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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
While I appreciate the purpose of the various character’s stories and the overarching premise, I had trouble connecting with the book and wanted to spend more time at the Sea instead of in the historical storylines of the characters. Not for me today, but I will go back to it eventually.
Seeing Thien discuss this book at the Toronto Reference Library was utterly magical.
Seeing Thien discuss this book at the Toronto Reference Library was utterly magical.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-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
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“In this morning’s seminar, another of her teachers, Rudolf Bultmann, a professor of theology, had spoken of Saint Augustine’s trinity of no longer, not yet, or not at all. The belief that this world is transient, temporary, made of time. Thus love of the world and its temporal objects, love of another person, creates perpetual mourning.”
Huge thanks to @netgalley for the advance copy!
After losing the other half of their family, Lina and her father arrive at The Sea, a temporary but mysterious dwelling. While there, they befriend a few other residents, each from a different place and time: Bento, from seventeenth century Amsterdam; Blucher, from 1930s Germany; and Jupiter, from Tang Dynasty China. Each of these residents adds more reliable and intimate information to the three books Lina has managed to bring with her, while Lina and her father tackle their own haunted past.
I have not read Thien’s last novel, DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING, though I had heard innumerable excellent things about it. I was very much looking forward to this one, but unfortunately, the premise outweighed the execution. I loved the philosophical themes of the transience of memory and the mutability of time. However, while this novel is undoubtedly ambitious and admirable, for me, it was not an enjoyable read. There was not much joy or life in the writing, almost as though Thien had a great idea about which she was not entirely passionate.
The storytelling too is not quite for me. The language is what I call “smoky” in my head; it escapes meaning and I become unsure of what is going on at some points as a result. I had to go back and read several sections to see if I had missed something, and when I often hadn’t, I was unsure of how a certain conclusion was reached.
Overall, a great premise but lacking in the execution. Honestly though, I might have just not been intelligent enough for this one. Two and a half stars.
Huge thanks to @netgalley for the advance copy!
After losing the other half of their family, Lina and her father arrive at The Sea, a temporary but mysterious dwelling. While there, they befriend a few other residents, each from a different place and time: Bento, from seventeenth century Amsterdam; Blucher, from 1930s Germany; and Jupiter, from Tang Dynasty China. Each of these residents adds more reliable and intimate information to the three books Lina has managed to bring with her, while Lina and her father tackle their own haunted past.
I have not read Thien’s last novel, DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING, though I had heard innumerable excellent things about it. I was very much looking forward to this one, but unfortunately, the premise outweighed the execution. I loved the philosophical themes of the transience of memory and the mutability of time. However, while this novel is undoubtedly ambitious and admirable, for me, it was not an enjoyable read. There was not much joy or life in the writing, almost as though Thien had a great idea about which she was not entirely passionate.
The storytelling too is not quite for me. The language is what I call “smoky” in my head; it escapes meaning and I become unsure of what is going on at some points as a result. I had to go back and read several sections to see if I had missed something, and when I often hadn’t, I was unsure of how a certain conclusion was reached.
Overall, a great premise but lacking in the execution. Honestly though, I might have just not been intelligent enough for this one. Two and a half stars.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
And the 2026 Booker Prize goes to…
The Book of Records is one of the most beautiful, daring, and intellectually rich novels I’ve read in a long time. Genre-defying and emotionally layered, it blends a dystopian future shaped by climate catastrophe with the enduring weight of personal and historical displacement.
A young girl and her father flee an unrecognizable China, plagued by torrential rains and a rising ocean that has swallowed parts of the land. They find refuge in a place called The Sea. In the rush to leave, the father grabs three books — about Hannah Arendt, Spinoza, and Du Fu — which become the unlikely anchors of their new life. At The Sea, neighbors begin to retell and reimagine the lives of these thinkers. As the narratives intertwine, we begin to understand not only the scope of global upheaval, but also the more intimate ruptures: a family fractured by betrayal, a daughter slowly uncovering the truth of why her mother and brother stayed behind.
This is a novel about displacement, memory, identity, and what it means to endure constant upheaval. Each character — past and present — is shaped by exile. And through them, the book asks: who are we when everything around us is changing, and we have no choice but to change with it?
It’s not an easy read — nor should it be. It’s intellectually demanding, emotionally searing, and best approached with care and attention. But if you meet it where it is, it offers profound insight and rare, luminous beauty.
A book of our times, and quite possibly of our futures — where survival requires compassion, connection, and a willingness to carry one another’s stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the advance copy. And thank you, Madeleine Thien, for this masterpiece.
The Book of Records is one of the most beautiful, daring, and intellectually rich novels I’ve read in a long time. Genre-defying and emotionally layered, it blends a dystopian future shaped by climate catastrophe with the enduring weight of personal and historical displacement.
A young girl and her father flee an unrecognizable China, plagued by torrential rains and a rising ocean that has swallowed parts of the land. They find refuge in a place called The Sea. In the rush to leave, the father grabs three books — about Hannah Arendt, Spinoza, and Du Fu — which become the unlikely anchors of their new life. At The Sea, neighbors begin to retell and reimagine the lives of these thinkers. As the narratives intertwine, we begin to understand not only the scope of global upheaval, but also the more intimate ruptures: a family fractured by betrayal, a daughter slowly uncovering the truth of why her mother and brother stayed behind.
This is a novel about displacement, memory, identity, and what it means to endure constant upheaval. Each character — past and present — is shaped by exile. And through them, the book asks: who are we when everything around us is changing, and we have no choice but to change with it?
It’s not an easy read — nor should it be. It’s intellectually demanding, emotionally searing, and best approached with care and attention. But if you meet it where it is, it offers profound insight and rare, luminous beauty.
A book of our times, and quite possibly of our futures — where survival requires compassion, connection, and a willingness to carry one another’s stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the advance copy. And thank you, Madeleine Thien, for this masterpiece.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No