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deedireads's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
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Billed as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi, A Short Walk Through a Wide World is a sweeping, magical story about the life of a girl (eventually a woman) who cannot spend more than three days in the same place. If she stays too long, her body will shut down and she will die. So she wanders the world dozens and dozens of times over, meeting new people and seeing whatever there is to see — including the impossible. But without the ties that bind us to others, what is the purpose of a life?
I was drawn to this book because I love literary magical realism and because I loved Addie LaRue. It definitely delivers on the magic. The Addie comparison is thanks to the plot similarities and not Douglas Westerbeke writing anything like VE Schwab, but that was okay — there was plenty to love and get lost in, especially if you have a bad case of wanderlust.
I will say that the plot was a little more “and then and then and then” than I would prefer (and yet also somehow nonlinear?), and don’t expect a well-explained magic system, but this book is definitely storytelling at its finest. It’s easy to get swept away, and Aubrey’s loneliness is palpable and heartbreaking. I also found its meditation on purpose and relationships and what it means to live well to be quite powerful.
If you also love magic and travel, give this one a shot.
Billed as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi, A Short Walk Through a Wide World is a sweeping, magical story about the life of a girl (eventually a woman) who cannot spend more than three days in the same place. If she stays too long, her body will shut down and she will die. So she wanders the world dozens and dozens of times over, meeting new people and seeing whatever there is to see — including the impossible. But without the ties that bind us to others, what is the purpose of a life?
I was drawn to this book because I love literary magical realism and because I loved Addie LaRue. It definitely delivers on the magic. The Addie comparison is thanks to the plot similarities and not Douglas Westerbeke writing anything like VE Schwab, but that was okay — there was plenty to love and get lost in, especially if you have a bad case of wanderlust.
I will say that the plot was a little more “and then and then and then” than I would prefer (and yet also somehow nonlinear?), and don’t expect a well-explained magic system, but this book is definitely storytelling at its finest. It’s easy to get swept away, and Aubrey’s loneliness is palpable and heartbreaking. I also found its meditation on purpose and relationships and what it means to live well to be quite powerful.
If you also love magic and travel, give this one a shot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Body horror
sariereads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment and Grief
Minor: Sexual content
gondorgirl's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
nukie19's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This was a delightful, page-turning adventure. It was a great amalgamation of world traveler, mysterious magic, and pure library fantasy setting. Following Aubrey through her exploits, almost always in how she related the stories to others she meets along the way, kept the story progressing not quite always linearly but certainly in a way that keeps the reader engaged. This is absolutely a book you’ll stay awake too long reading.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, Confinement, and Murder
minniepauline's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I was hooked from the first sentence. The description from the publisher likening it to Addie LaRue and Life of Pi is apt. But this book is also very different from those. It takes on philosophy, illness, time. What it means to live and what a life is worth. Aubry Tourvel develops an illness at nine years old which makes her unable stay anywhere for more than a few days, and yet she manages to find love, over and over, and to lose it over and over. She manages both to be surprised and to expect the kindness of strangers. To both marvel at and take for granted the magic she finds. To expect grief and to be floored by it, over and over and over again.
This book has affected me in a way that few books have. (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is another.) Aubry will stay with. I will want to read her story again.
This book has affected me in a way that few books have. (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is another.) Aubry will stay with. I will want to read her story again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, and Violence
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: War and Xenophobia
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