You must read the physical edition of We Used to Live Here to have access to every hidden code.

My biggest issue with this book is accessibility: the ebook/audiobook is missing a crucial map required for solving one of the codes, and it's also missing multiple instances of Morse code for seemingly no reason. I've read plenty of ebooks with images included, and Morse code is present elsewhere in the book, so there's really no excuse for this. I was reading the ebook, and had to buy the physical edition to experience the book as intended.

As for the story, the main character was a major drag: she felt like she took no action the entire time and just let everything happen to her. Time loops and other crazy stuff are alluded to, but we never actually get to experience them, or really the "Old House" in general. We were also supposed to care about Charlie and her relationship with Eve, but Charlie comes across as incredibly unlikeable, IMO.

Even with the codes, which I enjoyed, I wanted to DNF this more than once. The only reason I finished it was because it was a book club pick.

Seek Immediate Shelter isn't about a missile alert, it's about the life-changing realizations that surface when a person believes, for eighteen minutes, that they might die.

I didn't expect an anthology, but the format worked really well for Yu's vision. Each story centering around the same town and the threat made it feel like one large interconnected story rather than a collection of short stories.

The emotional core of the book is in how it captures how messy life can be. The characters are flawed: their decisions and actions not always morally defensible, their perspectives narrow and often selfish. It's not flattering, but it is undeniably human.

I really enjoyed the small-town setting, too, especially with characters appearing in each other's stories, which lent the whole thing an authentic feel. Their passing appearances really drove home how little you actually know about the people around you and the lives they're living. A few of the stories did fall flat for me, but they were outnumbered by so many others that were rich and emotionally deep.

The overall tone is melancholic, but never hopeless. There's a consistent thread running through each story: it's not too late to fix things, not too late to change. That felt like the core theme, and I really appreciated it.

Ironically, I was just as consumed by I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 as Kay was by her own imaginary friend.

Kay absolutely carried the story - I just couldn't put the book down. I didn't enjoy Ivan's chapters as much: he never felt like a fully fleshed out character to me, and the pacing of his chapters was rough. I didn't mind too much though, as most of the worldbuilding came from Ivan. Seeing the range of imaginary friends and the other kids preyed upon made the world feel fully realized, not just Kay's story in isolation.

!! I'd definitely recommend looking at the trigger warnings if you're considering reading this book !!