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amandarosexox's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Truly phenomenal writing, one of my new favourite books. I highly recommend this book, it’s just beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Genocide and Suicidal thoughts
shay43geek's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Antisemitism, and Abandonment
Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Racism and Alcohol
readin_robin19's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
4.25
Excellent, but very sexually explicit. Haunting, atmospheric , psychologically intense story of two very different women and a house.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and War
sha's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Death of parent, and War
updownwrong's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.25
Beautiful and mysterious, almost dreamlike.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Genocide and War
serendipitysbooks's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
The Safekeep was one of the titles I was most keen to read from the Booker Prize longlist and I'm pleased to report that it didn't disappoint. It is set in a house in the Dutch countryside in the summer of 1961. Isabel's uncle owns the house which he found for them when she, her mother and two brothers needed to move out of the city during the war. She now lives there alone but her calm, peaceful and somewhat regimented way of life is upended when she is forced to host Eva, the latest girlfriend of her older brother Louis, for a few weeks, despite the two women not getting along at all during their first and only meeting. Since the house will pass from the uncle to Louis upon his marriage, leaving Isabel homeless or at the very least beholden and with a clear loss of status in her home, she has solid reasons for not welcoming Eva with open arms. The atmosphere of this book was excellently done. It felt very Gothic. In places, it was so claustrophobic I wondered how anyone could breathe. At other times, it was sensual, rich with desire and passion. Isabel was so rigid and tightly wound that I felt tense just reading about her. When she thought things were disappearing from the house, it was hard to know how reliable she was. Were items truly going missing, or was she just paranoid, unable to cope with the enforced change to her routine? I don't want to say too much about the rest of the plot except to say that it covers some important issues in post-war Europe, issues that seem to get less attention than the Holocaust, but are important none the less. Issues of memory, complicity, ownership, and inheritance were explored to great effect, as were and helped to make this an impactful, memorable, and important novel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Death of parent
wyrmbergsabrina's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I'll start out with I did not like the main character. At all.
And I did jump to the last third half way through to see how things ended so I could at least finish the book. Yes, it had me feeling frustrated and I was disappointed to see I had seen some things coming a long way off.
The good - the characters are messy individuals, realistic people who we would meet every day. They are also products of their childhoods, which is really import later on in the book. The time period makes a lot of sense, it's the reason why things happen. And it does shine a light on a bit of history that probably not many are going to know about. It wasn't just the war that was brutal for people. What happened afterwards was just as bad. It seems that nothing really changes at all.
I felt writing was a little off in places; some phrases felt repetitive, or a sentence didn't seem to convey what I think the writer was trying to say. Some passages were very beautiful and lyrical, and other times it was very brutal, reflecting the way the character was felling.
This is an interesting and well written tale of love and healing. But a character falling in love is not going to make me suddenly like them after the author has done such a good job of making me despise them. That might be the intention, but it left me unimpressed and cheated.
One thing that left a lasting impression; we are reflections of our own experiences. Isabel has only know nice things, her mother and brothers. Her view of the world around her is framed by that. Eva, who is a far more interesting character, has had a terrible life, which the author gives us very briefly, in diary entries in that last third that I skipped to. I was much more interested in her story, how she had survived, lived, struggled in a world that didn't want her, closed a blind eye to her, and she had to reinvent herself so that she could live. To see the tale from her point of view, now that I would have been very interested in, especially as she meets Isabel.
I might come back after some time and edit this when I don't feel so raw. But for now, it's good but I didn't like it.
And I did jump to the last third half way through to see how things ended so I could at least finish the book. Yes, it had me feeling frustrated and I was disappointed to see I had seen some things coming a long way off.
The good - the characters are messy individuals, realistic people who we would meet every day. They are also products of their childhoods, which is really import later on in the book. The time period makes a lot of sense, it's the reason why things happen. And it does shine a light on a bit of history that probably not many are going to know about. It wasn't just the war that was brutal for people. What happened afterwards was just as bad. It seems that nothing really changes at all.
I felt writing was a little off in places; some phrases felt repetitive, or a sentence didn't seem to convey what I think the writer was trying to say. Some passages were very beautiful and lyrical, and other times it was very brutal, reflecting the way the character was felling.
This is an interesting and well written tale of love and healing. But a character falling in love is not going to make me suddenly like them after the author has done such a good job of making me despise them. That might be the intention, but it left me unimpressed and cheated.
One thing that left a lasting impression; we are reflections of our own experiences. Isabel has only know nice things, her mother and brothers. Her view of the world around her is framed by that. Eva, who is a far more interesting character, has had a terrible life, which the author gives us very briefly, in diary entries in that last third that I skipped to. I was much more interested in her story, how she had survived, lived, struggled in a world that didn't want her, closed a blind eye to her, and she had to reinvent herself so that she could live. To see the tale from her point of view, now that I would have been very interested in, especially as she meets Isabel.
I might come back after some time and edit this when I don't feel so raw. But for now, it's good but I didn't like it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Self harm and Death of parent
Minor: Racism and Antisemitism