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essayem's review
4.0
Captivating story of a writer struggling professionally as a creative writing teacher but finding while it pays the bills, he really has limited interest and the pressure of being on and successful pushes him toward his personal struggles as a writer and recovering drug addict.
The narrative moves quickly, but succinctly, and you feel for Jonas because his efforts to change his situation while noble are met with continually met with frustration, if not failure.
When his teaching career fizzles out after one semester, he moves to Sweden, a place where he’s had dual citizenship since birth — hoping to separate himself from his past drug connections and focus more on writing and his place in a part of the world where though he was born into, isn’t really a part. While he does make strides in those areas, it’s not an entirely clean slate. He doesn’t kid himself about continually being drawn to drug use or what the drugs do for him; he’s still hiding that part of himself from his close friends and wanting still, to be a better person.
At the same time, Sweden is facing an influx of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan - it’s all over the news, and surprisingly (to him) in his face when he walks home after night out and sees the desperate families along the train station. He gets involved, seeking both to help in some way but also companionship - another aspect of his life in which he’s unable to articulate what he wants (companionship? romantic relationship? friends?) because it’s complicated.
Jonas is a messy person - his struggles are relevant and timely; he evolves through his struggles genuinely and not without cost.
(Digital copy provided by NetGalley for fair review)
The narrative moves quickly, but succinctly, and you feel for Jonas because his efforts to change his situation while noble are met with continually met with frustration, if not failure.
When his teaching career fizzles out after one semester, he moves to Sweden, a place where he’s had dual citizenship since birth — hoping to separate himself from his past drug connections and focus more on writing and his place in a part of the world where though he was born into, isn’t really a part. While he does make strides in those areas, it’s not an entirely clean slate. He doesn’t kid himself about continually being drawn to drug use or what the drugs do for him; he’s still hiding that part of himself from his close friends and wanting still, to be a better person.
At the same time, Sweden is facing an influx of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan - it’s all over the news, and surprisingly (to him) in his face when he walks home after night out and sees the desperate families along the train station. He gets involved, seeking both to help in some way but also companionship - another aspect of his life in which he’s unable to articulate what he wants (companionship? romantic relationship? friends?) because it’s complicated.
Jonas is a messy person - his struggles are relevant and timely; he evolves through his struggles genuinely and not without cost.
(Digital copy provided by NetGalley for fair review)
gabizago's review
4.0
When I read the description, I thought it would be easy to relate to the main character - basically, an academic in crisis. But in the end I struggled during all book trying to "like" the main character and I didn't. He is constantly thinking about drugs, and alcohol, even though his life is full of other things. But other than not relating or liking the main character, the story itself is rather interesting - about how we put things into perspective when other people have so much worse problems to deal with. Most of the story takes place in Sweden, where the character volunteers to help refugees. Once he relaxes, he even manages to start writing stories again and get paid for it. So in the end we may just need to put things into perspective to enjoy the next day.
thebookishmel's review
4.0
3.5-4 ARC received for review
This novel has taken me three months to read and its mostly because Jonas isn’t a love-able character and I really didn’t want to keep reading into his mind.
The first part before Sweden takes you through the mind of an addict. Jonas, the main character, is a teacher and recovering addict who traces back and forth through the present and the past. Although the writing style isn’t my favorite and the topic is difficult to go through, you really are able to see the complexity of everyday struggles.
Once in Malmö, we’re given a full description of why we should feel threatened and have our guards up as Jonas is there, but I had an overarching feeling that amongst the chaos, he’d find himself.
“Right back where I started but having accomplished one more day of life. There was no great excitement, but there was contentment. I rarely felt the need to escape my life or myself. It was the first time I could remember feeling this way.”
When he started seeing the refugees arriving, he wanted to help not out of the goodness of his heart, but for the gratification he’d receive. I’m not too sure if I’m supposed to like him or not because as of right now, I don’t. It’s really difficult to sympathize with him at times because he sits and tries so hard, and you want to acknowledge the fact that he’s done so well with his addiction. But the fact of the matter is that he’s still not fully there yet. He definitely understands that he’s doing that, and when looking at others and discussing immigration and refugee policy, he’s still very fond of how Sweden tries to help, and I think we can start to see a shift in his character at this point.
It’s really interesting to see how different cultures come into contact with one another, and especially interesting to see how American culture is depicted. I had a laugh when it talked about Trump’s presidency campaign and I like that it doesn’t feel historically written, it’s very much so in the present even if it’s within the last 5 years. Really well done in that respect!
Jonas clearly wants to do more than just a basic aid, he wants to really dig deep into their minds but he keeps being shut down and I think with good reason. He’s trying too hard to fix something when he hasn’t even fully fixed himself. Jonas even says:
“I wanted to correct the world. But I was angry with myself for feeling the need to be right more strongly than I felt empathy for the victims of the attacks. I longed for drugs.”
Coming back to LA, there’s a sense of peace that’s flooded over Jonas and I genuinely appreciated the calm that he’s finally received.
This novel has taken me three months to read and its mostly because Jonas isn’t a love-able character and I really didn’t want to keep reading into his mind.
The first part before Sweden takes you through the mind of an addict. Jonas, the main character, is a teacher and recovering addict who traces back and forth through the present and the past. Although the writing style isn’t my favorite and the topic is difficult to go through, you really are able to see the complexity of everyday struggles.
Once in Malmö, we’re given a full description of why we should feel threatened and have our guards up as Jonas is there, but I had an overarching feeling that amongst the chaos, he’d find himself.
“Right back where I started but having accomplished one more day of life. There was no great excitement, but there was contentment. I rarely felt the need to escape my life or myself. It was the first time I could remember feeling this way.”
When he started seeing the refugees arriving, he wanted to help not out of the goodness of his heart, but for the gratification he’d receive. I’m not too sure if I’m supposed to like him or not because as of right now, I don’t. It’s really difficult to sympathize with him at times because he sits and tries so hard, and you want to acknowledge the fact that he’s done so well with his addiction. But the fact of the matter is that he’s still not fully there yet. He definitely understands that he’s doing that, and when looking at others and discussing immigration and refugee policy, he’s still very fond of how Sweden tries to help, and I think we can start to see a shift in his character at this point.
It’s really interesting to see how different cultures come into contact with one another, and especially interesting to see how American culture is depicted. I had a laugh when it talked about Trump’s presidency campaign and I like that it doesn’t feel historically written, it’s very much so in the present even if it’s within the last 5 years. Really well done in that respect!
Jonas clearly wants to do more than just a basic aid, he wants to really dig deep into their minds but he keeps being shut down and I think with good reason. He’s trying too hard to fix something when he hasn’t even fully fixed himself. Jonas even says:
“I wanted to correct the world. But I was angry with myself for feeling the need to be right more strongly than I felt empathy for the victims of the attacks. I longed for drugs.”
Coming back to LA, there’s a sense of peace that’s flooded over Jonas and I genuinely appreciated the calm that he’s finally received.
kristen_eden's review
5.0
A great read, moving and funny and weird. Perfectly captured the anxiety of living in our very messed up world.
wildblackberrydays's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. The writer pulled you into the main character’s story; you could feel him struggling against his addiction, with loneliness, with a sense of meandering purposelessness. You questioned with him and raged with him. This book asks the hard questions without pretending to know the answers.
ram27's review
5.0
really liked it. love dark stories about addiction. the bit about moving to sweden [? read a while ago] was fun.
alice_horoshev's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
100percent_ballerina's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use
snailweed's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5