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l_black_33's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
iriidescent's review
5.0
I loved this! I know this book won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I can't stop thinking about it. It borders on surrealism/psychological horror and it's a delight. I will have to re-read it again in Spanish because I don't think English does it enough justice.
lyc4nthropes's review against another edition
5.0
"i suppose all of you remember, just as you moved backward, as you crossed the borders of the real without realizing it, that it was impossible to close your eyes. for all the terror, for all the commotion, for all the unease you feel, you cannot close your eyes. you see. you see voraciously. you cannot stop seeing."
wow... what a way to start off the reading year. i really wanted to take my time with this, but i also couldn't stop reading once i had the chance to finally give it my full attention. there's always re-reads though, which i will definitely be doing. this book, for being as short as it is, manages to say so much, so well. so much about borders and binaries and invisible, arbitrary, yet simultaneously very real, lines drawn. how gender, and the differences ascribed to the two genders believed to be the standard, is ultimately pointless. yet, women face the dangerous consequences of a reality they didn't create. how language (and, after reading the translator's note, i'm left wishing so badly i had the ability to read this in spanish) can affect not only the ways that you see the world and the people around you but also yourself and how you feel you should interact with this world. how, this book vaguely taking place along the the u.s./mexico border, the number of femicides only continue to grow at incredibly alarming rates in mexico. pairing these discussions with the disappearance of women's writing (like amparo dávila's) ultimately serves to just disappear yet another person in the sea of people that go missing everyday. this book says everything it says with confidence and a clear vision of how to connect all of its pieces together perfectly.
i never felt as if this book was trying too hard to fit everything it needed to say into such a low page count. this is one of the most eloquent and succinct novellas i've ever read. i only wish i had read this as a physical copy that i could've taken notes in. i hated having to go from tab to tab on my computer when i'm reading an ebook like this. all that means is that i can't wait to own a copy of this so that i'm ready when it's time to re-read it. i don't use the "well, you just didn't get it" excuse often, if hardly ever, but i think if you read this and hated it you... just didn't take the time to understand it. the more i manage to connect in this novel, the more genius i think it is. this has left me not only wanting to read more from rivera garza but i also want pick up some amparo dávila stories as well. i know i could understand this work even more deeply if i did, and that alone gives me the urge to.
wow... what a way to start off the reading year. i really wanted to take my time with this, but i also couldn't stop reading once i had the chance to finally give it my full attention. there's always re-reads though, which i will definitely be doing. this book, for being as short as it is, manages to say so much, so well. so much about borders and binaries and invisible, arbitrary, yet simultaneously very real, lines drawn. how gender, and the differences ascribed to the two genders believed to be the standard, is ultimately pointless. yet, women face the dangerous consequences of a reality they didn't create. how language (and, after reading the translator's note, i'm left wishing so badly i had the ability to read this in spanish) can affect not only the ways that you see the world and the people around you but also yourself and how you feel you should interact with this world. how, this book vaguely taking place along the the u.s./mexico border, the number of femicides only continue to grow at incredibly alarming rates in mexico. pairing these discussions with the disappearance of women's writing (like amparo dávila's) ultimately serves to just disappear yet another person in the sea of people that go missing everyday. this book says everything it says with confidence and a clear vision of how to connect all of its pieces together perfectly.
i never felt as if this book was trying too hard to fit everything it needed to say into such a low page count. this is one of the most eloquent and succinct novellas i've ever read. i only wish i had read this as a physical copy that i could've taken notes in. i hated having to go from tab to tab on my computer when i'm reading an ebook like this. all that means is that i can't wait to own a copy of this so that i'm ready when it's time to re-read it. i don't use the "well, you just didn't get it" excuse often, if hardly ever, but i think if you read this and hated it you... just didn't take the time to understand it. the more i manage to connect in this novel, the more genius i think it is. this has left me not only wanting to read more from rivera garza but i also want pick up some amparo dávila stories as well. i know i could understand this work even more deeply if i did, and that alone gives me the urge to.
throneofpages1's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
robotswithpersonality's review
Well, what little I heard about this book, indeed verbatim of the blurb on the back, that caused me to pick it up, wasn't a lie.
It's just that the experience of actually reading it was so far from what I expected that it feels less like a disappointment and more a displacement.
Surreal, perhaps feminist, it seems to be grazing both the injustice of misogyny/patriarchy robbing women of respect and recognition, and also the spectrum beyond the gender binary, except that it's also got the backdrop of a dystopian/police state society and a cruel sanitarium for society's unwanted, shuttered away to die.
The floaty, nightmarish quality of the narrative didn't help me connect the dots, and I found myself focusing less on certain plot points the author was obviously drawing the reader back to, and more on the part where evidently the protagonist's original form was a tree. Never explained. Kind of wanted that story more, or at least to have it hook up more securely to one of the other fragments involved.
I think if this had been a short story in the 50-75 page mark, this level of ambiguity wouldn't phase me, but 130 page novella? At some point the line between reinforcing the theme (if one is confident the theme has been clearly conveyed) and redundant repetition starts to blur. 🤷🏼♂️
It's just that the experience of actually reading it was so far from what I expected that it feels less like a disappointment and more a displacement.
Surreal, perhaps feminist, it seems to be grazing both the injustice of misogyny/patriarchy robbing women of respect and recognition, and also the spectrum beyond the gender binary, except that it's also got the backdrop of a dystopian/police state society and a cruel sanitarium for society's unwanted, shuttered away to die.
The floaty, nightmarish quality of the narrative didn't help me connect the dots, and I found myself focusing less on certain plot points the author was obviously drawing the reader back to, and more on the part where evidently the protagonist's original form was a tree. Never explained. Kind of wanted that story more, or at least to have it hook up more securely to one of the other fragments involved.
I think if this had been a short story in the 50-75 page mark, this level of ambiguity wouldn't phase me, but 130 page novella? At some point the line between reinforcing the theme (if one is confident the theme has been clearly conveyed) and redundant repetition starts to blur. 🤷🏼♂️
kiramke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I loved it. Did I get it? Mmm. Connecting to moments and thoughts, yes. If you asked me at any point "what exactly is happening in this passage," you'd get some wildly contradictory answers. I think that's maybe the point. Anyway I'm more interested, because I never remember to write down where I found a book... Did I come to this after adding Amparo Davila to my list, or did I discover Davila after finding this book?
chiar_'s review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
3.5