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groovygherkin's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
brinastewart's review against another edition
slow-paced
I struggled. I am so glad it is over. The book is about a family and their stupid habit of naming everyone the same and incestuous issues. Also, about how they die.
Did not like it even a little.
Did not like it even a little.
z_walczak's review against another edition
The casual descriptions of marital problems and sexual themes were hard to stand for me. The characters seemed superficial and I couldn’t understand their motives nor empathise with them.
mattcd216's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-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
3.0
audette's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
kaiazania's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
i NEED to reread.
youraveragedave's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The opening line is so intriguing. It makes you think this book is going in a certain direction, then it doesn't.
As another review put it, "beautiful written, but weird as fuck". The lyrical flowy prose is in full display, some sentences and phrases just knock you over. That never felt clunky like some translations do.
That being said this book just didn't work for me, I struggled through much of it. I was loving the 1st third, got really bogged down the 2nd third, and grudge read/listened to the final third (had to switch to audio).
I know the author is doing this thing about the cyclical nature of the mistakes made by this family, but the reuse of the two names wore on me. The closing of the circle at the end was really great though.
I was glad the DoofCast podcast covered this on their bookclub, their discussion made me appreciate it more than I initially did after finishing.
I must say the audiobook reader did a fine job capturing the melodic tone of the book.
As another review put it, "beautiful written, but weird as fuck". The lyrical flowy prose is in full display, some sentences and phrases just knock you over. That never felt clunky like some translations do.
That being said this book just didn't work for me, I struggled through much of it. I was loving the 1st third, got really bogged down the 2nd third, and grudge read/listened to the final third (had to switch to audio).
I know the author is doing this thing about the cyclical nature of the mistakes made by this family, but the reuse of the two names wore on me. The closing of the circle at the end was really great though.
I was glad the DoofCast podcast covered this on their bookclub, their discussion made me appreciate it more than I initially did after finishing.
I must say the audiobook reader did a fine job capturing the melodic tone of the book.
mollyjones's review against another edition
5.0
I would go as far as saying this is one of the best books I have ever read. The writing is unlike anything I've ever come across, it's very dreamlike and detailed that somehow makes the most crazy and impossible things seem normal to the reader. It gets a bit confusing with lots of the characters having similar names so it helped to have a copy of the book that had a family tree diagram at the beginning.