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cobwebshelves's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
"Maybe this is the nature of adulthood," Fuglestad considered. "Coffee and headaches. Parts that stop working."
Norway is very near and dear to me. I used to learn the language. It's still one of my dream countries to visit. So a historical fiction, set in Norway, with LGBTQ+ characters? That should've been perfect for me. So it broke my heart that I couldn't love it.
It's 1904, and the Fuglestad family is struck by tragedy. Two brothers, Gunnar and Fred, are severely injured in an accident. Their mother, Sigrid, dies. Gunnar's best friend Asta and boyfriend Erlend all come together to escape societal expectations and religious influences, to build a little family of their own and save Gunnar's home by finding a way to win the biggest event of the year - the Christmas horse race.
This book had some lovely moments of prose. It had sparks. The queer representation was lovely. The disabilities the characters live with don't magically disappear at the end. All these details I'm very appreciative of.
But for me, the pacing was the biggest problem. The first fifty pages are so fast you get a whiplash from everything that's happening. Then by the middle, it slows to a halt. And once you get to the final page, the epilogue feels like an afterthought.
I wish Gunnar had been a POV character. The back and forth between Asta and Erlend's POVs started to feel samey, especially when it stopped being Asta-Erlend and it was two or three chapters of just Asta-Asta-Asta in a row.
The side characters felt underdeveloped. I felt nothing for Mauritz or Oskar, or any of the names listed in the last paragraph. They were there to move the plot along, and I saw no true bond between them and the main trio.
The religious conflict got very uncomfortable at times, especially with the rampant homophobia that the townspeople shared.
Another reviewer I saw called it a trauma lasagna. And it really did feel like it. Tragedy after tragedy, in a very short amount of time, to the point where it got exhausting. I honestly feel that knowing from the getgo the kind of ending it'll have ruined it for me as well. At one point, during the race, one particular event that should've had emotional impact, only had me rolling my eyes. It could've done without the double physical injury for one person and the double concussion for the other. I know we all like torturing our characters sometimes, but that was a lot even by my standards.
There were good things in here. And it'll find its target audience. Unfortunately, it wasn't me.
Thank you to Soho Press and Netgalley for the early access.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts
"Maybe this is the nature of adulthood," Fuglestad considered. "Coffee and headaches. Parts that stop working." Norway is very near and dear to me. I used to learn the language. It's still one of my dream countries to visit. So a historical fiction, set in Norway, with LGBTQ+ characters? That should've been perfect for me. So it broke my heart that I couldn't love it. It's 1904, and the Fuglestad family is struck by tragedy. Two brothers, Gunnar and Fred, are severely injured in an accident. Their mother, Sigrid, dies. Gunnar's best friend Asta and boyfriend Erlend all come together to escape societal expectations and religious influences, to build a little family of their own and save Gunnar's home by finding a way to win the biggest event of the year - the Christmas horse race. This book had some lovely moments of prose. It had sparks. The queer representation was lovely. The disabilities the characters live with don't magically disappear at the end. All these details I'm very appreciative of. But for me, the pacing was the biggest problem. The first fifty pages are so fast you get a whiplash from everything that's happening. Then by the middle, it slows to a halt. And once you get to the final page, the epilogue feels like an afterthought. I wish Gunnar had been a POV character. The back and forth between Asta and Erlend's POVs started to feel samey, especially when it stopped being Asta-Erlend and it was two or three chapters of just Asta-Asta-Asta in a row. The side characters felt underdeveloped. I felt nothing for Mauritz or Oskar, or any of the names listed in the last paragraph. They were there to move the plot along, and I saw no true bond between them and the main trio. The religious conflict got very uncomfortable at times, especially with the rampant homophobia that the townspeople shared. Another reviewer I saw called it a trauma lasagna. And it really did feel like it. Tragedy after tragedy, in a very short amount of time, to the point where it got exhausting. I honestly feel that knowing from the getgo the kind of ending it'll have ruined it for me as well. At one point, during the race, one particular event that should've had emotional impact, only had me rolling my eyes.
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