Reviews

A Change of Time by Ida Jessen

cjf's review

4.0

Soft spoke and uncommonly engrossing. When pastors ask that we now bow our heads in silent contemplation, we might read from Ida Jessen’s “A Change of Time” to better serve. A book about stepping out into the winter cold and warming one’s feet in fresh cow dung.

ingridm's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

kenningjp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

rmtbray's review

4.0

A Change of Time is a beautiful novel, using diary form to trace the gradual reawakening of a woman whose marriage was a disappointment, to say the least. The jumps in time between entries and the narrator's own wandering thoughts, combined with her reticence to outright criticise her dead husband, means the reader very slowly pieces together the marital coldness and cruelty that gradually drained hope from the young teacher, and her growing discovery of her new freedom. It's a bit of a slow burn but definitely rewards sticking with it!

Thanks for netgallery and the (always wonderful) publisher Archipelago for the chance to read & honestly review this book.

blankgarden's review

4.0

My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2020/12/29/reveiw-a-change-of-time-by-ida-jessen/

balancinghistorybooks's review against another edition

2.0

I liked the idea of this, but I found the execution and prose to be quite dull. There is an almost jarring quality to the writing, so I was constantly aware that I was reading a translated book. I gave up reading at around the 15% mark.

stargirlcaraway's review against another edition

3.0

Incredibly repressed book. Best I can say to summarize this is that a woman in the early 1900s whose name I already forget is married to a man who is cold and unaffectionate, and he dies, leaving her alone to deal with the fact that she's spent decades in a loveless, touchless marriage. The book is her journal, and her entries are like...just so surface level a lot of the time, but you can just feel the bitterness and anger and loneliness seeping through.

Can one ask a person to show that they love you? Woof, what a zinger of a line.

The first half kinda plods, but halfway through I got really into it and flew through the rest. I was talking to a coworker who has also read it and we agreed that it's a pretty affecting book while you're reading it, but it's not one that really lingers with you. I really like repression of desire in stories (which maybe says a lot about myself lol), you know that thing where you're just aching for someone to even just lay a hand on your shoulder or something, but I wish there had been a little more to this one. It just needed something that I can't quite put my finger on. It reminded me a lot of Stoner by John Williams, in that the main character is so boring but also lovable, and their marriage is a disaster and also they were both teachers. But Stoner felt like it was more intentional and had more to say, or said what it had to say better.

Still, I'm glad I read this one because it gave me a bit of my jush.