate and WHY. Nothing.
Which makes the book end up being “Malorie is suffering, her life sucks, people die, so sad” and basically nothing else. Even the resolution is like a few pages long, doesn't solve the big problem and leaves you with a big “okay, but why??”.
I genuinely didn't expect big solutions. This is a short thing. I saw that. But frick, we spent pages discussing how the survivors went out to the well to get their water. Things like that, stuff not very interesting.
My issue is that I'm not sure even Mr. Malerman bothered to come up with any explanation or if he just went with something that sounded cool. Which is kinda sad, seriously. I am annoyed by authors not even bothering to build their worlds, because then I feel like I am expected to care more than they did about their own creation.
The characters are nothing special some people were kind of interesting and marginally likeable, but we are left with Malorie, who is nothing. I understand that the stress of surviving in such a very hostile environment is a pain, but it could have been embodied in some better what, I'm sure. I didn't like her, I didn't care about her too much.
Aaaaaand we reached a point where I do what I do best; find the issues in books. In the past timeline there is a dog called Victor. Malorie first mentions him in connection with how the kids frightened the dog with their loud playing, which is impossible. The dog wasn't around when the kids were old enough to play loudly, or to play in any way, actually. Why do I always notice these things?
Don't get me wrong, some parts of the book were pretty good, I liked the whole idea with not looking at the things or shit goes down, but it lacked any actual substance and I feel disappointed by that. I wanted to read something that goes over the practical survival and plays with some ideas in connection with the issue causing the whole dystopia. I got none of that.
(Actually, one of the many issues with The Hunger Games was this same thing; we are shown a situation that never gets a proper explanation and it makes the world unbelievable, because we know nothing about the process of its formation. Oh, well.)
Would I recommend it? Meh. Possibly. It wasn't offensively bad. Will I enthusiastically push it on everyone, even risking being super annoying? NOPE.
Goodbye and live with your eyes shut this time!
Contains spoilers
solid reread
Can't remember if they put the umbilical cord hanging in the movie though? The dramatics of the birthing scene is just top tier
OG review from 2017: I am so incredibly in love with this book. From the very beginning pages I felt in tune with all the characters, and was immersed in their lives. I finished this book in one day and the brief moments when I paused in between chapters I had to remind myself that my world is still normal and I am not indeed, tucked away in a house with blankets or cardboards covering up my windows. And for an author to make me feel like I'm in a different reality when I break away from the pages, is an author that I admire. I can't wait to share with all my friends of this amazing read. I would recommend to absolutely anybody even if a suspense based novel isn't your typical genre. If I could, I'd give it more than 5 stars.
This is normally not a genre I'd read, but I first saw the preview for the movie on Netflix. Then my sister insisted that I read the book and I'm so glad I did. I love that the author didn't feel the need to explain the entire world or the creatures. He just created a creepy and character-driven story that kept me up all night until I finished the book. I love how simple the story from the river is told between the backstory, it keeps you hooked and curious until the very end. Overall I really enjoyed this one.
I've seen quite a bit of mixed reviews with this one. So I was always curious what I was going to think of it. I really enjoyed it! I'm always a big fan of books/movies that know that the monster you can't see is more terrifying than the one you can. So a novel about a creature that drives you crazy if you look at it? Right up my alley! Only critique I felt about it was that it was too short, and the characters didn't feel fleshed out enough. Beyond that, I truly loved this book and will recommend it to many a horror fan!
The only reason I didn't read it in one sitting is that right in the middle of it, it was dinner time and my husband and kids frown on seeing me take a book to the table ;o)
I have been hearing great things about this book and decided to listen to the audio version. It did not disappoint. It was very creepy and atmospheric and gave me some Walking Dead vibes. I enjoyed the alternating storytelling between the past and the present as well as an ending that was more satisfying than I expected after reading other reviews. Highly recommend for lovers of suspense or horror.
I had so much fun reading this. It's kind of hard to review because there were some head-scratchingly confusing things that happened but also some truly creepy things too. I guess it's sort of somewhere between B Horror and early 2000s PG-13 horror.
Anyway, this could've been a single-session type read. It's short and mostly to the point.
And, to be extremely honest, finding out that Malerman released a sequel after I had already finished kind of ruined the ending for me. Not that that spoils anything, just that I felt like this should have been a single book.
WOW!!!! This is such a well written horror book!!!! I don't say this lightly, but this book made me actually afraid!!! Which, at this point, is pretty hard to do because of the amount of horror media I've consumed since I was about 4 years old. This is just SO FANTASTIC!!!! If you can handle horror books, you should ABSOLUTELY read this!!!!! It is one Hell of a terrifying story, mostly because of how little you know!!!!!