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taliatalksbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Run Me To Earth by Paul Yoon was absolutely beautifully written. This novel was heartbreaking and well constructed from the first page to the last. The narrative was woven together through different perspectives, that forced the reader to be once acquainted with each character on an individual level, as well as how they perceived the others. I liked the structure of the book, and while I wish the lengths of some of the sections were different (some felt a bit long and others a bit short), I think that is a fairly accurate representation of life’s unfairness. This unpredictability felt natural and true to life. When a story was told it was told, whether or not it started at the beginning, middle, or end. This book wasn’t the most pleasant read, at the topics are extremely heavy, but I think it was an important and moving read all the same.
pixiebix's review against another edition
2.75
Episode #83378292 of me re-realising that I just do NOT get on with super-fragmented structures to novels. Can't do it. I can get along with regular flashbacks, or the chronology being back to front, or a certain extent of hopping around, but I CAN'T deal with the moments when I really feel as though I have sunk my teeth into and become super-invested in a story... and then boom, we jump so far ahead or so far back (again and again) and have to spend so long re-figuring out where we or or what we're doing that that original momentum and magic is lost forever.
Point being: that is what happened here. Those first 60 pages? Multiple gasps. Tears in my eyes. After that, everything is so jumbled up that I totally lost that connection I'd built with the characters and their current circumstances. Even now, if I imagine all the events that happened over the course of this book being stitched together in uninterrupted chronological order, this would have been such an emotionally aggrieving but engaging story I wouldn't have wanted to tear myself away from. In its current state, though, we just don't get long enough with each perspective, nor do we experience enough lived context of everything we're TOLD (in retrospect) has happened, to build any real connection with the material.
One bonus, though: I now feel as though I have quite solid insight into what happened in Laos during this upsetting and horrifying time. If this had been 400 pages long and told chronologically, that insight would be even more visceral and deeply entrenched.
Point being: that is what happened here. Those first 60 pages? Multiple gasps. Tears in my eyes. After that, everything is so jumbled up that I totally lost that connection I'd built with the characters and their current circumstances. Even now, if I imagine all the events that happened over the course of this book being stitched together in uninterrupted chronological order, this would have been such an emotionally aggrieving but engaging story I wouldn't have wanted to tear myself away from. In its current state, though, we just don't get long enough with each perspective, nor do we experience enough lived context of everything we're TOLD (in retrospect) has happened, to build any real connection with the material.
One bonus, though: I now feel as though I have quite solid insight into what happened in Laos during this upsetting and horrifying time. If this had been 400 pages long and told chronologically, that insight would be even more visceral and deeply entrenched.
minniepauline's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This novel is like a sob being held in and held in and never released. It’s beautiful and devastating. A story of friendship and hope and a war forgotten by most of the world but almost unimaginable in its destruction of the country in which it was fought.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, and Violence
julieh46's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
somehowcoping's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
anaya13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Not for me. It was too cerebral and sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, War, and Grief
ben_r's review against another edition
5.0
This is a haunting story of three orphan kids living in war ravaged Laos. Written with a sure and delicate hand that both cuts deep and soothes across their lives.