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manaledi's review
2.0
I know a lot about the Colombian civil war and was living in Bogota roughly the time this story is centered on and it all makes me quite uncomfortable with this story. Klay writes really well - even with the borderline violence porn descriptions of war - there's a real feeling of what war is like. That said, his characters are predominantly military/paramilitary men with power and there's a glorification of war and violence and an erasure of the victims and their identities. We do learn about the backstories of the main characters and yet most of them do not end up conflicted about their role in war and violence. There's a normalization of gruesome tactics and extrajudicial killings that is highly problematic. There's a glorification of a certain kind of "stoic" victim who suffered terribly but makes "the best" out of it. And there's no acknowledgment that many victims of the Colombian civil war are Black or Indigenous - race is silent in this book. At best there's some recognition of imperialism and the U.S. role in enabling and continuing conflicts around the world through the military industrialist complex, but it's absolutely a pro-U.S. military account.
skaggsy's review
4.0
This was a beautiful haunting painful read. It was wonderful but I'm also happy it's over.
sleeprunreadrepeat's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
lanagabriela99's review
5.0
It takes a little while for the stories of Lisette, Abel, Mason, and Juan Pablo to come together but when they do...wow. Well worth the wait.
brentonk's review
4.0
For once, a war novel that isn’t trying to be Catch-22 or The Things They Carried. The first half of the novel is superb, with gripping portraits of four people occupying four very different positions with respect to modern war. The second half felt rushed in comparison, with a plot that felt perfunctory and a bit too much navel-gazing about the nature of warfare.
corgi66's review
If you are thinking about reading this, read DARK AT THE CROSSING first.
lydaalexander's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This story was well written, but very dark. Main takeaways are that war is bad, and changes everyone it touches - but also maybe that war is inevitable?
richardpierce's review
3.0
3.5 stars. I can't make my mind up if this is an apologia for war or if it is just saying that war is inevitable and unavoidable (and those are not necessarily the same thing. I suppose it is very difficult.to make any character likeable in a nivel that deals with real-life atrocities, in a book that reflects reality almost like a documentary. Because, in essence, there is very little fiction here, and everything is all too real. But then what is the role of fiction if not to highlight reality? And, ultimately, maybe we have to accept that there is precious little redemption in life, if any.