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sunny3730's review against another edition
2.0
Jammer genoeg heb ik van dit boek de vertaalde versie gekregen en heb ik dus geen idee of het origineel beter taalgebruik bevat, maar de vertaling is in elk geval echt niet goed. De conversaties lopen voor geen meter en er staan uitdrukkingen in die naar mijn mening ook in de jaren 70 al niet meer werden gebruikt. Om daarnaast nog maar niet te spreken over de stijlfouten, waaronder de contaminatie 'als arts zijnde', die mijn leesplezier aantasten.
Het verhaal is interessant genoeg om te blijven lezen, al zijn het voor mij meer de plaatsbeschrijvingen die ik nog wel leuk vind. De hoofdpersoon vind ik vooral vervelend: ze is egocentrisch, naïef en voornamelijk nog heel erg jong. Haar acties zijn alleen gedreven door haar eigen wensen en zelden staat ze stil bij wat die acties voor effect hebben op anderen. De personen die op haar pad komen, lijken er soms aan hun haren bijgetrokken en wekken bij mij niet veel sympathie op. Wat me het meeste tegenstaat is het feit dat Phoebe geen enkele ontwikkeling doormaakt, ondanks alles. Geen aanrader wat mij betreft.
Het verhaal is interessant genoeg om te blijven lezen, al zijn het voor mij meer de plaatsbeschrijvingen die ik nog wel leuk vind. De hoofdpersoon vind ik vooral vervelend: ze is egocentrisch, naïef en voornamelijk nog heel erg jong. Haar acties zijn alleen gedreven door haar eigen wensen en zelden staat ze stil bij wat die acties voor effect hebben op anderen. De personen die op haar pad komen, lijken er soms aan hun haren bijgetrokken en wekken bij mij niet veel sympathie op. Wat me het meeste tegenstaat is het feit dat Phoebe geen enkele ontwikkeling doormaakt, ondanks alles. Geen aanrader wat mij betreft.
maurice6300's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
angelamichelle's review against another edition
3.0
Young woman leaves her purposely sheltered life to follow her dead sister's path through Europe.
hectaizani's review against another edition
3.0
The protoganist Phoebe O'Conner has grown up in the shadow of her father and older sister. Frozen in time, she and her mother can't seem to move past the deaths. Phoebe decides to travel to Italy to discover the truth behind her sister's death, was it an accident or was it suicide?
I found this book very hard to get involved with, and it wasn't what I expected from the reviews I'd read. I am planning on renting the movie to see if it gives me a different perspective.
I found this book very hard to get involved with, and it wasn't what I expected from the reviews I'd read. I am planning on renting the movie to see if it gives me a different perspective.
nuscheda's review against another edition
4.0
I prefer more plot development and characters who spend less time in their heads, but you can definitely see, in her first novel, the seeds of the standout that Egan goes on to become.
gingerliss's review against another edition
2.0
I almost gave this book one star. It was one big disappointment, I have to say, after reading A Visit from the Goon Squad I had very high expectations. But this book did a lot of things wrong for me. The first half of the book was so bloody depressing. Don't get me wrong I can read depressing books, Oliver Twist is one of my favourites and that certainly doesn't make me feel all jolly on the inside. Basically a(n American) girl goes on a trip through Europe, in the 70's, following the footsteps of her older sister who committed suicide while there in Italy. She's all alone and not happy at all, that's the first half of the book. I think a big problem for me was that this girl was so unhappy and unfulfilled that I just started really disliking her. But maybe that's me, I've been through a lot of shit, but I always try to look at the positive side of life, this girl was just the most negative person ever!
The second half of the book she coincidentally meets her (dead) sisters ex boyfriend and apart from this next bit being VERY predictable, it was also just very weird! Obviously she falls in love with this guy and the next big bulk of the book (at least it felt like a big bulk) describes them spending days and days having sex in a room they've hired. Their addiction to each other. The description of this seems to go on for ever and it's terribly boring! Thankfully Egan doesn't go into the details, so it doesn't all of a sudden become some terrible porn story, but this sentence made me laugh out loud: "In the shower they gently soaped each others bodies, but despite their halfhearted efforts to resist, were soon hunched against the tiles, hot water beating against them. Wolf looked paler than Phoebe had ever seen him. She wondered if loosing too much semen could be physically dangerous, but decided it was not the time to ask."
Hilarious! I know it's the seventies but come on!
Anyway the end was also predictable, the girl (I can't even remember her name, that's how interesting she was) becomes less depressed and goes back home, makes remands with her brother (who she wasn't getting along with before her trip) and starts living her life, oh and she and Wolf decided it would be best to not see each other any more (*I didn't see that one coming*)...
I gave it two stars because I'm sure there was something good in there that managed to keep me reading. There were elements of the story I liked, like how she went into detail about the red army and that kind of stuff, that was pretty interesting... I got the feeling the author had actually been to the countries she described as well.
But over all, I really had to fight my way through this book.
The second half of the book she coincidentally meets her (dead) sisters ex boyfriend and apart from this next bit being VERY predictable, it was also just very weird! Obviously she falls in love with this guy and the next big bulk of the book (at least it felt like a big bulk) describes them spending days and days having sex in a room they've hired. Their addiction to each other. The description of this seems to go on for ever and it's terribly boring! Thankfully Egan doesn't go into the details, so it doesn't all of a sudden become some terrible porn story, but this sentence made me laugh out loud: "In the shower they gently soaped each others bodies, but despite their halfhearted efforts to resist, were soon hunched against the tiles, hot water beating against them. Wolf looked paler than Phoebe had ever seen him. She wondered if loosing too much semen could be physically dangerous, but decided it was not the time to ask."
Hilarious! I know it's the seventies but come on!
Anyway the end was also predictable, the girl (I can't even remember her name, that's how interesting she was) becomes less depressed and goes back home, makes remands with her brother (who she wasn't getting along with before her trip) and starts living her life, oh and she and Wolf decided it would be best to not see each other any more (*I didn't see that one coming*)...
I gave it two stars because I'm sure there was something good in there that managed to keep me reading. There were elements of the story I liked, like how she went into detail about the red army and that kind of stuff, that was pretty interesting... I got the feeling the author had actually been to the countries she described as well.
But over all, I really had to fight my way through this book.
archiet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I loved IT!
janeanger's review against another edition
2.0
I have long enjoyed Egan's writing and this book is as well-crafted as any of her others. That said, I could never "get" Phoebe, the main character. She makes terrible decisions, as sometimes those in grief do, but in her swirling descent she knowingly and seemingly willingly takes others with her, which I find deplorable. I winced throughout, especially with scenes involving her dead sister's boyfriend (with whom there was a plot twist that was as terrible as I'd assumed it would be when I first saw it coming). This book put me in a weird, cranky headspace after reading.