Great observation. “Abstract” might not be the right word for it then, I completely see where you’re coming from.
The prose is matter of fact but about such a strange and different place/reality that there’s an unease, a feeling of “everything being off” that I can’t really think of a better word.
There’s a lot of…

Yeah, I thought it absolutely paid off the set-up.

Probably. There’s one scene that’s highly disturbing and probably wouldn’t be suitable for a 12 year old unless they’re already a seasoned horror fan.

I have the same problem. I thought this was an awesome trilogy. I am very concerned that the movie is more or less just “inspired by” the book rather than an actual adaptation.

Spoiler:

I’m intrigued by the suggestion that Ex Machina didn’t have an ending that paid off. I thought that one absolutely stuck the landing; the AI worked in its ability to learn manipulation, but it was still a machine without empathy that simply took the open door without looking back when the opportunity for escape arose.

Garland creates some very evocative and frightening imagery throughout the film, and as scary as the creatures here are, they’re not nearly as frightening as some of the body horror.

I don’t know. I reckon that if you took out the artistic parts, you’d actually get the peak to skew older: part of the reason why figure skaters and gymnasts, especially women, tend to peak so early is that there’s a deeply ingrained expectation that they have a certain youthful, lithe look that gets harder in late…

The Uncanny Valley at that.

Because he’s literally a villain from a 1980's teen movie set in the Valley.

It seemed like it’d be difficult to really render the psychological body horror that the book is doing into something blockbuster-ish enough to work. They probably needed to go more Under the Skin.

The extensive plastic surgery he had as a child to make him look human. He came out looking like one of those Wrong Turn babies since Trump’s genes are pretty rotten, so they paid all they could to make the kid look presentable in public.

Tl;DR because Don Trump Jr is an asshole regardless of his voice.

Someday, he’ll go bankrupt seven times and make his ol’ dad proud!

Because he is.

He triggers my uncanny valley response, like he’s a very well-made robot that doesn’t quite have the whole “being human” thing down yet.

Donald worried about naming their first child Donald Jr.

I know another reason: it’s because he thinks the value of a life is determined by how much money it can generate, proportionately. He thinks he is 1000x better than us, because he is worth 1000x more. It’s why he sneers at teachers and traffic cops, it’s why he hunts big game, it’s why he says what he says in the…

I think Tara and Johnny started out pretty catty this year, but must’ve gotten some feedback, because they’ve been much better (again, imo) since the team competition.

Geez, that story was really mean considering how graciously Kwan handled her loss!