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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Fascinating and genre-bending! This short book offered a glimpse into a world entirely unlike my own. The translation was fun and easy to read!
Meandering and pointless, completely failed to capture interest
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So not my usual genre, and that's on me. But it was incredibly atmospheric and managed to not only viscerally built a gritty setting of a purposely unspecified Latin American city, but to frame a tragic feud between two families à la Romeo and Juliet in a noir, dystopian light, with archetypal characters of the genre called names such as The Redeemer, The Dolphin, The Unruly etc.
One thing that struck me about the reading experience is that there is what they assume is a plague that has taken out so much of the city and its people, and despite the Government's warnings that all is in-hand and it will be ok soon, the streets aren't safe to go out in, people are masked, stores are shuttered and looted, people keep their distance from each other etc. Whilst this is more than likely a metaphor for other violence and brutality that causes death in the city, it's now hard to read any mention of pandemic in the same way after the events of 2020.
One thing that struck me about the reading experience is that there is what they assume is a plague that has taken out so much of the city and its people, and despite the Government's warnings that all is in-hand and it will be ok soon, the streets aren't safe to go out in, people are masked, stores are shuttered and looted, people keep their distance from each other etc. Whilst this is more than likely a metaphor for other violence and brutality that causes death in the city, it's now hard to read any mention of pandemic in the same way after the events of 2020.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved Herrera’s book, Signs Preceding The End Of The World. So much so I read it again after I was done. But this book was very hard to follow. About half way through I couldn’t figure out what was going on or who was who. So I got the audiobook and started again from the beginning. Still confusing in the middle of the book. Very disappointing.