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cecilialau_'s review against another edition
4.25
This was my second Moore novel after The Retreat.
I loved it. I found it really intriguing and couldn’t stop. It was Moore’s signature frustrating characters and innuendos and indirect directness and weirdness as well, idk how to explain it.
I’d heard it was “just okay” from someone I trust, but I knew I wanted to read it myself, and I still had an expectation of enjoying it.
Moore is fantastic imo
I loved it. I found it really intriguing and couldn’t stop. It was Moore’s signature frustrating characters and innuendos and indirect directness and weirdness as well, idk how to explain it.
I’d heard it was “just okay” from someone I trust, but I knew I wanted to read it myself, and I still had an expectation of enjoying it.
Moore is fantastic imo
ichirofakename's review against another edition
2.0
Made it a little past a quarter of the way in. WAY too depressing to be read in good times, let alone during the 2020 lockdown. Pathetic guy takes a walking vacation.
afitzpatrick's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
cschulein's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
fatamo's review against another edition
5.0
I read this in the four hour drive from Dubai to Muscat. Leaving Dubai, I put my head down, started reading, and when I looked up I was across the border and just about home. I think this is that kind of book. It's become harder for me to get really sucked into a good read, mainly because I've become more picky, more easily distracted, and also because I've been threw quite a few duds lately.
Moore created a story here that is very unusual. There is no one here that is outright remarkable; the characters involved are mundane, everyday people. The main character Futh, works as a chemist in an artificial scents factory (yeah I don't remember if there was a more correct term for those places so bear with me!), he goes on a walking holiday in Germany. I'm sorry, no offense to anyone who enjoys doing this, but a walking holiday sounds like a pretty mundane way to spend a week anywhere.
Anyway, here we have this average guy taking an average holiday alone, sort of to clear his head from the boring demise of his seemingly mundane marriage... I know it sounds like I'm dissing the book. Really I'm trying to highlight how fantastic Moore's writing is. With all this, she created a narrative that was poetic, evocative, PROvocative, sensual, sensitive and memorable. Ok it was haunting. I know this word has been used a lot to describe it, but that's what it was.
And despite all the ordinariness of the characters - or perhaps because of them - they somehow become quite extraordinary. They are extraordinary because (in my humble opinion) the thing that binds them together is the thing that they suffer from: loneliness.
I completely understand why Moore was shortlisted for the Booker, what I don't understand was why she didn't win.
Moore created a story here that is very unusual. There is no one here that is outright remarkable; the characters involved are mundane, everyday people. The main character Futh, works as a chemist in an artificial scents factory (yeah I don't remember if there was a more correct term for those places so bear with me!), he goes on a walking holiday in Germany. I'm sorry, no offense to anyone who enjoys doing this, but a walking holiday sounds like a pretty mundane way to spend a week anywhere.
Anyway, here we have this average guy taking an average holiday alone, sort of to clear his head from the boring demise of his seemingly mundane marriage... I know it sounds like I'm dissing the book. Really I'm trying to highlight how fantastic Moore's writing is. With all this, she created a narrative that was poetic, evocative, PROvocative, sensual, sensitive and memorable. Ok it was haunting. I know this word has been used a lot to describe it, but that's what it was.
And despite all the ordinariness of the characters - or perhaps because of them - they somehow become quite extraordinary. They are extraordinary because (in my humble opinion) the thing that binds them together is the thing that they suffer from: loneliness.
I completely understand why Moore was shortlisted for the Booker, what I don't understand was why she didn't win.
sweddy65's review against another edition
3.0
Well written but the characters were impossible to like.
lola425's review against another edition
4.0
This is another one of those books that you think is going to one thing (a taut psychological thriller) that turns out to be something else (and even better). The chapters told in alternating points of view, and a shifting sense of time keep you just unbalanced enough. You know nothing good is going to happen in the end and you can guess what that nothing good is that it doesn't matter that in the end it is left vague and unfinished, because it wasn't what was important in the first place. Recommended for readers a who prefer depth with their suspense.
richardpierce's review against another edition
2.0
I just didn't get this. There appears no real pacing in the story, the characters are very two-dimension (or even one-dimensional), and I found the precision and profusion of detail misleading, evasive and ultimately monotonous. Sorry.
bettyvd's review against another edition
3.0
Een goed geschreven debuut. Een karakterschets van twee mensen die ploeteren om te overleven in een doodgewoon maar naargeestig leven. Een beetje 'overdone' en daarom geen vier sterren.