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A review by fullybooked22
Lote by Shola von Reinhold
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.25
I wouldn't have finished this book if it hadn't been a course book, I'm glad I did but I really was dragging myself through the first quarter/half.
The first "chapter" is 100 pages long which I found quite demotivating (I'm always one for short chapters tbh), later in the book things are broken up a little more frequently which helped this pacing
the sections from other "books" are fun and I found enjoyable
There is a lot of confusion throughout this book, you're not told much about the main characters, the residency that Mathilde finds herself on is not explained for a frustratingly long time, in order to convey HER confusion with Thought Art the reader is simultaneously confused which while effective was not encouraging as a reading experience.
From the point where Erskine-Lily is introduced (about 3/4 of the way through) I found myself enjoying everything much more, and I read the final 100 or so pages in one sitting very comfortably but at the start I couldn't read 5 pages without fidgeting and wanting to move onto something else
Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you had intentions to discuss wider themes that it covers (e.g. what is left out of historical canon/archives, exploration of people of colour through history, queerness) in which case I think it is very interesting but without these avenues for focus I think I would have found myself too overwhelmed to take anything of value in
The first "chapter" is 100 pages long which I found quite demotivating (I'm always one for short chapters tbh), later in the book things are broken up a little more frequently which helped this pacing
the sections from other "books" are fun and I found enjoyable
There is a lot of confusion throughout this book, you're not told much about the main characters, the residency that Mathilde finds herself on is not explained for a frustratingly long time, in order to convey HER confusion with Thought Art the reader is simultaneously confused which while effective was not encouraging as a reading experience.
From the point where Erskine-Lily is introduced (about 3/4 of the way through) I found myself enjoying everything much more, and I read the final 100 or so pages in one sitting very comfortably but at the start I couldn't read 5 pages without fidgeting and wanting to move onto something else
Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you had intentions to discuss wider themes that it covers (e.g. what is left out of historical canon/archives, exploration of people of colour through history, queerness) in which case I think it is very interesting but without these avenues for focus I think I would have found myself too overwhelmed to take anything of value in