Reviews

I'm giving this 2 stars even though this was a DNF - some readers will enjoy wading through the dense prose, the constant diversions and the overlong sentences more than I did. What I got out of the first 1/4 of the book was this was a world populated by slightly quirky people, with some sort of magical realism going on. Not paranormal, but more psychological magic.

Here's one reason for the DNF: all too often our hero/narrator says "I'll get to that in a moment" or "I'll explain that later" (in much more ornate language). Other reasons? I didn't buy that Tilte was such a force of nature, or that this island was so filled with bizarre people (a Buddhist nun/phone sex guru/computer expert all rolled in one).

ARC provided by publisher.

sarairia's review against another edition

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3.0

3,5 ⭐️s

celestemarin's review against another edition

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5.0

WARNING: All elephants in this book are metaphorical. Nevertheless it resembles The Elephant's Journey by Saramago in some key ways, such as making fun (in a restrained way) of devotees of world religions and being quite funny. It made me think of what books like Jeeves and Wooster and those sorts would be like if they were really funny and not just farcical. It's kind of leans over the edge farce at times but in a good, not cringe-inducing, way.

sanste's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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