Reading Journey: Wool by

Genre

icpeng2 — 2023-12-16 20:09:23 UTC

The genre of Wool is dystopian. I have read a few dystopian novels and tend to enjoy them, though this story brought its own unique twists to the usual. For example, though it goes the "ruined Earth" and unihabitable climate route, it doesn't explain how they got there immediately; in fact, the history of their world is hidden and slowly revealed to the reader over time. This allows the reader to focus on the main story line while also eagerly waiting to see how it connects to the past. Another way it differs from typical dystopian is that there no futuristic technology, which makes the characters grounded and real, as they are literally using the same tools we are, just in a completely different world.

Compelling Character

icpeng2 — 2023-12-16 20:19:18 UTC

Though it is obvious, I had to go with Juliette (the protagonist) as my compelling character. She is a mechanic who lives in her mechanic world, worrying about herself and her job, which she is very good at. Her life is upended when she is put in a position of power after countless unprecedented events occur (no spoilers!). The very interesting part about her is how she grapples with the responsibility shoved upon her and choosing to do what is right even after given the choice to return to her normal life. Her sense of wanting justice to be served drives her out of her comfort zone, and it is really interesting to see her transform from someone who only knew her own little world, to a leader, where she risks her life to uncover the truth even though the obligation was not chosen by her. She even becomes a martyr figure and a beacon of light for her people, demonstrating the immense character development throughout the story for Juliette.

A Good Story

icpeng2 — 2023-12-16 20:30:29 UTC

What makes a good story? Well, in my opinion, a good story firstly must contain detailed, complex characters. The characters are the heart of the story, without them, the story is just an empty shell with no soul. If an author creates interesting characters, it engages the reader to care about the story because they care about what happens to the characters. Next, I believe a good story needs a storyline that flows. This doesn't mean chronological or simply following one character, it just means that the events introduced need to connect to the rest of the story already told and build on it. I think being confused or perplexed at what is going on is okay to a certain extent, as some of the best books I've read had me confused at some point, but not to the point where I just don't want to continue because the storyline is so jumbled. Finally, a solid conclusion. If there is a cliffhanger, there better be a second book. The characters deserve a good ending, so I believe the ending should be powerful, it should leave me wowed and feeling some type of emotion.

Author's Writing Choices

icpeng2 — 2023-12-16 20:39:07 UTC

The biggest choice made by Hugh Howey in Wool is to tell the story from the persepctive of many characters. Not just a select one or two, but many. It is still clear who the main characters are, though I found myself sometimes reading from the viewpoint of a character I barely even knew. This worked out well for the most part, as I could see the impact of one character's action on another, though a part of me does feel like if you're going to tell the story from a certain character's point of view, that character should have been developed a decent amount beforehand. Otherwise, I simply don't care about that character. As an example, during a climatic war scene, Howey switches to the view of a minor character, and though the storytelling is good and I have heard about him before, I didn't really care when he ended up dying at the end of the chapter. Other than this major writng decision, Howey does a few time jumps in the beginning of the book and his sentence structure is pretty easy to follow.

Enrichment

icpeng2 — 2023-12-16 20:46:04 UTC

Reading Wool has definitely brought up some questions for me regarding the state of human civilization in general. Obviously, we are not in a world where humans must live in underground silos, with erased history and an uninhabitable world, but that doesn't mean interesting themes weren't brought up. An important piece of Wool is the whole conspiracy and hidden history, which raises questions like, "Who gets to tell the history and the stories we pass on?" There are themes of rebellion, which connects to our own human history and poses intersting questions on whether taking up arms is always the answer. As a dystopian novel, this book inherently raises these questions and made me think about them as I progressed through the story.

Wool TV Show

icpeng2 — 2023-12-16 20:51:40 UTC

Apple TV actually made this series into a show! It is always interesting to see the parts of the story that are acurately represented on the screen and the parts of the story that are completely different. I have not watched it myself, but I definitely want to!