I'm not sure I've read a novel quite as quirky as The Map of Us, but I loved it. The characters were unusual but relatable, the story was very intriguing and a little heartbreaking, and it was an extremely engaging read. I'd definitely recommend!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley for an honest review.

I absolutely love this novel--Violet, Rose, Matilda, and Abby are incredible characters. Great read.

Violet North is brilliant and inconvenient to her family. Abandoned in a small house and left to fend for herself, no one expected that she would become a resourceful, fierce person, and the creator of a massively successful book series. But that is not the most important part of hers story; that part will come when a stranger and a dog will stand at her door. 37 words will change everything.

Years later, Violet's granddaughter, Tilly, will find herself in a dark place. Her marriage is over, and her work is boring and unfulfilling. The only thing that has shaken up her life in the past years, is one small moment: 10.37am, April 22nd. But can she go back to that significant part of her life? And how is Violet's and Tilly's life connected?

The Map of Us is a stunningly beautiful story about three generations of the same family. The descendants of a brilliant and resilient mind and the love of her life are struggling to find their calling, their own path in life and the ultimate happiness. Laid out in front of the reader are small fragments of all those people's everyday life. Picked carefully, all those moments are slowly brought together for the reader to see, creating an intricate web that connects them all together. True to its title, the story creates a beautiful, adventurous and incredibly interesting map of the family. And it all starts with a blue typewriter.

Extraordinarily beautiful, The Map of Us is an absolute delight to read. This is the kind of story that absorbs you to the point of finishing it in a day. There is something incredibly captivating about the narrative, and the chapters are strategically constructed in a way that peaks the reader's interest - in fact, the unusual titles help a lot in that direction. Tilly's story, which is also Violet's and all the family's as well, is moving, smart, and genuinely captivating.

First impressions - short choppy chapters upset the rhythm, but the writing is charming and fresh. The storytelling is quirky and each character has their own distinct voice.

Took me awhile for my brain to adjust to the prose, but once I passed the first 25% into the book, I settled into the narrative. Some readers may not have the patience for this; however, as I allowed the story to carry me along, I found it to be a fun, swift read.

The title makes me cringe. I wish it were simply "The Map of Us".

The timeline jumps around in time and from character to character, and despite my earlier comment on the short and choppy chapters, the structure helps keep you on the clear path to follow the story.

I enjoyed the story and would like to read it again to study the book's unconventional structure.

This book was marketed as a book for those who loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I am one of those people so I was pretty excited to have this.

You know what? The person who said that lied and was giving false praise which is unfair to the reader. At the beginning I was not even sure what "The Map of Us" was about. I was confused for the first quarter of the book. Mostly because of the writing and the numerous characters.

Some parts were written like poetry then the writing shifted again to normal again.

Let's talk characters. There was Daniel, Matt, Matilda, Her mom, Her dad, Violet, Katherine, Jack and others who I've forgotten.
It would have been alright for them to be so many if they did not have their own chapter!!! Which is exactly what happened. The chapters were also annoyingly short so you actually don't connect with any of them.

There was a sneak peek of really good writing especially in Violet's chapters. Generally this was not a bad book if you overlook the obvious problems.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is easy to read. Funny and sad and different at the same time. Everyone should read it.

I originally requested this because it was recommended by the marvellous Joe Heap. I was not disappointed - a really delightful book and highly recommend.

I couldn't get into the story The Map of Us . The narrator and unique telling was not my type of story, at 35% I still wasn't engaged. I truly think this is a it's not you but me situation. I wish the author my best and will not post a review.

The map of us is a book like no other with its short chapters and when I say short some are barely a page long, its choppy writing style and the many characters make this a really, really good read. I'm not going to go into the plot as I feel this would spoil it, I went in blind apart from the back page blurb and feel after reading a few reviews this was the best thing.
This book will have you going through several feelings towards it, mine started with what the heck's this? to ahhh I kind of see where we're going now to ahah I get it!!! This is a very cleverly written book that will lead you from confused to getting clearer to clear. I loved how the chapters were short and bounced from character to character not knowing how they were in this book together. The book does deal with quite a few sensitive issues as well as a lot of family drama, bullying, cruelty, betrayal, love and bravery. Considering this is a debut novel I can't wait to see what Jules Preston has in store for us next.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Harper Impulse and Killer Reads for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed the quirky and heartwarming #TheMapOfUs by @jules_preston_. Moving, intriguing, hopeful and endearing, it was an utter delight to enter the life of Violet North, Albert Galbraith and a little blue typewriter.

I loved both Eleanor Oliphant and the Keeper of Lost things. For me this book does not compare to either one of them. It took me a while to get into this book as I struggled to find the connections between the characters and at one stage had to write down the names to figure this out. This being said the story started to grow on me about halfway through and I started liking the characters. This was a whimsical story that really took me on a walk (just like Arthur) with the different characters and getting to know them. I loved the references to the washing machines that kept breaking because of the sand. It is because of the first half of the book that I really struggled with that I give 3.5 stars.

The journey of me reading this book went something like this:
- who’s the narrator here?
- huh?
- what’s going on?
-I’m going to hate this
- ohhh, it’s two narrators!
- hang on, what?
- okay there’s way more than two narrators
- why can I not work out who’s speaking here?
- oh okay so *** is related to ***?
- and she’s related to ***
- actually this is quite clever!
- yep, I’m really liking this

So, the above is the reason I’m giving ‘The Map of Us’ 4.5 stars.
🌟🌟🌟🌟

If I’m going to give anyone advice reading this book, it would be: hang in there son.

I really didn’t enjoy the start. I didn’t have a clue who was talking, or keep track of any of the details. Around 50% in though, it cleverly starts coming together and you get up slowly completing a literary jigsaw. It was a really clever structure but I do think quite a few readers would put it down before they realised that it isn’t just bad writing.

The characters are fascinating and once you get used to their individual voices and how they fit in the family tree of the larger narrative, you begin to really understand and like each individual story. The chapters are really short, some barely two pages long and I like that in a book. It always encourages you to rip through a story rather than struggle through it.

I don’t want to say too much more because I think it will spoil it but I’ll end with this: it’s endearing, sweet and intelligently written and that’s all I want in a book.

This was a quirky read due to the style of very short chapters. It was often difficult to keep up with all the characters and sometimes I forgot who they were when they reappeared. I thought that the characters were all slightly peculiar – one obsessed with numbers, one obsessed with the colour blue, one with seven identical outfits, one with a handbag addiction, one who built sand sculptures. All that being said, once you get used to the writing style, it was quite a charming book.

If you're looking for a super light-hearted read, that will take you a couple of days at most, this might be up your street. However if you sometimes get annoyed at books that are seemingly being quirky for the sake of it...maybe give this one a swerve.

I was drawn to it by the description of it being 'a must read for all fans of Eleanor Oliphant'. I am a fan of aforementioned book, that's me, let's dive in!....

But actually, in my opinion, aside from being about relationships and centering on an eccentric character, I don't think it had that much in common with Eleanor Oliphant at all. The reason why I enjoyed EO, is that we got to know her character SO well, her nuances were explained to us and as we follow her over quite a long time, we grow to love her.

Perhaps if this book had been longer and given us time to get to know the characters, then it would have been endearing in the same way, but there just wasn't enough of any of the characters for that to happen. In order for a book to leave you feeling warm and whimsical you have to feel for the characters, to fall in love with them slightly, and this just didn't happen for me.

It is a really light hearted read, but confusingly the non-linear timeline of the narrative made it slightly hard to follow, just when you really wanted to know what tied all these characters together.

Hmmm... there wasn't anything that I specifically didn't like about this book, hence the 3 stars, but for me it was like someone had just given you their first draft of a novel, and you had read it and thought, "Great, this is promising, now go away and give me more." It didn't feel finished or fleshed out enough.

However, I would definitely read more by this author, because I sense there may be more to come.

'The Map of Us' took a little while to get into, it's written in a deliberately haphazard way, more thoughts than prose, but once you accept the style, the content is original and full of emotional depth.
Violet (Grandmother) and Tilly (Grandaughter) are the story's main protagonists, but there are also numerous minor characters who are intrinsic to the map of Tilly's family and add depth to this quirky tale.
It's surprisingly addictive reading and well thought out. If the need for the map is Tilly's family's future happiness, what follows is the journey she and other family members take to reach their destinations. Humour, romance, cruelty and poignancy create an ever-changing map that enthrals and entertains until it reaches its conclusion. 
A lovely, timeless read that is full of heart and humour.
I received a copy of this book from Harper Impulse via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Quirky, original and humorous. The Map of Us takes an unusual form and you may not have any idea where it's going, but then it all falls into place and makes sense. Short chapters, almost stories of their own, have you whizzing through the book with ease.

4 turquoise Blue Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Let me start this off by saying this is a book that is going to take you a while to get into... The narrative is very unusual and quirky.... very short chapters some of them appear simply to be lists.... and honestly about 30% in I was thinking to myself, how am I going to rate this book? But by the end I was so charmed, after I got into the flow of the writing style....

There are quite a few characters in this book all of them a bit quirky... and due to the choppy writing style it did take me awhile to appreciate these characters.... Tilly was very interesting... a statistician who saw life through numbers and facts... in fact she wrote a report of sorts when her marriage broke up including flow charts and gave it to her ex.... she even came up with a compatibility index, but never fear it was put to good use in the end.... there was quite the cast of characters in this book... including all of Tilly’s siblings, her father, her grandmother, her ex-boyfriend, his new girlfriend, her boss, her coworker, and Daniel....

Now there are a few characters I would have liked to get to know better... including Catherine Tilly’s sister.... absolutely could relate to Catherine better than Tilly, the girl had a crazy handbag collection.... also would have liked a little more about her grandmother Violet, really enjoyed her relationship with Owen... also really enjoyed Matt and grace, Tillys ex and his new girlfriend.... well shoot I really needed to know more about everybody her brother who was a expert in the color blue, her father who created sand sculptures for a living, see what I am saying super quirky.... additionally there were some interesting little chapters about household appliances... and I can’t forget Daniel, what will happen there?

I want to recommend this if you are willing to go into it with an open mind... and know that it is not written in a
conventional writing style, but in the end quite a lovely book....

*** thank you so much to the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book ***

Told in short chapters, alternating between characters, the story is a big jigsaw puzzle with pieces and relationships slowly being connected. Well, not too slowly since the book is 180 pages! But it is a dense book with various fun little themes (like mathematics and sand castle building) running throughout. Amazing that within the short book, the characters were well developed and even grew. Definitely an enjoyable sweet read but I could have used another 180 pages to spend more time with them.

I really enjoyed this! I don't know if it is a novel exactly, it is more of a series of vignettes and even poems(?) and almost journal entries. It seems very British in format so I'm intrigued to see if it does well in the US. Lots of quirky characters.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick, easy, feel-good read. Perfect for a holiday read. It made me smile and made me want to get my typewriter out.
It explored family and the patterns we follow, and it’s written in a way that keeps you inferested. 4/5. I’d recommend to friends that like Jojo moyes, Sophie Kinsella and Giovanna Fletcher.