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mrspdb's review against another edition
3.0
Beautiful writing, but the constant lying by the protagonist just kept me too on edge.
blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
You go into this book thinking you know what will happen. But you are wrong, and realize that you do not know anything. You do not even know who is speaking, or if you are you.
Ok so the whole point with that was to show how the book is written in 2nd POV. At first I was a bit what? I can't even remember the last thing I read anything in 2nd POV. But in the end it did help with the dilemma the main character is facing.
The main character, who has no name, since we are on the outside and in her head. She comes to Casablanca, her things gets stolen. She takes on another persona. She gets a job all the sudden. She wonders about her stolen persona. She is lying to everyone. And then we found out that she is also lying to herself. Little by little the pieces fall aside and we learn about her. That is when I really started to feel sorry for her.
The book feels intense even though it's short and not intense. It might feels so cos we are stuck in her head. You feel what you feel.
The end was rather sudden, I did want more. But I wish her the best.
Enjoyable.
Ok so the whole point with that was to show how the book is written in 2nd POV. At first I was a bit what? I can't even remember the last thing I read anything in 2nd POV. But in the end it did help with the dilemma the main character is facing.
The main character, who has no name, since we are on the outside and in her head. She comes to Casablanca, her things gets stolen. She takes on another persona. She gets a job all the sudden. She wonders about her stolen persona. She is lying to everyone. And then we found out that she is also lying to herself. Little by little the pieces fall aside and we learn about her. That is when I really started to feel sorry for her.
The book feels intense even though it's short and not intense. It might feels so cos we are stuck in her head. You feel what you feel.
The end was rather sudden, I did want more. But I wish her the best.
Enjoyable.
knightedbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to read about Morocco. I know some people did not like the second person point of view but I liked it.
bofrazer's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it. Part nightmare and comedy of errors. But I remember that my English teacher told me to avoid the second person.
margaret21's review against another edition
4.0
I chose this book for one reason. I wanted to understand how it might be possible to write a whole book in the second person. It is possible. In the case of this story, it distances us from a protagonist who wants to stay distant. She's a young unnamed woman who's come - fled perhaps - from Florida to Casablanca. Checking into her hotel, her backpack with all her important documents is stolen. The police 'find' it, but it's not hers, the woman whose documents it contains is not her. But she accepts it. In many ways, losing her given identity suits her. She soon changes her identity again... and again. Her need for anonymity runs deep, perhaps partly from her wish to escape her own face, disfigured by teenage acne. Perhaps because of what we come to know of her story - no spoiler alerts here though. Through what little agency she has, she time and again shifts the ground beneath her feet. This is a novel of profound unease and bewilderment, and distancing our heroine from us by simply calling her 'you' is a part of that bewilderment. An unsettling reading experience - recommended.
twildsmith's review against another edition
4.0
The second-person narrative took some getting used to, but overall, this was a quick, fun read.
bybyberry's review against another edition
2.0
I read We Run The Tides by Vendela Vida in January and it's one of my favorite reads of 2023. So I was excited to explore more of her work. Sadly, this one didn't work for me.
Though I like the use of the second person writing, to immerse the reader, but otherwise, the writing feels a bit too straightforward for my taste. Crazy, given how much I loved the We Run The Tides prose (I guess it came out 6 years so that might explain it).
I like the idea of the story more than its execution. It's hard to connect with the character, given how little we know about her, and some of her choices made me eye-rolled too much to empathize with her. To put it plainly, I thought she was bit a dumb at times: I mean, who doesn't google the exchange rate when traveling to a country with a different currency? This is one example, but it's telling of how the unnamed narrator acts. Her sort of constant paranoia, especially at the beginning of the book, feels odd and misplaced. The story drifts in strange, hard-to-believe directions, and to top it off, the ending feels cliché.
Though I like the use of the second person writing, to immerse the reader, but otherwise, the writing feels a bit too straightforward for my taste. Crazy, given how much I loved the We Run The Tides prose (I guess it came out 6 years so that might explain it).
I like the idea of the story more than its execution. It's hard to connect with the character, given how little we know about her, and some of her choices made me eye-rolled too much to empathize with her. To put it plainly, I thought she was bit a dumb at times: I mean, who doesn't google the exchange rate when traveling to a country with a different currency? This is one example, but it's telling of how the unnamed narrator acts. Her sort of constant paranoia, especially at the beginning of the book, feels odd and misplaced. The story drifts in strange, hard-to-believe directions, and to top it off, the ending feels cliché.
stevienlcf's review against another edition
4.0
In her latest in her series of American heroines who journey abroad to escape a domestic disappointment, Vida sets the tale in Casablanca. The unnamed, 33 year-old protagonist is traveling alone from Miami after the breakup of her marriage. She is a fraternal twin who lacked her sister’s beauty and personality, but attended an expensive all-girls school on a scholarship. Upon her arrival at her disappointingly modest hotel, her pack back with her laptop, passport and wallet is stolen. She accepts from the police chief a pack back, passport and wallet belonging to a Sabine Alyse.. Although she fears that the woman may have come to a bad end, she foolishly accepts the items without protest, concluding that the police chief was “communicating that a deal had been made and you were to uphold your end of it.”
Although she has been stripped of her identity, she blithely assumes various others – when she fears that Alyse’s credit cards will be cancelled, she obtains a job as a stand-in for a famous American actress and assumes the hotel room of the former stand-in who left after her affair with the married director was exposed. As the stand-in for a famous American actress, the protagonist enjoys the perks of celebrity: meeting Patti Smith backstage, dinner with a wealthy Russian businessman, the attention of tabloid reporters.
Vida tells the tale in second person which makes the taut narrative especially compulsive although the plot is thin. Impersonation builds upon impersonation as the protagonist, who has a penchant for disguise due to the telltale scars of teenage acne that mar her skin, and we see the emancipation of a woman who was accustomed to playing the stand-in.
Although she has been stripped of her identity, she blithely assumes various others – when she fears that Alyse’s credit cards will be cancelled, she obtains a job as a stand-in for a famous American actress and assumes the hotel room of the former stand-in who left after her affair with the married director was exposed. As the stand-in for a famous American actress, the protagonist enjoys the perks of celebrity: meeting Patti Smith backstage, dinner with a wealthy Russian businessman, the attention of tabloid reporters.
Vida tells the tale in second person which makes the taut narrative especially compulsive although the plot is thin. Impersonation builds upon impersonation as the protagonist, who has a penchant for disguise due to the telltale scars of teenage acne that mar her skin, and we see the emancipation of a woman who was accustomed to playing the stand-in.