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ridgewaygirl's review
3.0
Tomb Song is the story of a man sitting in his mother's hospital room, waiting for her to die. She was a prostitute and his life involved a lot of temporary fathers and moving around. Sounds like a book seeped in misery, doesn't it? Despite the scaffolding, Julián Herbert has written a surprisingly upbeat and honest novel.
This isn't a book propelled forward by the plot; it digresses, it heads off onto tangents, it meanders, returning to earlier topics, while abandoning others. The narrator waits. He cares for his mother. He follows often conflicting instructions from the nurses and doctors. He walks the halls, and thinks about his past, from his childhood to the trips he took to Berlin with his wife. Parts of the story are fascinating, some were less enthralling.
The writing style of this novel reminded me of another Mexican novel, Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth, although that may also be influenced by having the same translator. If you like discursive novels, you'll want to take a look at Tomb Song.
This isn't a book propelled forward by the plot; it digresses, it heads off onto tangents, it meanders, returning to earlier topics, while abandoning others. The narrator waits. He cares for his mother. He follows often conflicting instructions from the nurses and doctors. He walks the halls, and thinks about his past, from his childhood to the trips he took to Berlin with his wife. Parts of the story are fascinating, some were less enthralling.
The writing style of this novel reminded me of another Mexican novel, Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth, although that may also be influenced by having the same translator. If you like discursive novels, you'll want to take a look at Tomb Song.
y_sa2000's review
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
anchovie19's review
2.0
I appreciate him telling his story, but it just wasn’t for me. So many long sentences...
amanda_mh's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
This is a raw portrayal of a man coming to terms with the impending death of his mother. The writing is beautiful and gripping and quite haunting at times. I would like to read more of his work
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cancer, Death of parent, Addiction, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Death
canadianbookworm's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2022/08/tomb-song.html
gutterpede's review
4.5
Short but sweet, a wonderful prose about relationships, how they change over time and how our minds can alter memory of those we love. The author lets you look into his mother’s life as well as his own in anecdotal passages that connect to one another in peculiar ways; Herbert is spot on in describing the complicated nature of a child’s relationship with their parent through the years in his writing.
melmoore88's review
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ebxydreambxy's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Weaving between fiction and memory, Herbert recounts his life as he sits beside his mother, once a sex worker, who is dying of leukemia.
Herbert is, without a doubt, so completely adept at wielding language. There were so many passages that I marked and underlined. (swipe to see some)
However, the lyricism of Herbert‘s writing isn’t always held up by the book‘s structure, which doesn’t always bring the disparate moments of the book together.
Even as a person who really enjoys experimental/fragmented prose, Tomb Song was a bit difficult to follow at times.
There were also a few moments where the author describes women‘s bodies in ways that aren’t necessarily offensive but are just kind of ... douchey ? I‘d definitely be interested in hearing other people‘s thoughts on this.
Herbert is, without a doubt, so completely adept at wielding language. There were so many passages that I marked and underlined. (swipe to see some)
However, the lyricism of Herbert‘s writing isn’t always held up by the book‘s structure, which doesn’t always bring the disparate moments of the book together.
Even as a person who really enjoys experimental/fragmented prose, Tomb Song was a bit difficult to follow at times.
There were also a few moments where the author describes women‘s bodies in ways that aren’t necessarily offensive but are just kind of ... douchey ? I‘d definitely be interested in hearing other people‘s thoughts on this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
8little_paws's review
4.0
this semi autobiographical account of his mother's death is told in a disjointed, vignette style, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I don't totally get what the Cuban part of the book was all about or why it went on as long as it did. But the final section, Life on Earth, was stunning. It's a really different book, even though I didn't completely love it i'm still glad I picked it up.