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booksreverything's review
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
babylarinha's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
alice_u's review
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
anice's review
dark
sad
fast-paced
4.0
A deeply sad quasi-memoir on the violence of fascism. Amidst the series of vignettes displaying the utter psychological destruction of the father of a disappeared young revolutionary woman, we get a passage where this father considers the future of his writing career. The activity of writing feels utterly meaningless in a world of complete hopelessness, cruelty, and brutality. What are we as readers supposed to make of this? The act of reading must be just as meaningless as the act of writing. What does bearing witness to the atrocities of the brazilian junta accomplish? Seemingly nothing will ever or has ever changed, and nothing will right the wrongs of the past. In the same chapter though, it is revealed how the man's writing is what connected him to his community and allowed him to have any amount of prosperity in his business. Giving up on connections to community is certainly relenting to the will of fascists.
The main character bears the name of "K." A moniker that connects the character to the author's own last initial and to the character of Joseph K in Kafka's 'The Trial.' It also erases the identity and reality of the character, anonymizing them into obscurity, denying their historicity while also suggesting a need for anonymity of a potentially real once living person. The details of K's life are incredibly specific and intricate. And yet are also a generic grab bag of facts about jewish history and culture by a non-Jewish author. This sense of universality and specificity allows this fictional non-fiction book to exist as a powerful historical artifact that never existed and yet must exist.
The main character bears the name of "K." A moniker that connects the character to the author's own last initial and to the character of Joseph K in Kafka's 'The Trial.' It also erases the identity and reality of the character, anonymizing them into obscurity, denying their historicity while also suggesting a need for anonymity of a potentially real once living person. The details of K's life are incredibly specific and intricate. And yet are also a generic grab bag of facts about jewish history and culture by a non-Jewish author. This sense of universality and specificity allows this fictional non-fiction book to exist as a powerful historical artifact that never existed and yet must exist.
tammyd's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
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