Reviews

Full review:
https://www.bookstoldmeso.com/2019/10/review-memory-of-water-teemestarin-kirja.html

Memory of Water was two firsts for me for years: A book by a Finnish author and a book read in Finnish. Did not have to be disappointed. I had only heard good things about this book beforehand, and all the compliments held true. I truly recommend.

kitsuneheart's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

I was tempted to put down this book so many times, but kept going, because it was a book club reading for TWO different book clubs. Surely it would eventually appeal to me?

No, not me.

It has some elements that did get my attention. The tea ceremony (A Chinese style, in this book) is always a nice artistic touch, and the connection with conservation and secrecy was nice. The friendship between the two girls was nice, and it had me so hopeful that if this YA post-apocalyptic novel had a romance, it might actually be a gay one, for once! And at least, while there was no romance between the girls, there wasn't a romance at all. When the male antagonist arrived, I had so many worries.

But it's just slow, and it has quite a let-down at the end. This book builds up a grand adventure, the kind that would take place over your standard trilogy, and then just throws it away. Yes, it does make it different from most YA novels in the dystopic/post-apocalyptic genre, but not in a good way. It feels like I just wasted my time.

The book group leader said no sequel is planned, which is probably for the best. However, I might be persuaded to read the prequel, telling of the fall of society, if the reviews were good enough. The language in this book is rather poetic, and it is impressive that the author did her own translation. However, that jerking away of the plot left me to irritated that two stars is really the highest I'm going to go.