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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Colonisation
challenging
medium-paced
challenging
dark
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
wow. i have genuinely never read anything like this book before. it was chilling, visceral, enlightening. it made me have some crazy prophetic ass dreams. tagaq’s way with words is unparalleled, stylistically, metaphorically, tonally. idk i’m kind of at a loss here! i’m glad i read this, i enjoyed how immersive and fluid tagaq’s prose was in describing the environment, the people both human and nonhuman, the narrator’s physicality and mental state… i have to admit i was a little thrown towards the end and felt myself rushing through to the end because it was hard to sit with the dark and turbulent feelings that the final couple of turns of the story took. but that’s probably also because i went into this book completely blind, having zero clue what to expect from the plot, not realising it would be magical realism, not knowing who the author was or anything like that. so yeah it was a challenging but also really mind blowing read ! i’ll have to rotate this one in my mind a little longer for sure
Guttural. Ethereal. Fantastical and raw. Like nothing I’ve hear pd before (go for the audiobook).
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Det är för mycket fint språk/poesi för att jag ska hänga med i vad som faktiskt händer.
Jag orkar inte längre försöka förstå utan jag ger upp.
Jag orkar inte längre försöka förstå utan jag ger upp.
I couldn't for the love of the Northern Lights get over the writing style. It's all short, repetitive sentences, all super lyrical and senseless and it really drove me nuts over the course of the read. I found it so grating I really wanted to give up. But I persevered and reached the end, which was actually my favourite part of the book. The last few chapters are actually understandable and have a plot! But it's too late, the book had lost me by then. I have even considered giving it another read and being more patient, but I really can't deal with the writing style (I might still give it another go because I really want to like it). Also, some of the passages are so on the nose and preachy. Ugh. I distinctly remember one about "saving money won't save you." It felt very "I am 12 and this is deep" and something about the narrator's femurs feeling the different types of ice. OK.
A few memorable moments here and there such as passages about heartbreaking abuse, coping with trauma, letting lemmings into your hair, being literally fucked by the Northern Lights, giving a blowjob to a fox man, standing up to bullies. Lots of interesting themes all of them hidden under a layer of edge that I just found annoying.
A few memorable moments here and there such as passages about heartbreaking abuse, coping with trauma, letting lemmings into your hair, being literally fucked by the Northern Lights, giving a blowjob to a fox man, standing up to bullies. Lots of interesting themes all of them hidden under a layer of edge that I just found annoying.
tw//Serious content warning for sexual abuse.
This is like one long, intense poem - the audiobook is a must, but /hard/ at times with emotion coming through the authors voice, and the throat-singing between chapters is good, but uncomfortable when juxtaposed with sexual abuse.
The novel picked up for me when the protagonist got pregnant and the narrative became a bit easier to follow. Before that it bounced around a lot, which isn't a criticism but was hard to follow for me.
This is like one long, intense poem - the audiobook is a must, but /hard/ at times with emotion coming through the authors voice, and the throat-singing between chapters is good, but uncomfortable when juxtaposed with sexual abuse.
The novel picked up for me when the protagonist got pregnant and the narrative became a bit easier to follow. Before that it bounced around a lot, which isn't a criticism but was hard to follow for me.