Scan barcode
atcarp17's review
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
wormposting's review
5.0
spooky dark little book, fitting read for october. learned many vocab words too
thequeenofsheba3's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ms_gouldbourne's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
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
3.25
This is such a strange book! I was definitely completely hooked from start to finish, though at times I did find it somewhat slow. O Caledonia tells the story of awkward, isolated Janet, born into a family of people who don't understand her and struggling to find her place in a world with no room for her. We learn the fate that awaits her in the opening paragraphs of the book, and from there the story unfurls gently, exploring exactly how she gets there.
My heart absolutely ached for Janet - she's very neurodivergent-coded, the absolute classic round peg fighting to fit into a square hole, and I thought Elspeth Barker perfectly captured the awkward desperation for acceptance, particularly during Janet's teenage years. Her writing is lyrical and intelligent, and for every literary reference I caught, I'm sure there were about twelve I missed!
The reason O Caledonia doesn't get a higher rating from me is really the ending. The climax of the novel happened extremely quickly and without the careful introspection given to the rest of the book, and I didn't enjoy it. It made me question what the actual point of the novel was - what was the message, what was I as a reader supposed to take from it! It's a shame, because it's a beautiful piece of literature, but I just wanted it to go somewhere different and it didn't.
My heart absolutely ached for Janet - she's very neurodivergent-coded, the absolute classic round peg fighting to fit into a square hole, and I thought Elspeth Barker perfectly captured the awkward desperation for acceptance, particularly during Janet's teenage years. Her writing is lyrical and intelligent, and for every literary reference I caught, I'm sure there were about twelve I missed!
The reason O Caledonia doesn't get a higher rating from me is really the ending. The climax of the novel happened extremely quickly and without the careful introspection given to the rest of the book, and I didn't enjoy it. It made me question what the actual point of the novel was - what was the message, what was I as a reader supposed to take from it! It's a shame, because it's a beautiful piece of literature, but I just wanted it to go somewhere different and it didn't.
adventurepants2's review
mysterious
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
4.0
arrugula's review
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
#VisitScotland
queer_futomaki's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
laschmidt's review
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
discordantnote's review
5.0
This isn't a review. I'm gushing. Look away it's about to get gross.
I love this book. I'm not ashamed to say I kissed a page. In moments of my own Janet themed gloom I whisper aloud a line of Elspeth's and forget in which world I reside.
"The empire of the winds is shared by the offspring of Eos the dawn and Astraeus the starry sky."
That's everything and nothing, compared to the rest. It's a practiced, anticipatory breath of preparation before the grand aria that inspires a standing ovation. Her writing is lyrical and ingenious. Her descriptions of nature are worshipful and I deeply understand that. As a lover and observer of nature, I understand how alienating and nonsensical it is that when you see a resplendent belted kingfisher heralding the thaw in a regal, perfected dive, the rest of the world barely hears the splash. Isn't that totally lacking, "in apprehension of the glories of the world"? Exactly, Elspeth. Too fucking right.
Our focus, Janet, is perfect in all of her flaws. She's better for them. She glowers, she's vindictive, weak, fearful, and subject to minor moments of mania and delusion. She's not a heroine I'd typically admire. In my throes of pathological perfectionism I tend to fall for the false Mary Sues before I learn their secret sobriquets. Janet is not a, "strong female protagonist" in the most vulgar sense. But, she is fiercely intelligent and incredibly courageous. She never abandons the most loathsomely sad and pitiable creatures or things. She looks them straight in the eye, contemplates their plight, feels it deeply, and carries them in her heart forever. I am happily ashamed to acknowledge that I am rarely so strong. At times, she's teased or hated or humiliated for being exactly who she is, but never becomes anyone else. Only, she learns to haphazardly navigate the active minefield of unerring individualism.
Sometimes, her morbidity and her cursed, doomed nature was so funny to me. Elspeth made it so. "My woe is their laughter." Sometimes it filled with me a deep sense of familiar melancholy. Elspeth also made it so. "Woe for me in my misery." In both ways, a rare and lovely sensation.
This book is at once morbidly horrifying and hilarious, a nature diary, a melodious love song to the art of language, and a ghastly account of an unforgivable crime. When I turned the last page, I was confronted with the enormity of the loss-- an unadulterated mind of a kind we desperately need in this world-- and I cried for Janet as I couldn't at the advent of her doomed tale.
I love this book!
I love this book. I'm not ashamed to say I kissed a page. In moments of my own Janet themed gloom I whisper aloud a line of Elspeth's and forget in which world I reside.
"The empire of the winds is shared by the offspring of Eos the dawn and Astraeus the starry sky."
That's everything and nothing, compared to the rest. It's a practiced, anticipatory breath of preparation before the grand aria that inspires a standing ovation. Her writing is lyrical and ingenious. Her descriptions of nature are worshipful and I deeply understand that. As a lover and observer of nature, I understand how alienating and nonsensical it is that when you see a resplendent belted kingfisher heralding the thaw in a regal, perfected dive, the rest of the world barely hears the splash. Isn't that totally lacking, "in apprehension of the glories of the world"? Exactly, Elspeth. Too fucking right.
Our focus, Janet, is perfect in all of her flaws. She's better for them. She glowers, she's vindictive, weak, fearful, and subject to minor moments of mania and delusion. She's not a heroine I'd typically admire. In my throes of pathological perfectionism I tend to fall for the false Mary Sues before I learn their secret sobriquets. Janet is not a, "strong female protagonist" in the most vulgar sense. But, she is fiercely intelligent and incredibly courageous. She never abandons the most loathsomely sad and pitiable creatures or things. She looks them straight in the eye, contemplates their plight, feels it deeply, and carries them in her heart forever. I am happily ashamed to acknowledge that I am rarely so strong. At times, she's teased or hated or humiliated for being exactly who she is, but never becomes anyone else. Only, she learns to haphazardly navigate the active minefield of unerring individualism.
Sometimes, her morbidity and her cursed, doomed nature was so funny to me. Elspeth made it so. "My woe is their laughter." Sometimes it filled with me a deep sense of familiar melancholy. Elspeth also made it so. "Woe for me in my misery." In both ways, a rare and lovely sensation.
This book is at once morbidly horrifying and hilarious, a nature diary, a melodious love song to the art of language, and a ghastly account of an unforgivable crime. When I turned the last page, I was confronted with the enormity of the loss-- an unadulterated mind of a kind we desperately need in this world-- and I cried for Janet as I couldn't at the advent of her doomed tale.
I love this book!