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jaklindberg's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Death, War, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Murder
itsbumley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicide, Death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Violence
lschuchman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Child death and Panic attacks/disorders
thehollyking's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
1.75
I've never been a fan of stories that tell you in a sentence at the end the thought or moral you're meant to be taking away from the book, and this does just that. It kind of felt like the moral came first and the plot came second.
It wasn't a bad book. It was just fine.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Colonisation, Suicide, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Bullying, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, and War
jodar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Some of the key things the MC seeks to teach us:
- Life isn’t perfect, but if could be worse – one of my favourite passages:
No one I knew in the 1600s wanted to find their inner billionaire. They just wanted to live to see adolescence and avoid body lice. (Part 5, “Dubai, now”)
- We can’t control everything, but we aren’t entirely at the mercy of fate either. And what you choose to do matters:
‘You can’t choose where you are born, you can’t decide who won’t leave you, you can’t choose much. A life has unchangeable tides the same as history does. But there is still room inside it for choice. For decisions.… Just one wrong turn can get you very lost. What you do in the present stays with you . It comes back. You don’t get away with anything.’ (MC to pupil, Part 3, ”London, now”)
- People are often annoying and can cause you mental anguish while you live with them and intense grief at death. But avoiding close relationships, although seductive for a time, is not the answer in the end, as without other people life is lonely and joyless. Various passages throughout the novel, for example:
‘Love is where you find the meaning. Those seven years I was with her contained more than anything else.… You simply can’t fall in love and not think there is something bigger ruling us. Something, you know, not quite us. Something that lives inside us, caged in us, ready to help us or fuck us over. We are mysteries to ourselves.…’ (Omai to the MC, Part 5.“Byron Bay, Australia, now”)
- What will be will be, and it is fruitless and self-destructive to fear the future:
I understand that the way you stop time is by stopping being ruled by it. I am no longer drowning in my past, or fearful of my future. How can I be?
The future is you.
(MC’s final thoughts at the very close of the novel, having finally, after over four centuries,succeeded in reconciling with his daughter and also begun a new intimate relationship )
All well and very good, but to me there’s a strange, gaping hole in the narrative and MC’s exploration of meaning: religion. Religion is noted as the reason for his Huguenot family’s forced late 16th-century departure from France to England. The MC and his first love attend church in early 17th century England, until his unchanging appearance makes it untenable to continue. And the MC continues to live through periods of religious ferment. So it’s not as though the MC wasn’t exposed to contemporary Christianity, at least. And yet the MC doesn’t seem to consider, grapple with or argue against any religious understanding of life’s broader meaning. At all. At any time. Nor as far as I can recall do any of the other characters in the book. It’s almost as if every character in the novel, purportedly through centuries of time and across wide geographical areas of the earth, were all 21st century, English secularists all along. I find this weird and unbelievable!
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault
Minor: Cursing, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Drug use
vicixyz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: Self harm, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, and Gun violence
waytoomanybooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
However, I enjoyed the reflective wisdom of the main character and the history we get to experience along with him. It was fun to see notable historical figures pop into and out of his life, but I especially liked that the people who had the biggest impact on him were just regular people: his family, his friends, his coworkers, etc. The main thread that binds together, all the many arcs of Tom's story is love, and it was lovely to see him come to that conclusion.
My other quibble with the novel is that the story kind of just ends, and the miniature epilogue was a bit too cheesy/cliché for my taste.
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Outing
froggydanny's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Cursing, and Panic attacks/disorders
kamalfakhoury's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Sexism, Grief, and Death of parent
mpbookreviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Murder, Sexism, Colonisation, War, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Violence