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jessg17's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
croaker155's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
darbo's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
0.25
This book should not have been published. I don't know what it is that makes this such an awful and jarring read but the author seemingly just wrote down what he was thinking at the time, a stream of consciousness, if you will. But I feel like there are good, enjoyable streams of consciousness (i.e. Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking) and bad ones that you're glad to finish, and this was definitely a bad one.
At the time of writing this review, I haven't even finished the book; I am some 20 pages off the end, but I just felt such anger that I had to write down my thoughts immediately so I wouldn't forget them.
In this book, the author talks about the grandson of Prince Genji- whoever that is, but I also don't care enough to inform myself - and his encounter with a monastery in search of a hidden garden, after running away from his bodyguards, which we don't even find out until about halfway in.
And the blurb makes it all sound really exciting and mysterious and right up my street, but it just wasn't. I also have absolutely no idea which time period this is supposed to be set in because it seems very old-fashioned and out of touch with modern society, which made me think it was, at the very latest, set in the 1800s, if not 1700s or before, but then the book mentions phones and TVs and cars, so it has to be mid to late 1900s or even set in the present day, but I honestly couldn't tell you.
One thing that definitely didn't make this book any better either, was the lack of full stops or paragraphs. The author sometimes uses them, but only very, very rarely, and instead he loves commas as well as semi-colons and the word 'namely', which is used as a connective for every other comma.
On top of that, he also really loves repeating himself, to the point where it feels like a GCSE essay that you didn't quite hit the word count for, so you just say the same thing you already said, but with different words. And that is just annoying. I constantly said to myself "Yeah, I get it, can we move on now?" but then the author would make me read it again, and again, and again.
Furthermore, the author sometimes uses beautiful prose or even poetic verse to describe the most mundane things, which makes them enjoyable to read. But that doesn't last any longer than two pages, at which point you're back to being all over the place, with no full stops or paragraphs in sight. So I just ask myself "Why doesn't he write in beautiful prose or verse all the time? He's clearly capable of it."
Also, why is the cover so ugly, empty, and hard to read? And why is the title so unnecessarily long?
I could go on forever. I am so angry at how bad this book is because I really enjoyed the first 20-30 pages and I wanted to like it, but it just kept getting worse and worse to the point of me venting my anger at this book and its author and only giving it 1 star out of 5. I'd give it 0.25 stars if it was possible. But hey, at least I now know how Japanese carpenters build monasteries and how the process takes many, many years of careful dedication and looking for inspiration from other eastern cultures.
So disappointing.
At the time of writing this review, I haven't even finished the book; I am some 20 pages off the end, but I just felt such anger that I had to write down my thoughts immediately so I wouldn't forget them.
In this book, the author talks about the grandson of Prince Genji- whoever that is, but I also don't care enough to inform myself - and his encounter with a monastery in search of a hidden garden, after running away from his bodyguards, which we don't even find out until about halfway in.
And the blurb makes it all sound really exciting and mysterious and right up my street, but it just wasn't. I also have absolutely no idea which time period this is supposed to be set in because it seems very old-fashioned and out of touch with modern society, which made me think it was, at the very latest, set in the 1800s, if not 1700s or before, but then the book mentions phones and TVs and cars, so it has to be mid to late 1900s or even set in the present day, but I honestly couldn't tell you.
One thing that definitely didn't make this book any better either, was the lack of full stops or paragraphs. The author sometimes uses them, but only very, very rarely, and instead he loves commas as well as semi-colons and the word 'namely', which is used as a connective for every other comma.
On top of that, he also really loves repeating himself, to the point where it feels like a GCSE essay that you didn't quite hit the word count for, so you just say the same thing you already said, but with different words. And that is just annoying. I constantly said to myself "Yeah, I get it, can we move on now?" but then the author would make me read it again, and again, and again.
Furthermore, the author sometimes uses beautiful prose or even poetic verse to describe the most mundane things, which makes them enjoyable to read. But that doesn't last any longer than two pages, at which point you're back to being all over the place, with no full stops or paragraphs in sight. So I just ask myself "Why doesn't he write in beautiful prose or verse all the time? He's clearly capable of it."
Also, why is the cover so ugly, empty, and hard to read? And why is the title so unnecessarily long?
I could go on forever. I am so angry at how bad this book is because I really enjoyed the first 20-30 pages and I wanted to like it, but it just kept getting worse and worse to the point of me venting my anger at this book and its author and only giving it 1 star out of 5. I'd give it 0.25 stars if it was possible. But hey, at least I now know how Japanese carpenters build monasteries and how the process takes many, many years of careful dedication and looking for inspiration from other eastern cultures.
So disappointing.
wart's review against another edition
I don't know if it's the translation or just this specific writer isn't for me, but something about the construction of the sentences just loses me.
ericomelosilva's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
thereadingsparrow's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death
granasys's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Ezt a könyvet úgy ajánlották hogy többször kell olvasni és azt hiszem így is lesz. Egyszerre megnyugtató, meditatív, mégis szinte kaotikus.
Volt pár fejezet ami kilógott nekem, és olyankor eléggé zavart, de lehet hogy egy későbbi alkalommal világosabbá válik.
Volt pár fejezet ami kilógott nekem, és olyankor eléggé zavart, de lehet hogy egy későbbi alkalommal világosabbá válik.