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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Primer libro del año que considero merece las 5 estrellas, me gusto el libro, es detallado pero sin ser extremista, aunque si me habría gustado saber exactamente qué pasó con la niña (aunque no es algo que le quite el mérito), me gustó que fuera coloquial, que narrara paisajes propios, que surgieran esos pensamientos intrusivos que no siempre van acorde a nuestras acciones y también esos pensamientos que te hacen doler un poco el pecho y la cabeza, me gusto también que el libro se tratara de Estela y fuera fiel al personaje sin dar muchos detalles de segundos personajes, seguiré leyendo a esta autora
dark
tense
medium-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
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
i liked this! Sometimes when I'm babysitting but the parents haven't left yet (or in the case of the family I work for the older brothers (who are my age) are there) I like to think about the dynamic of a babysitter (or in this case a maid) as part of the family but not — knowing so many intimate things like everything about the children but nothing about the parents, or all the secrets buried in the house but always standing on the outside of them rather than being buried within like the family is. sadly I think there's a lot of uninteresting books about maids but this one did catch my eye (and got me Chile for my read-around-the-world challenge!) and I did really enjoy it. I particularly liked the way you could feel the disconnect between Estela and the family she worked for, the disconnect between the parents and child, the slow way the tension built as you knew the child would end up dying, as you saw her misery rising under all the expectations her parents placed on her at such a young age. I also was really struck by one scene near the end, the nature documentary the girl was watching about the elephants who all went together to lick the cave that poisoned them..so vivid. This is also kinda silly but I loved every time I had to remember Estela going back to the south was actually going somewhere colder.
oh and the ending...I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I mostly really liked the way this unspooled as a sort of confession, Estela telling her tale to a nonreactive audience. Butthe second-to-last chapter seems to frame it as something else — I don't mind it being blurry and grey and a very open ending with a lot of possibilities as to what could have happened but the way I immediately read it was that she died and this is that after that she'd waited for since the news about her mother, and I'm just not sure how I feel about that. However of course that is my personal interpretation so it doesn't really take any points away from the book.
oh and the ending...I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I mostly really liked the way this unspooled as a sort of confession, Estela telling her tale to a nonreactive audience. But
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent