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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
this book is more about the city of Bangkok and what it means than a unified narrative — it feels like vignettes of lives in different eras and parts of the city that sometimes touch each other. It totally captured the Bangkok I’m familiar with, even as a foreigner.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
This book was definitely an odd choice for me, but that is the point of my library’s reading challenge
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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:
Complicated
Loved how the separate storylines all weaved together.
I spent so long trying to figure out the timeline - didn't anticipate that part would be set in the future!
I spent so long trying to figure out the timeline - didn't anticipate that part would be set in the future!
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Should have saved it for #monsoonreads! Instead I read this in the driest of dry seasons here. Ah well. Our ecological problems are different.
I read this out of a specific interest in books with consistent place and variable time. Sudbanthad pulls this off as elegantly as perhaps it can be done. The book’s pivot is the city of Krungthep/Bangkok, and more specifically a single house, but the linked stories are also stitched together by characters who overlap each other’s lives through the generations. And as with other books with a sort of similar conceit (When I Sing Mountains Dance), I wanted there to be something stronger or more urgent pulling all those stories together. I wanted narrative, not portrait. I appreciate the elegance but I still prefer an early sense of why, what are we doing here? What's the occasion? How exactly did all these people end up in the same book? Eventually I settled down and put my questions aside and enjoyed it very much, especially the futuristic cli-fi elements. But I’m still thinking about whether a place, on its own, is strong enough connective tissue to be satisfying.
I read this out of a specific interest in books with consistent place and variable time. Sudbanthad pulls this off as elegantly as perhaps it can be done. The book’s pivot is the city of Krungthep/Bangkok, and more specifically a single house, but the linked stories are also stitched together by characters who overlap each other’s lives through the generations. And as with other books with a sort of similar conceit (When I Sing Mountains Dance), I wanted there to be something stronger or more urgent pulling all those stories together. I wanted narrative, not portrait. I appreciate the elegance but I still prefer an early sense of why, what are we doing here? What's the occasion? How exactly did all these people end up in the same book? Eventually I settled down and put my questions aside and enjoyed it very much, especially the futuristic cli-fi elements. But I’m still thinking about whether a place, on its own, is strong enough connective tissue to be satisfying.