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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ-๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ข.
What would you do if one day, on your holiday to an isolated cabin in a forested valley, your friends didnโt come back from a trip into town - and when you went looking for them you found yourself trapped alone in the valley by an immovable wall?
I wanted to love this one, but honestly, despite being able to appreciate the praise lavished on it, it was tortuous to get through! I was hoping for a quiet dystopian, with the focus on the characters as they adjust and survive, and a philosophical bent - ie a similar vibe to I Who Have Never Known Men. And to be fair that is exactly what I got! I just did not gel with it at all.
This is almost certainly a wrong book, wrong reader issue - if you can sink in and click with it, I can imagine itโs incredibly immersive. The gritty, mundane and repetitive realism of the MCs life means you are inescapably trapped with her. I cannot tell you if my frustration with this approach was because I found it narratively boring, or because I was having a visceral reaction to the situation and the MCs lack of curiosity/resigned acceptance. Both are personally unenjoyable reading experiences, but the latter might be intentionally curated and a commentary on the modern (well 1960s) world? There are various reactions a person could have to being trapped by the wall, and the one explored here is valid. I just couldnโt get past the lack of exploration of the WHY and its extent. In IWHNKM there are โno answersโ but thereโs also no gapping unexplored threads! The MC is very compartmentalised and you get only a few glimmers of her deeper character, beyond her stoic survivalism. These glimmers however are what stand out, and I assume what draws fans in.
In conclusion, if you like quiet, mediative explorations of loneliness, survival, disillusionment with society, and our connection to the natural world you might love this - on paper I should have ๐คทโโ๏ธ. Avoid if you are after dystopia, plot, and hope - itโs a bit nihilistic.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This had the same bleak feeling of hope that I Who Have Never Known Men has. So many questions, zero answers.
Eigenlijk heb ik me vooral opgewonden over wat ze wel (en vooral niet!!!) doet. Maar goed, wel mooi opgeschreven, je voelt je met vlagen bijna even eenzaam als zij, en dan wil je een hond nemen.
It was well written, but the plot was very monotonous and I never felt very interested in the story.
โOne day I shall no longer exist, and no one will cut the meadow, the thickets will encroach upon it and later the forest will push as far as the wall and win back that land that man has stolen from it. Sometimes my thoughts grow confused, and it is as if the forest has put down roots in me, and is thinking its old, eternal thoughts with my brain. And the forest doesnโt want human beings to come back.โ
itโs incredibly hard to say anything about this book that hasnโt already been said in it. this book is a feat, incredibly internal and personal, like a peeling away of every layer of humanity to get to this core meaning, or non-meaning. sometimes it is calm and methodical, and other times it feels like the whole world of human existence is on the narratorโs shoulders.
this book has no chapters, a continuous, never-ending day, the passing of time struck with moments of intense existentialism that sink deep into your bones. simultaneously packed to the brim with meaning but simple, as nature is. The Wall has put roots down in my heart and altered my brain chemistry truly.
itโs incredibly hard to say anything about this book that hasnโt already been said in it. this book is a feat, incredibly internal and personal, like a peeling away of every layer of humanity to get to this core meaning, or non-meaning. sometimes it is calm and methodical, and other times it feels like the whole world of human existence is on the narratorโs shoulders.
this book has no chapters, a continuous, never-ending day, the passing of time struck with moments of intense existentialism that sink deep into your bones. simultaneously packed to the brim with meaning but simple, as nature is. The Wall has put roots down in my heart and altered my brain chemistry truly.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The events of the book were a bit repetitive, and the ending was VERY unsatisfying, unfortunately.