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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Quality of Silence is one hell of a thriller that I couldn’t put down. This is the second book that I’ve read by this author now and I’m looking forward to reading her other books. Intense, on the edge of your seat and intriguing. I loved this book so much more than I thought I would.
If you enjoy reading thrillers, mystery, crime or suspense, then I HIGHLY recommend you read this book.
If you enjoy reading thrillers, mystery, crime or suspense, then I HIGHLY recommend you read this book.
Having lived in Alaska, I look forward to finding new books set there. There's so much going on in this book, I wasn't sure if was focusing on environmental issues, struggles of having and being a deaf child, the challenges of Alaska. Too many threads for me. It's unusual for me to be so harsh, but I wondered if it might have been improved with editing.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
This is not a book I would normally read but I received an early copy. It is the story of Yasmin and her daughter Ruby as they venture into the Alaskan wilderness to find Matt, Yasmin's missing husband. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Alaska and recognised a lot of the place names from Ice Road Truckers, it helped with visualizing the scenery. The little girl Ruby is deaf and you can really feel the mother's anguish at parts because of this. I have never read a book by this author before and I would certainly pick up another one by her.
Bu yazının orijinali (ve daha iyi görüneni) Zimlicious'ta yayınlandı.
Rosamund Lupton, dilimize de çevirilmiş olan, dünya çapında epey sevilen [b:Sister|8196732|Sister|Rosamund Lupton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320189763s/8196732.jpg|13043611] romanının yazarıymış. Ben kendisini tanımıyordum açıkçası; Sessizliğin Kalitesi (The Quality of Silence) ile tanışmam da ekip arkadaşım sayesinde oldu. Soğuk ve karlı yerlere olan zaafımı bildiğinden, Alaska’da geçen bu kitabı okumam için ödünç verdi. İyi ki yaz sıcaklarını beklemişim okumak için çünkü gerçekten için dondu okurken…
Yasmin ve duyma engelli kızı Ruby, Yasmin’in eşi Matt’i bulmak için Alaska’ya geliyor. Vahşi yaşam fotoğrafçısı olan Matt, Alaska’ya fotoğraf çekmek için gitmiş ancak kendisinden bir süredir ne Yasmin, ne de Ruby haber alabilmiş. Üstüne üstlük adamın en son bulunduğunu söylediği bölgede çıkan yangın sonucunda herkesin öldüğü iddia ediliyor. Yasmin de, Ruby de buna inanmıyor ve Matt’i aramaya girişiyorlar.
Ancak Alaska’nın karlar altında kalan, hava sıcaklığının ekside olduğu coğrafyası hiç ama hiç yardımcı olmuyor onlara. Karşılaştıkları kamyoncular, vs.’ler de bir tuhaf zaten ve kendilerini Matt’in bulunduğu bölgeye götürecek birini bile zor bela buluyorlar.
ALASKA, TUHAF BİR BÜYÜSÜ OLAN BİR YER
Rosamund Lupton, Alaska’yı birebir gitmiş, görmüş mü bilmiyorum. Ama anlattığı Alaska, Alaskalı yazar Eowyn Ivey’nin Kardan Kız‘da anlattığı yerin aynısıydı. Benim için o soğuklar, her yerin karla kaplı olması, bu zorluklarda insanların yaşamaya çalışması tuhaf bir şekilde büyülü bir ortama benziyor. Özellikle Yasmin ve Ruby’nin Deadhorse’a gidişini koltuğun ucunda okudum (ki normalde yatarak okuyorum; düşünün artık). Olabildiğine kar, olabildiğine karanlık, insansız yollardan bahsediyoruz…
Kitabın en sevdiğim yanının da bu Alaska tasvirleri olduğunu söylemem lazım. Anne ve kızın babayı arayışı, Ruby’nin duyma engeliyle hayata bakışı da değişikti ama genel olarak hikâye biraz sönük kaldı benim için. Ruby’nin gözünden olan bölümleri onun kendi ağzından dinledik ancak bu kitap boyunca böyle değildi; Yasmin’in bakış açısından olan bölümler de vardı. Bu iki set gözün arasında hızlı hızlı gidip gelinmesi biraz beynimi bulandırdı açıkçası.
Her ne olursa olsun, bu kitabı okuyan Alaska’ya gitmek isteyecek; orası kesin.
Rosamund Lupton, dilimize de çevirilmiş olan, dünya çapında epey sevilen [b:Sister|8196732|Sister|Rosamund Lupton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320189763s/8196732.jpg|13043611] romanının yazarıymış. Ben kendisini tanımıyordum açıkçası; Sessizliğin Kalitesi (The Quality of Silence) ile tanışmam da ekip arkadaşım sayesinde oldu. Soğuk ve karlı yerlere olan zaafımı bildiğinden, Alaska’da geçen bu kitabı okumam için ödünç verdi. İyi ki yaz sıcaklarını beklemişim okumak için çünkü gerçekten için dondu okurken…
Yasmin ve duyma engelli kızı Ruby, Yasmin’in eşi Matt’i bulmak için Alaska’ya geliyor. Vahşi yaşam fotoğrafçısı olan Matt, Alaska’ya fotoğraf çekmek için gitmiş ancak kendisinden bir süredir ne Yasmin, ne de Ruby haber alabilmiş. Üstüne üstlük adamın en son bulunduğunu söylediği bölgede çıkan yangın sonucunda herkesin öldüğü iddia ediliyor. Yasmin de, Ruby de buna inanmıyor ve Matt’i aramaya girişiyorlar.
Ancak Alaska’nın karlar altında kalan, hava sıcaklığının ekside olduğu coğrafyası hiç ama hiç yardımcı olmuyor onlara. Karşılaştıkları kamyoncular, vs.’ler de bir tuhaf zaten ve kendilerini Matt’in bulunduğu bölgeye götürecek birini bile zor bela buluyorlar.
ALASKA, TUHAF BİR BÜYÜSÜ OLAN BİR YER
Rosamund Lupton, Alaska’yı birebir gitmiş, görmüş mü bilmiyorum. Ama anlattığı Alaska, Alaskalı yazar Eowyn Ivey’nin Kardan Kız‘da anlattığı yerin aynısıydı. Benim için o soğuklar, her yerin karla kaplı olması, bu zorluklarda insanların yaşamaya çalışması tuhaf bir şekilde büyülü bir ortama benziyor. Özellikle Yasmin ve Ruby’nin Deadhorse’a gidişini koltuğun ucunda okudum (ki normalde yatarak okuyorum; düşünün artık). Olabildiğine kar, olabildiğine karanlık, insansız yollardan bahsediyoruz…
Kitabın en sevdiğim yanının da bu Alaska tasvirleri olduğunu söylemem lazım. Anne ve kızın babayı arayışı, Ruby’nin duyma engeliyle hayata bakışı da değişikti ama genel olarak hikâye biraz sönük kaldı benim için. Ruby’nin gözünden olan bölümleri onun kendi ağzından dinledik ancak bu kitap boyunca böyle değildi; Yasmin’in bakış açısından olan bölümler de vardı. Bu iki set gözün arasında hızlı hızlı gidip gelinmesi biraz beynimi bulandırdı açıkçası.
Her ne olursa olsun, bu kitabı okuyan Alaska’ya gitmek isteyecek; orası kesin.
I've read several of Lupton's books and love her way with words.
This book follows Yasmin & her daughter Ruby as they make their way (through difficult circumstances) to Alaska to search for their husband/father, Matt. They are told he was in a catastrophic accident. Yasmin does not belive this is the truth, and off they go into the very uninhabited part of Alaska. Ruby is also deaf, which adds more.
I like the POV of the story.
Without giving away too much, this book is very introspective, but also a thriller and a page turner.
Thank you Netgalley & Crown Publishing for my ARC copy. It was my pleasure to read it and give you my honest review
This book follows Yasmin & her daughter Ruby as they make their way (through difficult circumstances) to Alaska to search for their husband/father, Matt. They are told he was in a catastrophic accident. Yasmin does not belive this is the truth, and off they go into the very uninhabited part of Alaska. Ruby is also deaf, which adds more.
I like the POV of the story.
Without giving away too much, this book is very introspective, but also a thriller and a page turner.
Thank you Netgalley & Crown Publishing for my ARC copy. It was my pleasure to read it and give you my honest review
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very confused throughout. Maybe she could’ve actually broken up the point of views of the book so we could more so see how everyone was going through what they did. It felt all over the place to me and in the end where we should’ve been tying up lose ends and answering questions I just feel like I was given more. The whole omg moment of her tweets finally sending was downplayed and ran through like honestly did they even get saved.? Idk maybe this review was just as over the place because I’ve just read 286 pages and I have no clue what went on.
There are good things I need to write about this book, and I'll get to those; but I found it largely aggravating and frustrating. Significant pieces of it were simply more than I could suspend disbelief for. Some of you who love her writing are frustrated with me already; I can almost hear the echoes of "picky, picky! Can't you just enjoy a book for the sake of enjoying a book?" I'm pretty good at that actually, but this one just frustrated me to the breaking point, and the sometimes-lackluster performance of the narrator (audio book edition) made things worse.
Yasmin and Ruby fly to Alaska from the UK to be reunited with Matt, a wildlife filmmaker, dad to Ruby, and husband to Yasmin. Mom is a stunner--an astrophysicist. Ten-year-old Ruby is profoundly deaf. Ruby and her dad have had a magic connection since her birth; her mom seems to have more difficulty accepting Ruby's deafness. During a phone call from Matt, Yasmin learned that he had engaged in some kiss-and-cuddle action with a native American woman in the village where he was filming. Yasmin isn't having any of that, and so she and Ruby make the trip to far-flung Alaska to issue the ultimatum--things change or the marriage ends.
To their consternation when the mother-daughter team arrive in Anchorage, they learn that Matt died in a massive fire that consumed an entire small village. Neither Yasmin nor Ruby believe that Matt is dead, and Yasmin determines to find him if she can. Reasoning that she can't very well leave her deaf kid in the hands of a baby-sitting stranger, she bundles the girl up and hires a reluctant trucker to drive them deep into the far-north wilderness to find her husband.
Before this ends, amazing brave Mom has to take the wheel, and the two roll on together through a storm-saturated Alaskan night.
But there's more to this than a frozen family reunion. Film-shooting Matt has evidence that things aren't what they seem regarding that fire, and while Ruby and Yasmin are making their lonely trek across the barren wilderness, he manages by some amazing means, to zap emails to Ruby's laptop, which works while they're driving.
I found it impossible to believe that anyone could nonchalantly take the wheel of an 18-wheeler carrying a prefab house when its normal driver became too ill to drive. Spare me the glare and the accusation that I'm engaging in sexist thinking. I don't think anyone of any gender or lack thereof is going to easily slide into the driver's seat of a large vehicle like that without any training. The premise is even more laughable when you consider the ferocity of a winter storm blowing across a treeless expanse of tundra. There's one scene where a disembodied voice attempts to teach Yasmin how to handle her speed on an incline. You're going to do a hell of a lot more than merely tap your breaks to control your speed; it's going to take some gear jamming as well as break tapping, but that never gets even briefly referenced. She has people communicating on that CB radio at distances that frankly, the 11-meter band won't support, especially if there's an aurora borealis that could likely interfere with that particular frequency more than expand its range. Good grief! There are other things that stood out, but that's enough to give you an idea. The audio narrator was a mixed bag. She beautifully captured Yasmin and Ruby's voices and character. But every time she had to narrate an American character, to a fault, they all sounded like red-neck Texans replete with 10-gallon hats and cowboy boots. I don't pretend to be a dialect expert, but the Alaskans I've known just don't sound like hat-wearing heavy-booted Texans. I could normally listen to that narrator for hours and hours and enjoy every minute--she's that good. But this performance was all too often distracting rather than beneficial.
So should you read this? There's a lot of suspense here, and the writing style is thoughtful and highly readable. The author carefully looks at issues that divide the deaf community and the deaf community from the hearing world--issues as to whether aural communication is somehow superior to sign language. You get to participate in the growing together of Yasmin and Ruby--a strengthening and joining that will give you plenty to cheer for in here. I understand why the book got such high marks from reviewers on Goodreads. I just found it too ridiculous in places and too politically screamy and preachy to get any higher rating than two stars. The author is an excellent writer; it's just that her book and I simply aren't a match. Here's hoping you find it otherwise.
Yasmin and Ruby fly to Alaska from the UK to be reunited with Matt, a wildlife filmmaker, dad to Ruby, and husband to Yasmin. Mom is a stunner--an astrophysicist. Ten-year-old Ruby is profoundly deaf. Ruby and her dad have had a magic connection since her birth; her mom seems to have more difficulty accepting Ruby's deafness. During a phone call from Matt, Yasmin learned that he had engaged in some kiss-and-cuddle action with a native American woman in the village where he was filming. Yasmin isn't having any of that, and so she and Ruby make the trip to far-flung Alaska to issue the ultimatum--things change or the marriage ends.
To their consternation when the mother-daughter team arrive in Anchorage, they learn that Matt died in a massive fire that consumed an entire small village. Neither Yasmin nor Ruby believe that Matt is dead, and Yasmin determines to find him if she can. Reasoning that she can't very well leave her deaf kid in the hands of a baby-sitting stranger, she bundles the girl up and hires a reluctant trucker to drive them deep into the far-north wilderness to find her husband.
Before this ends, amazing brave Mom has to take the wheel, and the two roll on together through a storm-saturated Alaskan night.
But there's more to this than a frozen family reunion. Film-shooting Matt has evidence that things aren't what they seem regarding that fire, and while Ruby and Yasmin are making their lonely trek across the barren wilderness, he manages by some amazing means, to zap emails to Ruby's laptop, which works while they're driving.
I found it impossible to believe that anyone could nonchalantly take the wheel of an 18-wheeler carrying a prefab house when its normal driver became too ill to drive. Spare me the glare and the accusation that I'm engaging in sexist thinking. I don't think anyone of any gender or lack thereof is going to easily slide into the driver's seat of a large vehicle like that without any training. The premise is even more laughable when you consider the ferocity of a winter storm blowing across a treeless expanse of tundra. There's one scene where a disembodied voice attempts to teach Yasmin how to handle her speed on an incline. You're going to do a hell of a lot more than merely tap your breaks to control your speed; it's going to take some gear jamming as well as break tapping, but that never gets even briefly referenced. She has people communicating on that CB radio at distances that frankly, the 11-meter band won't support, especially if there's an aurora borealis that could likely interfere with that particular frequency more than expand its range. Good grief! There are other things that stood out, but that's enough to give you an idea. The audio narrator was a mixed bag. She beautifully captured Yasmin and Ruby's voices and character. But every time she had to narrate an American character, to a fault, they all sounded like red-neck Texans replete with 10-gallon hats and cowboy boots. I don't pretend to be a dialect expert, but the Alaskans I've known just don't sound like hat-wearing heavy-booted Texans. I could normally listen to that narrator for hours and hours and enjoy every minute--she's that good. But this performance was all too often distracting rather than beneficial.
So should you read this? There's a lot of suspense here, and the writing style is thoughtful and highly readable. The author carefully looks at issues that divide the deaf community and the deaf community from the hearing world--issues as to whether aural communication is somehow superior to sign language. You get to participate in the growing together of Yasmin and Ruby--a strengthening and joining that will give you plenty to cheer for in here. I understand why the book got such high marks from reviewers on Goodreads. I just found it too ridiculous in places and too politically screamy and preachy to get any higher rating than two stars. The author is an excellent writer; it's just that her book and I simply aren't a match. Here's hoping you find it otherwise.
The Quality of Silence is a story of Yasmin a wife and mother, who with her deaf daughter Ruby travel across Alaska in search of her husband Matt who is feared to be dead. Even though the story is quite a steady read I did struggle believing the story. As a mother I find it hard to believe that any mother would drag their child to a forsaken place like Alaska and then miraculously be able to drive an Arctic lorry across frozen ice in horrendous weather conditions. I've watched Ice Road Truckers and it certainly isn't something that a novice would be able to do. Don't get me wrong it isn't a bad story at all and it didn't actually take me long to read. I just think the author hasn't been very realistic with the capabilities of the mother. I would struggle changing a car tyre yet this woman, snow chains to a lorry? No problem. Unfortunately due to the unrealistic scenarios it did spoil my experience of this book. It wouldn't put me off trying other books by this author and even though the story is well written, this one just didn't work for me.