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nerdygnome's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
As a debut novel, A Short Walk Through a Wide World is quite impressive. I found the premise of the book immediately intriguing and the narrative immersive. It isn't without flaws, however, and may have been more impressive if the "short walk" was a bit shorter or the "wide world" a bit narrower in scope. While I felt immediately drawn in, my interest did ebb and flow, especially with a growing fatigue over the repetitive pattern of meet-bleed-travel.
In the end, I couldn't help but feel that the novel would have been so much richer if the author had given Aubrey more than a few days in each location before disaster struck. I wished for deeper relationships with the characters she encountered so that we could both better get to know her as a person and more poignantly feel the gut punch of her mandatory nomadic existence. While the central focus of the book is Aubrey's development over time, I know too little of what makes her tick, even after 400 pages of walking alongside her. Her primary drive is simply to stay ahead of the pain and bleeding, and this makes her a bit one-sided in the end. There were missed opportunities for a deeper sense of who she would have been without that illness and what her desires for life would be as that person rather than as a person simply on the run.
Overall, I enjoyed A Short Walk Through a Wide World and found it does have a certain meandering, mesmerizing appeal. This novel will be ideal for those who prefer magical realism, fantasy, or books that have an open-ended feel. While I don't think the character development was quite strong enough to call this a character-driven novel, I also didn't find the plot strong enough to say it was driven by plot. As such, it's going to be best for readers who have patience with slower-paced books, and it won't be a page-turner for all readers.
On a side note, as a trigger warning — I am not someone who struggles with gore or blood, and yet even I found the frequent references to blood a bit much. Profuse bleeding from essentially any orifice is the defining feature of her illness, so it makes sense that there would be frequent mention of it, but it does get a bit tiresome to hear about copious amounts of blood consistently throughout the book.
In the end, I couldn't help but feel that the novel would have been so much richer if the author had given Aubrey more than a few days in each location before disaster struck. I wished for deeper relationships with the characters she encountered so that we could both better get to know her as a person and more poignantly feel the gut punch of her mandatory nomadic existence. While the central focus of the book is Aubrey's development over time, I know too little of what makes her tick, even after 400 pages of walking alongside her. Her primary drive is simply to stay ahead of the pain and bleeding, and this makes her a bit one-sided in the end. There were missed opportunities for a deeper sense of who she would have been without that illness and what her desires for life would be as that person rather than as a person simply on the run.
Overall, I enjoyed A Short Walk Through a Wide World and found it does have a certain meandering, mesmerizing appeal. This novel will be ideal for those who prefer magical realism, fantasy, or books that have an open-ended feel. While I don't think the character development was quite strong enough to call this a character-driven novel, I also didn't find the plot strong enough to say it was driven by plot. As such, it's going to be best for readers who have patience with slower-paced books, and it won't be a page-turner for all readers.
On a side note, as a trigger warning — I am not someone who struggles with gore or blood, and yet even I found the frequent references to blood a bit much. Profuse bleeding from essentially any orifice is the defining feature of her illness, so it makes sense that there would be frequent mention of it, but it does get a bit tiresome to hear about copious amounts of blood consistently throughout the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
knitdyeread's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
samburkhouse's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Terminal illness, and Animal death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Death of parent
kierstyn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
I don't usually like magical realism, but the premise of this book sounded really intriguing, I just didn't like the way it was presented. we follow the main character from the age of 9 into her senile years as she wanders the globe at the mercy of her disease that won't let her stop travelling because the disease wants to see the world. the disease also has conversations with her which is weird. I guess even though this book is magical realism I was still looking for a more realistic approach than magical so I didn't really like the magical aspects.
I think we could have really dove deep into a few of her travel scenarios and really got to know a select handful of places, what they were like, what she experienced and learned there, who she met etc., but instead we are given hundredssss of places she has travelled and each one is not explained in detail, just gone over very shallowly. this doesn't leave me with a way to connect to the character or the culture/landscape because she moves on so easily from everyone/everything. even if she says she is sad, that is told to us and not shown to us. it would have been more impactful if we spent more time in some places and really got to KNOW the people she meets, and therefore the character herself. instead, she likes to travel to places, meet men, fall in love with them in 2 days and then has to leave. this happens like 3 times in the book.
going off of this, the book reads as very tell and not show. for example "the character did this and she did this and she felt this," which leaves me with no way to connect to her because she feels like a character and not an actual person. I found that all of the characters were one dimensional and flat which led me to not being able to connect with/care for anyone. the dialogue is also very stilted and does not flow naturally.
another thing, this book is set in 1885 to the mid 1900s, yet it could have taken place in really any time period because there are, again, not a lot of descriptions that set the scene around the character, escape the fact that we know she travels by foot and boat and not by plane. there are tons of descriptions about blood and animal death. the chapters also jump all over the place and I was continually losing track of the order of events, how old the character was when certain things were happening etc.
also this book is nothing like life of pi, I really don't understand that reference?
so did I enjoy reading the book? kind of. I was expecting something different from what I read which has affected my rating.
I think we could have really dove deep into a few of her travel scenarios and really got to know a select handful of places, what they were like, what she experienced and learned there, who she met etc., but instead we are given hundredssss of places she has travelled and each one is not explained in detail, just gone over very shallowly. this doesn't leave me with a way to connect to the character or the culture/landscape because she moves on so easily from everyone/everything. even if she says she is sad, that is told to us and not shown to us. it would have been more impactful if we spent more time in some places and really got to KNOW the people she meets, and therefore the character herself. instead, she likes to travel to places, meet men, fall in love with them in 2 days and then has to leave. this happens like 3 times in the book.
going off of this, the book reads as very tell and not show. for example "the character did this and she did this and she felt this," which leaves me with no way to connect to her because she feels like a character and not an actual person. I found that all of the characters were one dimensional and flat which led me to not being able to connect with/care for anyone. the dialogue is also very stilted and does not flow naturally.
another thing, this book is set in 1885 to the mid 1900s, yet it could have taken place in really any time period because there are, again, not a lot of descriptions that set the scene around the character, escape the fact that we know she travels by foot and boat and not by plane. there are tons of descriptions about blood and animal death. the chapters also jump all over the place and I was continually losing track of the order of events, how old the character was when certain things were happening etc.
also this book is nothing like life of pi, I really don't understand that reference?
so did I enjoy reading the book? kind of. I was expecting something different from what I read which has affected my rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
twister's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
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
All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/.
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
aturb92's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A great picture of magical realism, and a portrait of what it is to live and be human.
Abrey asks some huge questions about life during her travels.
My only qualm is I wish there had been more of a wrap-up with why and how her affliction started. But I know that is sometimes what you get with a book in this sun-genre.
Definitely five stars, and the audiobook was fantastic!
Abrey asks some huge questions about life during her travels.
My only qualm is I wish there had been more of a wrap-up with why and how her affliction started. But I know that is sometimes what you get with a book in this sun-genre.
Definitely five stars, and the audiobook was fantastic!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Vomit, and Blood
Minor: Death of parent
marieobr's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This book had a very interesting premise, but it turned out to be so repetitive and the pace so slow that I had a hard time enjoying it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
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
sarahweyand's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Thanks to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for providing me a physical ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feedback are my own.
When I first started this book, I thought it was just a version of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE that just didn't live up to its predecessor. However, as I look back on it, I'm enjoying it more for its own merits.
I really enjoyed the fantasy aspects of this book, and I'm okay with the fact that we didn't really get an explanation for any of it. I really enjoyed the role that books and libraries played in the plot as well. I thought the premise was unique despite what it's being compared to. I thought the stories that were told and the characters we met were well-executed and interesting to read about. There were a couple of things that weren't my favorite that I'll list real quick:
When I first started this book, I thought it was just a version of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE that just didn't live up to its predecessor. However, as I look back on it, I'm enjoying it more for its own merits.
I really enjoyed the fantasy aspects of this book, and I'm okay with the fact that we didn't really get an explanation for any of it. I really enjoyed the role that books and libraries played in the plot as well. I thought the premise was unique despite what it's being compared to. I thought the stories that were told and the characters we met were well-executed and interesting to read about. There were a couple of things that weren't my favorite that I'll list real quick:
- Even if it was purposeful, the jumping timeline was very confusing to place and organize mentally
- Pacing was a little slow at times and plot points felt repetitive
- Because of the nature of the plot, we don't get a lot of relationship building or depth to the characters we met.
- Most of the plot points covered during Aubrey's journey were based around male love interests, and I find that a little disappointing given that she's travelled the whole world and met countless people.
Overall, I did enjoy the book, and I'd recommend it to people who find the synopsis interesting. I don't know if I'd recommend it over THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE, but it was still a fun read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Chronic illness
Moderate: Body horror and Domestic abuse