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amurray's review
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
5.0
sleightoffeet's review
2.0
I'm not entirely sure what I've read. I get that it's supposed to be surreal, but this book goes way out there.
The description got me. A woman is visited by a parakeet who is her reincarnated grandmother to warn her about her upcoming wedding.
The beginning of the book was great, and I was excited for the journey, unfortunately, that was the last we saw of the grandmother. What happens next is episodes of a woman spiralling out of control, most of it reading like a dream sequence, where I wasn't sure what was happening to her, what was in her mind, or if it was all happening in a magical realism type of way?
I did enjoy the vignettes about her past and how she got to this point, and I also loved the search for her brother. It was these sections that kept me going, and kept me hoping that it would all make sense in the end.
It's not a bad book, it's just not quite what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a whole different kind of weirdness than the kind that I got. I also think that this is one of those books that I will probably unwillingly reflect upon for a while and my feelings on it could change.
The description got me. A woman is visited by a parakeet who is her reincarnated grandmother to warn her about her upcoming wedding.
The beginning of the book was great, and I was excited for the journey, unfortunately, that was the last we saw of the grandmother. What happens next is episodes of a woman spiralling out of control, most of it reading like a dream sequence, where I wasn't sure what was happening to her, what was in her mind, or if it was all happening in a magical realism type of way?
I did enjoy the vignettes about her past and how she got to this point, and I also loved the search for her brother. It was these sections that kept me going, and kept me hoping that it would all make sense in the end.
It's not a bad book, it's just not quite what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a whole different kind of weirdness than the kind that I got. I also think that this is one of those books that I will probably unwillingly reflect upon for a while and my feelings on it could change.
breadandmushrooms's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
kumipaul's review
4.0
I made the mistake of assuming that this was a story about a woman and her grandmother in the form of a parakeet. When it wasn't, I was disappointed...until I let go and read the rest of the book. Bertino has a sometimes odd way of expressing herself, which really grew on me. By the halfway point, I was loving the quirkiness in her writing and in her characters, and by the end I was sad to leave them. My apologies to my book club members for dissing this book after just starting it. I was wrong there, and now I must recommend it again.
komarov's review
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
leitmotiffs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Un tremendo locurón, llegó un punto en el que ya no sabía qué era real y qué no.
aywebster's review
2.0
The style of this book just may not be for me, but I had a couple of big problems with it. The biggest of which is the dialogue- every character seems to speak the same way as the protagonist’s inner dialogue, which means mostly in metaphors and extensions of the protagonist’s own thoughts. I understand that this book is centered on the protagonist reflecting on who she really is and what she wants or doesn’t want out of life, so this is almost definitely done purposely for the introspective tone- but that doesn’t make me like it. This book feels almost poetic and I’ve never been a fan of poetry, so it simply isn’t for me. Would recommend for people who enjoy living in a character’s head, nearly-Lynchian vignettes, and not being able to tell what did or didn’t really happen in the story.