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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
slow-paced
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Very confusing book, it is often hard to follow the plot of our main protagonist (is there one?).
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
The Book of Records is a story filled with stories. A girl and her father hold onto and tell stories from the past of overcoming hardship, sharing the lives of Du Fu, Benedict Spinoza, and Hannah Arendt. To me, the organization felt a bit disjointed and not consistently interesting. The commentary on humanity is deep, but it felt like having a conversation with a friend you know has gone a bit too far down a rabbit hole and lost touch with reality. I thought I would really enjoy this much more as I am familiar with philosophy, especially Hannah Arendt. While I understand the baee concepts, this book includes many philosophically-fueled conversations contextualized in history, and I found myself wishing I was anchored in a reality more concrete than being lost in a setting of altered time and space with Lina. The Book of Records has so much to say about history and philosophy, but the organization left me still questioning what this book was really trying to say.
I am sorry I did not love this read. That cover though? Beautiful.
Thanks to NetGalley and WW Norton & Co for this ARC!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
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:
Complicated