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isajervis's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
anacalse68's review against another edition
Lo abandoné porque no puede ser que cada 30 páginas haya una sola línea de diálogo, me aburrooooooooo
Edit: la película mil veces mejor
Edit: la película mil veces mejor
jacksontibet's review against another edition
1.0
Absolutely and terribly boring. A very poorly done parody of Cormac McCarthy.
mirgon03's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Es uno de los libros más duros y crudos que he leído.
pachypedia's review against another edition
3.0
Este libro me estaba gustando mucho. Me gustaba la narración, los personajes, la trama... Pero el final me ha decepcionado un poco, y es que hay ciertos flecos que me hubiera gustado que se hubieran resuelto y no fue así.
karp76's review against another edition
4.0
This was a tale that grew in its telling. It begins in a vague and undetermined way, and it left me as such. A minimalist work whose stature grows with the things left unsaid – names and times and places, all set before us, uncharted and undetermined left for us to color them, enrich them, give life to the unspoken, the undetermined, the intentional quiet. There is desperation and despair here, make no doubt. Despite this stark world, of forbidden secrets, fleeing to freedom, the evil pursuant, the frail friend, Carrasco imbues this shattered world and the hopeless characters that inhabit, with hope. It is subtle and secret, just enough to put one foot in front of the other, to continue, to turn the page and survive.
avkesner's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to the audio book of this, and maybe should have read it. This book tells the story of a young boy on the run. I appreciated the strong writing and vivid descriptions, but felt like the story was slow and didn't really gho anywhere.
gilmoreguide's review against another edition
3.0
For a novel that contains only a young boy, an old man and a herd of goats, Out in the Open manages to convey a fear that seeps off the page and into the consciousness. Author Jesús Carrasco is as sparse with details in this novel as is the tortured landscape he creates. In an unnamed country at an unknown time, the boy has run away from his village and is being hunted. He meets the elderly goatherd, a man who speaks little, but indicates the boy can join him as he journeys from village to village selling the goats’ milk. In this way he can try and get north to a better life.
Why this boy would become the subject of a hunt is not clear initially. What is, is that drought has decimated the land and left behind, in the dust, the lawlessness of power and violence. The goatherd and boy have nothing more to eat than nuts, raisins, bread, and cheese. Water is their most precious resource, finding it their largest occupation, simple survival their only goal. As the pursuit intensifies, we learn that the boy is a toy for the bailiff and is highly prized enough that the man will stop at nothing to find him. At each step in Out in the Open Carrasco uses the fewest words possible to wring out the largest of human emotions—fear, anger, kindness.
Out in the Open is not a novel of grand devices and wildly imaginative dystopian images. There is no futuristic element in the deprivation and brutality of the characters’ lives. Instead, with prose that is as spare as the land around them, Carrasco gives the reader everything they need to feel the sickly terror the boy feels at being captured and returned to his former life. Reality is the dystopia.
Why this boy would become the subject of a hunt is not clear initially. What is, is that drought has decimated the land and left behind, in the dust, the lawlessness of power and violence. The goatherd and boy have nothing more to eat than nuts, raisins, bread, and cheese. Water is their most precious resource, finding it their largest occupation, simple survival their only goal. As the pursuit intensifies, we learn that the boy is a toy for the bailiff and is highly prized enough that the man will stop at nothing to find him. At each step in Out in the Open Carrasco uses the fewest words possible to wring out the largest of human emotions—fear, anger, kindness.
Out in the Open is not a novel of grand devices and wildly imaginative dystopian images. There is no futuristic element in the deprivation and brutality of the characters’ lives. Instead, with prose that is as spare as the land around them, Carrasco gives the reader everything they need to feel the sickly terror the boy feels at being captured and returned to his former life. Reality is the dystopia.
lintkaurea's review against another edition
3.0
Sí, está muy bien escrito y utiliza un vocabulario extenso... que no creo que me haga falta en la vida. La historia en sí es muy parca: el autor juega más con las posibilidades que con los hechos y el resultado final es una sensación de desasosiego permanente, un "qué bien vivo". Siento curiosidad por saber más de esta obra.