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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is an intimate portrayal of a simple life with a reassuring sense of the rhythms of life and I don't intend the rest of this 'review' to seem unkind. As I thought about what I would write here, I kept thinking of something crazy my brother had said years and years ago about song lyrics -- how if you changed the first lyric there would be no song. He used a song by We Five "Well, I woke up this mornin' You were on my mind." He said there wouldn't be a song if you said "Well, I woke up this mornin' but I went back to sleep." It's a silly thought, we were both teenagers, but it's a little bit like the way I felt reading this book. I kept racing ahead mentally thinking something remarkable was going to happen, but it didn't, or it did in a way that didn't seem remarkable.
Fourth book for 2022. This book was a quiet meditation on a life, without resorting to dramatic episodes to keep interest. There are intense moments of loss throughout the book, but they are written with such beauty and eloquence, as the reader grows to know Zorrie. Just a remarkable character study that stuck with me, and reminded me so much of the works of Marilynne Robinson. This is a book I plan on revisiting again, perhaps sooner than later. Just a remarkable piece of literature.
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was really beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Zorrie’s life but I found the pacing to be a bit weird. I struggled to keep up with how old she actually was.
It was really nice to read about such an “average” woman who still found beauty in her every day.
It was really nice to read about such an “average” woman who still found beauty in her every day.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
A monument to Irresolution, the book as the characters themselves, people whose lives pass without being lived. Proof that you can fill a book with meticulous, sometimes beautiful, details without making it deeper or developing the characters. A shame, because some of the themes would have been very interesting, if properly developed
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
No
It is a beautiful story, beautifully written. I didn't mind that it was so slim. It felt like the perfect length.
Many books I have been reading this year take difficult circumstances and turn them into a triumph filled with happiness and good fortune. A few that I have read end on a dismal note of misery. This book seems just right. Zorrie has an incredibly difficult life from beginning to end and yet there are moments of such joy and beauty. This feels incredibly realistic and yet also very courageous of the author. How many writers dare confront the reality that everything does not work out all right in the end.
I have never read anything by Laird Hunt before but I will definitely look out for him now.
Many books I have been reading this year take difficult circumstances and turn them into a triumph filled with happiness and good fortune. A few that I have read end on a dismal note of misery. This book seems just right. Zorrie has an incredibly difficult life from beginning to end and yet there are moments of such joy and beauty. This feels incredibly realistic and yet also very courageous of the author. How many writers dare confront the reality that everything does not work out all right in the end.
I have never read anything by Laird Hunt before but I will definitely look out for him now.