Annie John vs Unless: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Mothers and daughters, Teenage Girls, Domestic fiction, Fiction
Annie John
“For a short while during the year I was ten, I thought only people I did not know died.”
Since her first, prize-winning collection of stories, At the Bottom of the River, Jamaica Kincaid's work has been met with nothing short of amazement. The New York Times hailed her "prophetic power" and the Los Angeles…
vs
Unless
“It happens that I am going through a period of great unhappiness and loss just now.”
Reta Winters has many reasons to be happy. Then in the spring of her forty-fourth year, all the quiet satisfactions of her well-lived life disappear in a moment: her eldest daughter Norah suddenly runs from the family…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Annie John is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 5 for Unless.
- Unless has the widest readership — 17298 ratings behind its score.
- Unless runs the darker storyline; Annie John stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Annie John | Unless | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.7 (14616) | 3.6 (17298) |
| Hardcover | 3.9 (16) | 3.8 (10) |
| Google Books | 4.5 (5) | 3.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 3.5 (59) | 4.5 (11) |
Reception
| Annie John | Unless | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 14616 | 17298 |
| Editions | 23 | 43 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 12724 |
| Reading it now | — | 567 |
| Written reviews | — | 1386 |
| Wikipedia attention | 635 | 437 |
| Pages | 148 | 319 |