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mabelrooney's review
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? It's complicated
3.5
justinlife's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
It's hard with a book like this b/c I want to be honest with how I felt about it but also recognize the work it took to go into creating this novel.
My review reflects my opinion. Others might enjoy it, but for me the book left me feeling disappointed. I was disappointed with the stories Obreht chose to tell and also sad b/c it felt like there were many many others she could have told.
The book follows two characters, Nora, living in Arizona during a drought, waiting for her husband and sons to return and Lurie, who is an outlaw living with the ghosts of his past and the ghosts around him. Nora is one of the most unlikable and unsympathetic characters I've read in a while. I couldn't understand her choices and her refusal to see the present in front her. She was mean and mean spirited and seemed like someone who had to be right.
Lurie's story was interesting enough but I barely remember a lot of it. Him surviving through the west with his animal made for interesting breaks.
This book didn't grab ahold of me. It didn't make me want to read it. In fact, it did the opposite. I wanted to put it down at almost every chance. The pacing was weird and by the time the book does get interesting (about 100 pages from the end), I didn't care about any of the characters to really feel the gravity of the situations they were in.
When the book ended, it just left me feeling disappointed. There was a lot that didn't get resolved. A lot that could have been fun to read. It's like if Obreht has condensed the first 200 pages and to 100 and took some to explore the aftermaths, I would have liked it more.
My review reflects my opinion. Others might enjoy it, but for me the book left me feeling disappointed. I was disappointed with the stories Obreht chose to tell and also sad b/c it felt like there were many many others she could have told.
The book follows two characters, Nora, living in Arizona during a drought, waiting for her husband and sons to return and Lurie, who is an outlaw living with the ghosts of his past and the ghosts around him. Nora is one of the most unlikable and unsympathetic characters I've read in a while. I couldn't understand her choices and her refusal to see the present in front her. She was mean and mean spirited and seemed like someone who had to be right.
Lurie's story was interesting enough but I barely remember a lot of it. Him surviving through the west with his animal made for interesting breaks.
This book didn't grab ahold of me. It didn't make me want to read it. In fact, it did the opposite. I wanted to put it down at almost every chance. The pacing was weird and by the time the book does get interesting (about 100 pages from the end), I didn't care about any of the characters to really feel the gravity of the situations they were in.
When the book ended, it just left me feeling disappointed. There was a lot that didn't get resolved. A lot that could have been fun to read. It's like if Obreht has condensed the first 200 pages and to 100 and took some to explore the aftermaths, I would have liked it more.
echtwaarmiet's review
Het boek kon me halverwege nog steeds niet pakken, dus ik heb het aan de kant gelegd voor later.
carobobarometer's review against another edition
2.0
DNF
Perhaps I wasn't the intended audience, but the story and the characters weren't really that captivating to me. I put it down when I was about halfway finished.
Perhaps I wasn't the intended audience, but the story and the characters weren't really that captivating to me. I put it down when I was about halfway finished.
tmathews0330's review against another edition
3.0
I felt drawn to the characters, but I felt myself drifting along the top of their story when I wanted to be anchored in. An interesting concept.
timna_wyckoff's review
4.0
Read for bookclub; can't wait to see what others thought. I loved the sweep of Lurie's story, the details about the camels, the different voices and timelines, the ghosts (not even usually my thing!), and how the tragic end somehow also made me...smile. I really wanted to love Nora's story, and I really *appreciated* its various details, but it just didn't move me like I'd hoped.
drskaninchen's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Grief, Animal death, Violence, Medical content, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Animal death
Minor: Islamophobia and War
af415's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review
5.0
This mysterious and captivating novel weaves two story strands together into an unexpected and gratifying end. I'm pretty sure it's not like anything else you've read, which is a treat in itself.
One storyline revolves around Nora, living on a sun-blasted ranch during the 1892 Arizona drought. Her husband has left to buy water from the waterman in town, and her older sons have gone into town to publish their newspaper. None have returned. She's at home with her youngest son, who has had what seems to be a whale of a concussion, and their servant, a young woman who says she can occasionally speak to the dead. And her stroke-impaired, wheelchair-bound mother who mysteriously manages to move her chair to prime spots in the house.
Story two involves Lurie Mattie, which is not his real name, brought to the US as a child, lived as a street kid, and who relates his story to Burke, his camel. Lurie has two dead friends who follow him because he has absorbed their want. Where he encountered his camel you will have to read "Inland" to find out.
Anyone who follows my reviews knows how I try to avoid stories with supernatural elements, and that's because they are usually stupid. Tea Obrecht taps into the spirit of people of that time and place to create beliefs that fit. The west was haunted, and the people who came there brought their own ghosts to cohabit with the new ones they encountered.
Obrecht is a beautiful writer who captures the frying southwest and how people survive in areas where people were not really meant to live. Only Burke the camel is in the right place. What a wonderful book.
One storyline revolves around Nora, living on a sun-blasted ranch during the 1892 Arizona drought. Her husband has left to buy water from the waterman in town, and her older sons have gone into town to publish their newspaper. None have returned. She's at home with her youngest son, who has had what seems to be a whale of a concussion, and their servant, a young woman who says she can occasionally speak to the dead. And her stroke-impaired, wheelchair-bound mother who mysteriously manages to move her chair to prime spots in the house.
Story two involves Lurie Mattie, which is not his real name, brought to the US as a child, lived as a street kid, and who relates his story to Burke, his camel. Lurie has two dead friends who follow him because he has absorbed their want. Where he encountered his camel you will have to read "Inland" to find out.
Anyone who follows my reviews knows how I try to avoid stories with supernatural elements, and that's because they are usually stupid. Tea Obrecht taps into the spirit of people of that time and place to create beliefs that fit. The west was haunted, and the people who came there brought their own ghosts to cohabit with the new ones they encountered.
Obrecht is a beautiful writer who captures the frying southwest and how people survive in areas where people were not really meant to live. Only Burke the camel is in the right place. What a wonderful book.