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A review by buer
The Odyssey by Lara Williams
medium-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
2.5
I don’t consider the following to have any spoilers because it’s very vague, but if that makes you nervous, maybe don’t read this.
I love magical realism, but The Odyssey did not do it for me. Lara Williams starts us off on a cruise ship with an odd protagonist who then takes a sharp left turn into being an extreme alcoholic and then takes another sharp left turn into possibly also being delusional or crazy.
The reader is left wondering how much of the narrative was true and - at least for me - any joy that might be found in the cartoonish setting of the decaying cruise ship at the end of the story is lost in the general confusion of what happened and what’s happening.
Williams does a good job of superficially closing the loop of the story, but it felt a bit like a cop out to me, like laughing at a joke because it’s familiar or agreeing with an argument because you’ve heard it before.
I wouldn’t recommend this book - it’s consistently yucky and I had second hand embarrassment for a lot of it, but if you like weird stuff and don’t mind unreliable narrators and ambiguous characters endings, you might like this.
I love magical realism, but The Odyssey did not do it for me. Lara Williams starts us off on a cruise ship with an odd protagonist who then takes a sharp left turn into being an extreme alcoholic and then takes another sharp left turn into possibly also being delusional or crazy.
The reader is left wondering how much of the narrative was true and - at least for me - any joy that might be found in the cartoonish setting of the decaying cruise ship at the end of the story is lost in the general confusion of what happened and what’s happening.
Williams does a good job of superficially closing the loop of the story, but it felt a bit like a cop out to me, like laughing at a joke because it’s familiar or agreeing with an argument because you’ve heard it before.
I wouldn’t recommend this book - it’s consistently yucky and I had second hand embarrassment for a lot of it, but if you like weird stuff and don’t mind unreliable narrators and ambiguous characters endings, you might like this.