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tsedorable's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reads like a mirage. Poor guy is Murphy’s law personified.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Rape, and Violence
chuck_b's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
A grim travelogue of hope and despair, occasionally surreal and hyper real. Existential, naturalistic, primitivistic, savage, poignantly affecting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Abandonment
carojust's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
This is a story about survival, solitude, human connection, and the great frontier. It's centered around a true hero, Håkan, a boy from Sweden who is lost and alone upon arriving in San Francisco, wandering into old age.
Hernan Diaz has the ability to create such a vivid world with what feels like effortless simplicity. Like in "Trust," he's able to illustrate every detail with historical loyalty, drawing you into worlds of goldmining, Native American families, naturalists, and the animals, deserts and plains of America.
A good portion of the book is dedicated to Håkan's isolation away from a society that has traumatized him, and these moments of carefully learning how to survive remind me so much of "I Who Have Never Known Men." If you love that book, you'll love this one. Both heroes are innocent in how they perceive other humans, while entirely shaped by nature.
Also, that loyal burro, I hope he lived a happy life 🥺
Hernan Diaz has the ability to create such a vivid world with what feels like effortless simplicity. Like in "Trust," he's able to illustrate every detail with historical loyalty, drawing you into worlds of goldmining, Native American families, naturalists, and the animals, deserts and plains of America.
A good portion of the book is dedicated to Håkan's isolation away from a society that has traumatized him, and these moments of carefully learning how to survive remind me so much of "I Who Have Never Known Men." If you love that book, you'll love this one. Both heroes are innocent in how they perceive other humans, while entirely shaped by nature.
Also, that loyal burro, I hope he lived a happy life 🥺
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
isanto's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
TLDR
5/5 on every measure of a book that matters, 4.5/5 on the pain-o-meter. not for the faint of heart.
—
i don’t typically enjoy historical fiction, and even of that genre westerns intrigue me the least. picked this up because i enjoyed “trust” & saw that this was a Pulitzer nominee, so i thought: hopefully this is at least as good as “trust.”
i honestly think this is even better. how do i even articulate what i love about this book?
achingly beautiful prose, masterful narrative structure, exquisite characterization.
“in the distance” is the story of a protagonist more god than man, shrouded in mythos, incomprehensible even to those around him. i cannot think of a less relatable protagonist ive encountered in recent books. and yet, in less than 300 pages, diaz brings him fully to life, crafting a character whose story is so unbelievable that he cannot help but become real. i’m not exaggerating when i say that no protagonist more compelling comes to mind.
diaz’s ability to describe emotion, belief, physical sensation — all of it comes together to create such an immersive book that i felt physically empty after i finished it. reading “in the distance” is so intimate that it feels like hearing a confession, like being compelled to bear witness.
from a literary standpoint, diaz plays with a lot of different elements and themes — time, legend-making, storytelling, solitude, — that make the book truly artful.
in the end i’m just a hoe for a story about stories: what does it mean to tell a story about ourselves? what is the self if not a story? and what do we do when our stories are told for us?
to me, this is the perfect bildungsroman.
even if you’re like me and don’t care for westerns or historical fiction, if you’re looking for exquisite (and i mean exquisite) writing, a unique protagonist, or simply to become very upset, definitely give this a try.
5/5 on every measure of a book that matters, 4.5/5 on the pain-o-meter. not for the faint of heart.
—
i don’t typically enjoy historical fiction, and even of that genre westerns intrigue me the least. picked this up because i enjoyed “trust” & saw that this was a Pulitzer nominee, so i thought: hopefully this is at least as good as “trust.”
i honestly think this is even better. how do i even articulate what i love about this book?
achingly beautiful prose, masterful narrative structure, exquisite characterization.
“in the distance” is the story of a protagonist more god than man, shrouded in mythos, incomprehensible even to those around him. i cannot think of a less relatable protagonist ive encountered in recent books. and yet, in less than 300 pages, diaz brings him fully to life, crafting a character whose story is so unbelievable that he cannot help but become real. i’m not exaggerating when i say that no protagonist more compelling comes to mind.
diaz’s ability to describe emotion, belief, physical sensation — all of it comes together to create such an immersive book that i felt physically empty after i finished it. reading “in the distance” is so intimate that it feels like hearing a confession, like being compelled to bear witness.
from a literary standpoint, diaz plays with a lot of different elements and themes — time, legend-making, storytelling, solitude, — that make the book truly artful.
in the end i’m just a hoe for a story about stories: what does it mean to tell a story about ourselves? what is the self if not a story? and what do we do when our stories are told for us?
to me, this is the perfect bildungsroman.
even if you’re like me and don’t care for westerns or historical fiction, if you’re looking for exquisite (and i mean exquisite) writing, a unique protagonist, or simply to become very upset, definitely give this a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Torture
readerette's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
If you liked Grapes of Wrath, you'll probably like this, since it's basically the same story but about one man surviving in the Old West instead of a family surviving during the Great Depression. If you're expecting something akin to the wonder and depth of Trust, though, you'll be disappointed (though if you didn't like Trust maybe this would be more to your taste, since it's quite different). Well-written and Håkan is easy to empathize with.
The edition I read had a rather distasteful note after the story that "literature is not the same as publishing", which in the context of this overwrought book feels snobbish.
The edition I read had a rather distasteful note after the story that "literature is not the same as publishing", which in the context of this overwrought book feels snobbish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Medical content
Minor: Sexual violence
emerbk's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, and Sexual violence
feebles640's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
wolfism's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Confinement
msawyer77's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
savvylit's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
"The vastness around him was now his flesh. And yet, nothing - not the countless footsteps taken or knowledge acquired, not the adversaries bested or the friends made, not the love felt or the blood shed - had made it his."
In theory, I did not think this would be a book I would enjoy. Historical fiction about a lone man experiencing violence and desolation? Typically not my genre. However, In the Distance is an incredible book and Håkan is a captivating protagonist. Hernan Diaz writes so artfully and efficiently - I don't think there is a single superfluous word in this novel. Often reading like an early American folktale, this novel follows Håkan on a sort of anti-hero's journey. He constantly gets swept up in situations that he'd rather avoid. Some of the situations are so extreme that they invite disbelief. However, Diaz somehow manages to keep Håkan's story convincing all the way up to the perfect ending.
In theory, I did not think this would be a book I would enjoy. Historical fiction about a lone man experiencing violence and desolation? Typically not my genre. However, In the Distance is an incredible book and Håkan is a captivating protagonist. Hernan Diaz writes so artfully and efficiently - I don't think there is a single superfluous word in this novel. Often reading like an early American folktale, this novel follows Håkan on a sort of anti-hero's journey. He constantly gets swept up in situations that he'd rather avoid. Some of the situations are so extreme that they invite disbelief. However, Diaz somehow manages to keep Håkan's story convincing all the way up to the perfect ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder