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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Tried reading this during a turbulent few weeks, so I feel like a lot went over my head. But it's very well written, I can't deny that. Levy knows exactly how to present an environment as it is, as it is seen subjectively through the unreliable narrator, and at the same time as a world that's rife with symbolism. It's such a clever tapestry of elements that can be seen both as literal and metaphorical influences on the main character, that I often wasn't able to see the forest for the trees. And still... even if I struggled to collect the bigger picture, individual moments always felt so powerful and haunting at the very moment I read them. But also after a few days some scenes would still linger in the back of my mind... there's some mighty clever writing here, my mind just wasn't in it to take it all in.
beautifully written with so many rich recurring themes: Medusas (jellyfish), stars (real and screensaver), legs (lame or not), stitching, swimming… an ethnography of sorts (narrated by an anthro PhD) or perhaps a physiography (written by the nurse) on the relationships between mothers and daughters, sickness and wellness, desire and danger, monstrous and… not. the experience of the caretaker and of the body as tricky, treacherous—when the legs turn out not to be the problem; it was the water that was the symptom all along. an alternative healing, against the pharmaceutical model. a lack of belonging—what would make for a home?
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wanted to love this but struggled through the prose. Felt like it ended abruptly.
slow-paced
I can’t stop thinking about this book (mostly because I have no idea what happened in it). It was like reading a strange bisexual fever dream - the dialogue was so bizarre- almost like the dialogue you’d have in a dream - unrealistic and disjointed. The whole book was centred around desire and becoming bold, while also constantly returning to themes of what it meant to be a mother and what it meant to be a child.
It also kept returning to themes of axes - my love for my mother is like an axe, beheaded, etc. also themes of jellyfish & Medusa, snakes, sunshine, and water. I honestly have no idea what happened but it would be cool for a book club- I did enjoy it despite being entirely confused the whole time
It also kept returning to themes of axes - my love for my mother is like an axe, beheaded, etc. also themes of jellyfish & Medusa, snakes, sunshine, and water. I honestly have no idea what happened but it would be cool for a book club- I did enjoy it despite being entirely confused the whole time
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some people will hate this book, and I thought I did to begin with, but this book is delightfully filled with nonsensical characters and a thousand questions that we’ll never get the answers to (unless the author did a tell-all and that would be deeply unsatisfying)
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
medium-paced