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klearlly's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
extraaardvark's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
literarycrushes's review
3.0
2.5 rounded up - The Stars Are Not Yet Bells by Hannah Lillith Assadi is a dreamy little novel that made me feel like I was losing my mind. The narrator, Elle Rainer, is unreliable by definition, caught in the throes of late-stage memory loss. Through her, we are transported between the late 1990s in Lyra, a fictional island off the coast of Savannah, GA, and New York City during the war years of her youth, at a breakneck speed. And we feel her desperation for the love she lost decades ago, as though she’d lost it just that morning.
Pressured by her father’s wish for her to marry above her station to save them from poverty, he essentially forces her to get engaged to Simon, the son of his wealthy boss, after he gets let go. This comes despite her all-consuming love for Gabriel, a poverty-stricken but adventure-loving ‘vagrant’ who feels half unreal. Her father claims Simon saw her while she was picking up her father from work one day and fell in love instantly. Rather than any whirlwind courtship, the newlywed couple is shipped off to Lyra, where they are expected to set up a new family business venture. Elle comes up with a scheme to bring her beloved Gabriel with her (as a thinly disguised cousin, which Simon permits as he has his own concubine male lovers), though tragedy soon strikes.
I found the actual plot of this novel to be all over the place, but this was a purposeful choice as it draws readers into the murky mindset of Elle as she struggles to place herself in the present reality. This is one of the books where I’d really like to read/watch an interview with the author after reading to hear what inspired her/how she was able to capture the terrifying minutia so thoroughly as a young author. But I guess by nature, (late-stage) memory loss makes it almost impossible to write about when you’re inside it. Even so, this book was beautifully written, and I found myself highlighting entire paragraphs: (“Gabriel’s punishment for me has been that he will always remain young, always the face in the photograph, while I’ve watched my body age. He is forever the man whose legs were entwined with mine that summer, who carried me out into the sea at Coney Island despite my shrieks that I couldn’t swim, whose weight later pressed down on that body of mine, now long gone. It was beneath him that I first felt what it was to melt the edges of myself into another.”)
Pressured by her father’s wish for her to marry above her station to save them from poverty, he essentially forces her to get engaged to Simon, the son of his wealthy boss, after he gets let go. This comes despite her all-consuming love for Gabriel, a poverty-stricken but adventure-loving ‘vagrant’ who feels half unreal. Her father claims Simon saw her while she was picking up her father from work one day and fell in love instantly. Rather than any whirlwind courtship, the newlywed couple is shipped off to Lyra, where they are expected to set up a new family business venture. Elle comes up with a scheme to bring her beloved Gabriel with her (as a thinly disguised cousin, which Simon permits as he has his own concubine male lovers), though tragedy soon strikes.
I found the actual plot of this novel to be all over the place, but this was a purposeful choice as it draws readers into the murky mindset of Elle as she struggles to place herself in the present reality. This is one of the books where I’d really like to read/watch an interview with the author after reading to hear what inspired her/how she was able to capture the terrifying minutia so thoroughly as a young author. But I guess by nature, (late-stage) memory loss makes it almost impossible to write about when you’re inside it. Even so, this book was beautifully written, and I found myself highlighting entire paragraphs: (“Gabriel’s punishment for me has been that he will always remain young, always the face in the photograph, while I’ve watched my body age. He is forever the man whose legs were entwined with mine that summer, who carried me out into the sea at Coney Island despite my shrieks that I couldn’t swim, whose weight later pressed down on that body of mine, now long gone. It was beneath him that I first felt what it was to melt the edges of myself into another.”)
moshalala's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
keltreads's review
4.5
surreal, really cool how past memories get interwoven with present day, creates a very dreamlike drifting vibe that matches the protagonist's emotional state. Also pretty easy to read through
girlglitch's review
5.0
The Stars Are Not Yet Bells is an evocative novel that whisks you away to another world.
Assadi's prose is haunting and compelling, 'diaphanous as a dream' (to borrow some of her own words). Elle's voice is deliciously disorientating, as Assadi strikes that difficult balance between the world as it really is and the illusions of dementia. The intoxicating island of Lyra is almost a character in its own right, its prescence casting a shadow over all Elle's memories. The comparisons to Wide Sargasso Sea are not far off.
Heartbreakingly beautiful, The Stars Are Not Yet Bells is a real must-read.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
Assadi's prose is haunting and compelling, 'diaphanous as a dream' (to borrow some of her own words). Elle's voice is deliciously disorientating, as Assadi strikes that difficult balance between the world as it really is and the illusions of dementia. The intoxicating island of Lyra is almost a character in its own right, its prescence casting a shadow over all Elle's memories. The comparisons to Wide Sargasso Sea are not far off.
Heartbreakingly beautiful, The Stars Are Not Yet Bells is a real must-read.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
byoung1997's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
erincataldi's review
3.0
A vivid and lyrical novel exploring the mind of a woman suffering from dementia in her old age. Elle and her husband Simon were sent to Lyra Island by Simon's wealthy father to explore the mysterious blue lights around the island and discover if they really harbor minerals with mystical properties. Decades later, Elle's mind is no longer her own and she can't tell the difference from the past and the present; her life is becoming a jumble of memories. She starts to fixate on the one thing her life that got away - her true love, Gabriel. But where has he gone? Why is Elle's life in such disarray and what has happened to Simon's family's business? What are the blue lights? Beautiful, heartbreaking prose takes readers deep inside Elle's mind as she tries to piece together the timeline of her tumultuous life. Haunting, seductive, and enchanting. Narrator, Hillary Huber, does a perfect execution of Elle's disarrayed thoughts and narrative. Poetic and enchanting - this story will stay with readers long after they've finished the novel.
peaches1951's review
3.0
The quality of the writing, the gorgeous images, and the journey we the readers share with Elle, should give this a "5". But I was fatigued at the "shouting" between the family members, and Elle's final act was no surprise at all. It hit me with the subtlety of a 2X4 to the head. Every character is tragic. Beautifully written, and being in the mind of a person with progressive dementia was interesting. But even though it was short, I longed for the end.