Recently, I reviewed Atom & Eve by Jeff Yager and despite my indifference to the book, I wouldn't pass up the chance to share an outfit post inspired by one of the minor characters, Melanie. If I remember it correctly, Ricky met her in an elevator and this was what she was wearing. Like Ricky, I also couldn't ignore it.

Atom & Eve by Jeff Yager

(Started: August 03, 2013; Finished: August 14, 2013)

Summary/Description:

It's actually a sad thing not to give a book a rating. I'm the type of reader who will look for good points and will always give the benefit of the doubt. As I've said in my policy, I ALWAYS finish a book no matter how indifferent I feel towards it. I requested for and started reading Atom & Eve with the hope of exploring another sci-fi story that I, admittedly, assume would be about a pandemic disease spreading ala the popular zombie tales, like The Walking Dead or the Resident Evil, or even about cyborgs, like The Bane. I was excited to read what's in store for me in this book. It started with a very intriguing event as the flu set in on Ricky Romanello. I thought it would kick up the ante but it was slow-paced. Again, I gave it time since some of the good books I've read took a lot of time before the story fired up. But it was not the case. In fact, I got bored and find the transition so dull. It took me a while to finish it because I stopped a few times but then I told myself to just get on with it.

I realized from the quotes and on how the story transpired that it was showing comparison of both male and female genders. But there were a lot of issues I found weird, disturbing, and frustrating while I was still reading the book. First was how the conversations flow especially with the scientists, the doctors and the character who was running for President. The way they talk were too informal and sounded so unprofessional. Second, was that there were instances that were so inconsistent and unbelievable. The vaccine was already made but there seemed to be a delay in the new reports and they were saying that there were still no cure. Then the fact that the doctors released Ricky after three days he took the vaccine when in reality such severe illness should be observed even after the cure had taken effect, and they should have also watched out for the side-effects since the cure was newly made. What made me even more annoyed was when Ricky went to the mall just after he got home from the hospital to meet this person he saw in an online dating site which was strongly prohibited for a person who was one of the initial victims of a pandemic flu. Moreover, his parents allowed it. THERE WAS NO FREAKING QUARANTINE!!! It was so frustrating that I wish I had a book to throw but I was only reading on my android phone through the Kindle application so never mind. Third was there was no real plot. Like I said, the blurb was so promising and when I read it, I realized there was no point in this book. It kept on shifting from a character's story to another. The transition was too confusing and at the same time, I'm not getting anything from it. It was all over the place. The author wanted to tell various tales focusing on each character but he failed to do it and it became the story's downfall. It was not cohesive. Since there was no actual plot, I find the characters so shallow as well that I wanted to hit them all on the head. I lost hope from all of them when even the scientist lost it. I just want to say that the point of creating a story was to widen the reader's imagination and perspective, and give some lessons and thoughts to ponder on. Also, its characters should inspire the readers but it was not emulated in the story. Fourth was that the author never explained how the flu started and where it came from. I think that was one of the very big loopholes that should have been covered so that at least the readers would've gotten that as a consolation. Fifth was how Ricky was raped and then ridiculously went out on a date afterwards. C'mon. What in the world?! Clearly, the story was so messed up for me right now. Last was the very sexist tone the book was giving. The choices of words were so distasteful and just sounded so insulting for both genders.

To be fair, I will tackle how it was the case for both. The men were portrayed so egotistically last century and one of the characters even acted like a pig (which is unfair to the poor animal, LOL). What was really bothersome for me and what was really rampant on the whole story was how the author horrendously described the women as the vaccine changed most of them. It's disappointing how he thinks such a shift in roles of both gender will make the women so shallow, brutish and act out of desperation that they will forget the rationale of things (i.e. forming gangs that will push an illegal drug; getting into fights with other gangs; raping men; terrorizing the citizens). It was so wrong in all proportions.

Unfortunately, I do not recommend this book to anyone. I hope both the author and the publisher will not take this personally. I did try to see it in a good light but I was not able to get what I needed from this book.

For the quotes I got this from the book, please visit my Tumblr:

http://arraabella.tumblr.com

Happy Reading Everyone!