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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated
So slow and sad and depressing. Too much back and forth in timeline. After book club, loved the characters. The story was not it for me though
I wanted to love this book so badly that even after I knew it wasn’t for me at 57% done I kept trucking on. I kept reading with the hope there would be some redemption, some twist that would make sense of the side stories and long, winding passages but it never came.
For me, this is a case of judging a book by its summary. I was pulled in by the intrigue and mystery of Simonopio and the bees- expecting to be taken on a journey with some supernatural elements- but what I found was that this was just a story about a family going through “some stuff”. For some people that may be enough, and this story earned its two stars by showing the deep connections between the family members. However, there was just too much fluff and not enough depth for me to stay awake. At one point I forgot whether Nana Reja was even still alive because the author forgot to mention her between chapters about vegetable harvesting.
I give the author the benefit of the doubt and hope a lot of things were lost in translation rather than poor writing skills.
For me, this is a case of judging a book by its summary. I was pulled in by the intrigue and mystery of Simonopio and the bees- expecting to be taken on a journey with some supernatural elements- but what I found was that this was just a story about a family going through “some stuff”. For some people that may be enough, and this story earned its two stars by showing the deep connections between the family members. However, there was just too much fluff and not enough depth for me to stay awake. At one point I forgot whether Nana Reja was even still alive because the author forgot to mention her between chapters about vegetable harvesting.
I give the author the benefit of the doubt and hope a lot of things were lost in translation rather than poor writing skills.
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Such a good book, inspires me to seek out more translated books. I love long interconnected family dramatic stories
Liked learning about Mexican history in this era and the culture of this time/people. Also enjoyed family history part. Oddness and dissatisfying ending reduced rating
Lovely story. A bit slow at times, and somewhat predictable, but if you allow yourself to slow down and listen, it is an engaging and beautiful story. The Audible blend of female and male narration was well done. However, I did not care for the the female narrator. Her tone, pitch and cadence was a bit too melodramatic. The male narrator was excellent.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A