Reviews - The Book of Records

117 reviews for:

The Book of Records

Madeleine Thien

3.68 AVERAGE

ellennzreads's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

mcr1955's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

A beautiful written novel about the search for home, displacement, immigration, connection and much else. The story centers around Lina and her father in the near future. who have left home because of environmental disaster. Lina is heartbroken to have lost touch with the rest of her family. She and her father are living temporarily with other very wise adults who spend most of their time telling stories. Long sections of the novel describe the life and travels of Hannah Arendt, Baruch Spinoza, and the Chinese poet Du Pu - which I found fascinating. This is an ambitious and serious book, but also playful.

meganm1989's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

freudsbeard's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional 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

dgraham's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

Tedious.

nicolewalks_'s review against another edition

2.0

challenging reflective slow-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

This book was philosophically complex and has left feeling wildly confused. The central premise of Lina and her dad going to the Sea, this intermediary kind of place where people stop before continuing on, was interesting to me. I liked the complexity of Lina’s emotions with her dad and how she discovers what happened to her mom, aunt, and brother. And I appreciate the symbolism of Lina’s actions at the end.

However, diving into the three explorers’ adventures made the book extremely difficult to follow and understand. Coupled with the three explorers’ figureheads in the Sea, I was lost as to who was sharing what story and why. Each story was interesting in their own way (Spinoza, Arendt, and Fu). But this book was written seemingly disorganized, without a clear plot or lead-in to when we’d flip back to the stories.

And while the prose is beautifully written, there are too many ostentatious conversations that don’t translate easily. Sentences don’t need to be superfluous and have deep metaphors ingrained in them. There were many dense paragraphs with little comprehensive payoff. Perhaps that’s what philosophy is. I knew early on that this would be a book that I’d most likely have to read a couple times to understand. I’ll return to it one day when my mind is more clear and ready for these kinds of ponderings.