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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
slow-paced
I found the story too meandering and jagged, hard to follow and feel invested in any of the characters. Lacking any plot.
Lina lives with her ailing father in a housing complex called The Sea. She's escaped with three books, one about the poet Du Fu, one Baruch Spinoza and the last Hannah Arendt. Lina reads them over and over, and they become even more interesting when she connects them to a trio that lives behind a secret door.
There's a lot going on in this book. It is beautifully written and weaves historical facts of Du Fu, Spinoza and Arendt along with fictionalized stories of their journeys. There's past, present and the future of humankind considered here.
It is beautifully written; so many sentences can stand alone. For example, at one point Wei says to LIna, "It’s not that a listener forgets, but that the one who survives to tell the story is always addressing a changed world."
I listened to this one on audio. I would recommend with all the moving parts and the deep thinking that accompanies this read that a hard copy would've been better. I think with the next reading. I'm fairly certain I would score higher but I also wonder if it's the story or the listener (and time of year trying to access as an educator) that made me have to re-listen to several sections, in fact start over after getting in several hours
There's a lot going on in this book. It is beautifully written and weaves historical facts of Du Fu, Spinoza and Arendt along with fictionalized stories of their journeys. There's past, present and the future of humankind considered here.
It is beautifully written; so many sentences can stand alone. For example, at one point Wei says to LIna, "It’s not that a listener forgets, but that the one who survives to tell the story is always addressing a changed world."
I listened to this one on audio. I would recommend with all the moving parts and the deep thinking that accompanies this read that a hard copy would've been better. I think with the next reading. I'm fairly certain I would score higher but I also wonder if it's the story or the listener (and time of year trying to access as an educator) that made me have to re-listen to several sections, in fact start over after getting in several hours
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
This is a book about journeys, internal and external, not by choice but because that is the great transformation of a human life. It's a mysterious story of tides washing in and out, realities washing in and out, history washing in and out... it has a very flowy, lyrical feel in that way (but also a lack of groundedness).
Our main characters are Lina and her father, who are in a mysteruous in-between place, fleeing their homeland due to some persecution, and separated from her brother, her mother, and an aunt. Then we welcome Du Fu, Spinoza and Hannah Arendt, as well as their alter egos, Jupiter, Bento and Blucher, kind of "twins" to the historical characters and carriers of their stories. All this in a mysterious place called The Sea, where shorelines don't stay in one place and dont hug the same body of water, and buildings transform and expand, where sounds are heard across centuries.
Thien made some difficult plot choices towards the end--not that they were wrong choices, but difficult to giving the reader satisfaction.One I won't even mention here, but the new family towards the end, the two sisters? Where did they come from and how are we supposed to care about them that late in the game?
Overall, I did want to keep reading, and it's a good introduction to a new generation about the greats of past generations, but something fell short about it.
Our main characters are Lina and her father, who are in a mysteruous in-between place, fleeing their homeland due to some persecution, and separated from her brother, her mother, and an aunt. Then we welcome Du Fu, Spinoza and Hannah Arendt, as well as their alter egos, Jupiter, Bento and Blucher, kind of "twins" to the historical characters and carriers of their stories. All this in a mysterious place called The Sea, where shorelines don't stay in one place and dont hug the same body of water, and buildings transform and expand, where sounds are heard across centuries.
Thien made some difficult plot choices towards the end--not that they were wrong choices, but difficult to giving the reader satisfaction.
Overall, I did want to keep reading, and it's a good introduction to a new generation about the greats of past generations, but something fell short about it.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
This book was beyond boring. I fell asleep every time I touched it.
I could not grasp onto a plot, it read a little like Calvino, very philosophical and I wasn't up for something I had to really think my way through.