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bibliotequeish's review
2.0
The first chapter of this book was out of this world, I thought for sure it would be a 5 star book, something about it grabbed me, the writing, the characters, I was in love.
By the end of the book, I just wanted it to be done. I was so let down by this book, I completely lost interest.
By the end of the book, I just wanted it to be done. I was so let down by this book, I completely lost interest.
robinbirdsong's review
4.0
An odd little detail for me in this book was the title of the Arabian Nights styled as The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night--I had never heard the title written that way and wondered if it was the author's rewording. But a google search tells me this was the standard Victorian translation. So I love it all the more, both for being historically accurate (the main character receives the book as a boy in the 1920s or 30s) and for embodying the themes and tone of the novel as a whole. For this too is a palimpsest of tales and the tellings of tales, of lived experiences that layer over science fiction stories, journeys of diaspora, exile and loss that span from Israel to New Orleans, Cuba to Chicago: the plots of books and the plots of lives intermingling. The "lost book" of the title drives the main story, which improbably reunites an old man with a manuscript that had been destroyed by his mother, a Dominican immigrant in New Orleans, a science fiction novelist who died young and faded into obscurity. The final scenes occur in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, erasing and revealing stories in the storm's rewriting of the past.
tiakiwi's review
The book itself sounds amazing and I wish that could have been the story, but instead it's very slow and back and forth about the dead grandfather and the missing son of the author. I couldn't get into it.
chibi418's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I wish i was in a better mental state when I read this so I could truly savour it. He wrote so much about family, and loss, and fleeing your home and what even is your home? So many beautiful quotes. The "epilogue" thoroughly destroyed me. The book is short, but do not expect a quick read. You really need to take your time to sit with it.
pallasreads's review
challenging
reflective
medium-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? No
5.0
nyxnovels's review
5.0
This book had everything I love: a book about books, amazing characters, lyrical poetic writing mixed with quantum physics, exile, heartbreak, loneliness mixed with connectedness, a true love letter to sci-if and hidden/disappearing cultures/histories, plus so much more!
jbosio's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I thought there was going to be a fantastical element to the story that turned out to have a more boring explanation. It’s like watching a Scooby-Doo episode thinking that monsters are real and just finding out it’s the old guy who owns the gas station in a monster costume. Pretty disappointed.
sonia_reppe's review
2.0
Read for book club (Genre X). This book was not for me, because I don't like the trope of someone finding a manuscript/book/letters and then trying to find out where they came from/how they came to be/backstory.
This was split into six sections. I enjoyed the part called "from Vitebsk" because the focus was a young protagonist--Maxwell as a boy vagabond meets Benjamin and they become fast friends. At one point Ben's father tells his backstory which had violence and torture in it. Still this was the best section for me.
In all the sections it seems there is a side character who tells their backstory and mostly I didn't care. This was less than 300 pages but had an epic feel. It might have been better as an epic, having some of the characters's stories fleshed out. Maybe then these stories would have stayed with me better. Not for me but for someone who likes very literary fiction, themes of stories-within-stories, and searching for someone.
This was split into six sections. I enjoyed the part called "from Vitebsk" because the focus was a young protagonist--Maxwell as a boy vagabond meets Benjamin and they become fast friends. At one point Ben's father tells his backstory which had violence and torture in it. Still this was the best section for me.
In all the sections it seems there is a side character who tells their backstory and mostly I didn't care. This was less than 300 pages but had an epic feel. It might have been better as an epic, having some of the characters's stories fleshed out. Maybe then these stories would have stayed with me better. Not for me but for someone who likes very literary fiction, themes of stories-within-stories, and searching for someone.
bookgardendc's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really beautiful story in many ways - about memory and personal history and storytelling and dislocation and exile and friendship. And also portals to parallel universes.
paulataua's review against another edition
3.0
I can understand why so many people are raving about this, but it really didn’t do it for me. I liked the idea of books lost in time, of parallel universes, and commentaries on life and politics, but I found it difficult to get into the story and difficult to feel affinity for the characters. The fault is mine, and maybe I just got around to reading it at the wrong time. Maybe I will try again sometime in the future.