Reviews

I guess it can be a great summer read. Especially, this summer of2024. Trippy, summertime-sadness-like, timeless nostalgia, an attempt of changing messy modern reality to an orderly illusion of the past perfect, while being human, losing you memory and trying to remember people you once loved so much.

lolaaaaah's review against another edition

Go to review page

Liked the premise but the style is not for me. Wasn’t expecting it to be the way it is. Found the narration confusing and didn’t understand the references so decided to stop

bluejayreads's review

Go to review page

I really wanted to actually finish this book - mainly because I was just so close to finishing it and it felt like I might as well push through. But eventually I gave up. Life's too short to read bad books, or those that probably aren't bad but are definitely dull and beyond my comprehension. This feels like a book that might be assigned in a class on post-World War II Europe. That's not a bad thing. If I'd been reading it with an instructor's guidance and through some sort of historical-critical lens, I might have had a chance at understanding what the heck was happening here. But without some additional guidance, it feels like something that Eastern Europeans who grew up in the 1970s-1980s would find relatable, funny, and/or true to life, but that I just didn't get as an American who grew up in the 2000s. And that definitely didn't help my enjoyment, because without that understanding this book is just dull. The initial concept, setting up rooms as if they're from previous decades as an experimental dementia treatment, was interesting. But the unnamed narrator kept going on long tangents about European history and attitudes, to the point where the entire Part 4 of the book is just a discussion of what year or decade the majority of people in each European country think is the best. There are also some weird and confusing elements that feel almost like they're trying to be magical realism but not quite succeeding, or maybe are metaphors that I just don't get. Either way, it all felt very boring and pointless. Or perhaps I just don't have enough context or background information or intelligence or something to understand the point.

Content Warnings

will_meringue's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

The past can only be played by four hands, by four hands at the very least.

annacampb's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

itisevie's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

More...