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0hfortheloveofbooks's review
4.0
4.5 stars!
“It feels like a lot of places,” I said. “And a lot of times.”
All Saints is a surrealist journey through time and space - present day war torn Afghanistan, the countrysides in Europe during the first world war, and the sweltering jungles of Mexico (where war is unleashed). And occasionally these times and spaces melt together. It truly reminded me of Dalí's “The Persistence of Memory.” I'm not going to spend any time discussing the synopsis because 1) the main plot only takes place within a few days and 2) I'm not entirely sure what happened. That's not really true! But I do believe the action is second in importance to the emotion of All Saints. This book is so full of rich, descriptive language it's crazy. The use of colors made it feel dreamlike and ethereal, mesmerizing. And like a dream, I got swept away in the thoughts and feelings it evoked that occasionally I didn't follow the actual plot of the story. This “caught in the flow” feeling was also heightened by the two fairly unreliable narrators. Ben suffered from PTSD flashbacks and Dani frequently did not want to divulge the entire truth.
All Saints is a book to be savored, a book that begs for passages to be re-read. You can't rush this story. Although I personally took a little too long getting through it due to a busy month. Some days I only read a couple of pages and I felt a bit of the magic was lost. But this was a me issue and not a book issue!
This is definitely a book I would love to have read in school. I think it would be so interesting to hear the differing ideas and importance of themes, motifs, and symbolism (where are you Professor Baldini?!)
Thank you so much Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All Saints is unlike anything I've read before!
“It feels like a lot of places,” I said. “And a lot of times.”
All Saints is a surrealist journey through time and space - present day war torn Afghanistan, the countrysides in Europe during the first world war, and the sweltering jungles of Mexico (where war is unleashed). And occasionally these times and spaces melt together. It truly reminded me of Dalí's “The Persistence of Memory.” I'm not going to spend any time discussing the synopsis because 1) the main plot only takes place within a few days and 2) I'm not entirely sure what happened. That's not really true! But I do believe the action is second in importance to the emotion of All Saints. This book is so full of rich, descriptive language it's crazy. The use of colors made it feel dreamlike and ethereal, mesmerizing. And like a dream, I got swept away in the thoughts and feelings it evoked that occasionally I didn't follow the actual plot of the story. This “caught in the flow” feeling was also heightened by the two fairly unreliable narrators. Ben suffered from PTSD flashbacks and Dani frequently did not want to divulge the entire truth.
All Saints is a book to be savored, a book that begs for passages to be re-read. You can't rush this story. Although I personally took a little too long getting through it due to a busy month. Some days I only read a couple of pages and I felt a bit of the magic was lost. But this was a me issue and not a book issue!
This is definitely a book I would love to have read in school. I think it would be so interesting to hear the differing ideas and importance of themes, motifs, and symbolism (where are you Professor Baldini?!)
Thank you so much Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All Saints is unlike anything I've read before!
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