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lokroma's review against another edition
4.0
"...the message they [clouds] offer: all structures are collapsible. Just look at their own existence, condemned to rootlessness and fragmentation. Each cloud faces death through loss of form, drifting towards its death, some faster than others, destined to self-destruct before it reaches the other end of the horizon."
In this mesmerizing dreamscape, metaphorical clouds illuminate and obscure. They stand for humans and they stand for history. Tatiana is an expat Mexican who comes to Berlin to escape her oppressive family. She works as a transcriber for a historian and hooks up with an astronomer as she wanders by foot and on tram through every corner of a city that constantly struggles with its past. In the book's alarming climax, Tatiana faces the cruelty of history; not only German history, but all human history. She is confused and disoriented, but is finally able to return to Mexico aware that the unpredictablities of the human imagination are universal.
In this mesmerizing dreamscape, metaphorical clouds illuminate and obscure. They stand for humans and they stand for history. Tatiana is an expat Mexican who comes to Berlin to escape her oppressive family. She works as a transcriber for a historian and hooks up with an astronomer as she wanders by foot and on tram through every corner of a city that constantly struggles with its past. In the book's alarming climax, Tatiana faces the cruelty of history; not only German history, but all human history. She is confused and disoriented, but is finally able to return to Mexico aware that the unpredictablities of the human imagination are universal.
sunwatersalt's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sally_beee's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
louisabooks's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
christiek's review against another edition
4.0
Probably a bit more cerebral than my mostly bedtime reading really allows for, but I enjoyed this book. It's always good to have characters who cause you to think. This book suffers, though, from the spreading of the book's mood to the reader's life. Boy, was I feeling lethargic and "inert" all the while I read this and it didn't feel great.
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
3.0
Tatiana is a Mexican expat living in Berlin at the dawn of the 21st century, trying to distance herself from her family and avoiding the development of any new relationships. She takes a part-time job transcribing the notes of an aging historian, and becomes involved with a man she is sent to interview.
About 30 pages in, I had a suspicion and had to flip to the author biography. Yup, Chloe Aridjis is a poet. She has a PhD in poetry, actually. That's something that really shows in this novel. The prose is lovely, very heavy on the metaphors, and not particularly narrative. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the novel - the bit about the train stations that were frozen in time was particularly striking, and I loved the story of how Jonas became obsessed with clouds. The thing is, though, there's no real conflict to this story. I never felt like we were building towards anything, and that was disappointing.
Read this if you are a poet, if you like poetic language, if you enjoy dissecting dense metaphors. If you're looking for a well-constructed plot or multi-dimensional characters, this is not the book for you.
About 30 pages in, I had a suspicion and had to flip to the author biography. Yup, Chloe Aridjis is a poet. She has a PhD in poetry, actually. That's something that really shows in this novel. The prose is lovely, very heavy on the metaphors, and not particularly narrative. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the novel - the bit about the train stations that were frozen in time was particularly striking, and I loved the story of how Jonas became obsessed with clouds. The thing is, though, there's no real conflict to this story. I never felt like we were building towards anything, and that was disappointing.
Read this if you are a poet, if you like poetic language, if you enjoy dissecting dense metaphors. If you're looking for a well-constructed plot or multi-dimensional characters, this is not the book for you.
lozwesty's review
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5