Reviews

Questo libro mi è piaciuto! Non per la storia che racconta, chiaramente frutto di fantasia e inverosimile, quanto piuttosto per la profondità delle riflessioni, per la capacità di cogliere alcuni aspetti, a mio avviso comuni, del percorso di vita degli esseri umani.
Credo sia vero che "gli esseri umani non vivono più di cent’anni per il semplice motivo che non hanno le risorse per farlo. Quelle psicologiche, voglio dire. Alla fine si esauriscono. Non hanno abbastanza individualità per tirare avanti. Si annoiano di sé stessi e dei loro pensieri. Della vita che continua a ripetersi. Del fatto che dopo un po’ non ci sia più né un sorriso né un gesto che non abbiano già visto. Nemmeno un cambiamento nell’ordine del mondo che non riecheggi altri cambiamenti del passato".
Se questo è vero in un ciclo di vita normale che nella migliore delle ipotesi può durare un secolo, il concetto è amplificato per un arco temporale di vita di oltre quattrocento anni, come quello di Tom che, a causa di una rara patologia, è condannato a non invecchiare.
Però è interessante constatare che uno stimolo nuovo che restituisce vitalità scaturisce solo dalla capacità di osare, di accettare il rischio di nuove esperienze che per quanto incerte nel loro evolversi, ti consentono di vivere e di non rimanere asfitticamente legati al passato.

ebonyfleet's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

jencunn2024's review against another edition

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1.0

I tried and tried to like this book, especially since I was reading it for my local book club. I couldn’t get into it except for one short section about 1/3 in. This book seemed to pull ideas from so many other known novels and storylines. The premise was enticing but completely fell flat for me. It was boring and uneventful. I even tried skipping forward several times to see if it would get better but as far as I could tell it never did and never would. So I made the conscious decision to not finish the rest and to jump to the end to see if anything comes together in an extraordinary way. Nothing really earth-shattering or enlightening. Not much seemed to happen. The book’s only redeeming quality for me was quotables, but I think that was part of the problem. It seemed like Haig was trying to witw something highly intellectual and intelligent, but it was more like he was coming up with a great line and trying to find a way to weave the story from that great line to the next. It doesn’t work for me. The characters were mostly dull and repetitive amongst their personalities, demeanors, and choices.

lmsully's review against another edition

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4.0

“The past stays and echoes even as modernity roars ahead.”

lyss_z_17's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.0

lizreadsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

I do love a story that plays with time and the human experience, but this one felt very slow through the first 200 pages. I think the pacing might have worked better as a novella. I also felt as if there were still a lot of unanswered questions about the central conflict.

I did like these lines, though: “If I could live without doubt, what would I do? What joys would I allow myself? How, in short, would I live?”

norcalkt's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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