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rbegati's review against another edition
3.0
Comprei e ficou alguns anos parado na estante. Hoje resolvi pegar para ler, e só parei quando terminei a leitura. Gostei muito do tema do livro, das questões levantadas acerca da adoção e da ditadura na Argentina. Me deu vontade de ler mais livros, dessa vez não ficcionais, sobre ditaduras.
emjbarnes's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The writing style of this book didn't gel with me. I wanted to like it, and there are elements of the story that were powerful, but the narrator doubts themselves so frequently that it became difficult to get invested. The sentences are long and slow, and the more abstract and profound sentences don't hit hard because the next ten sentences will be the same.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Eating disorder, War, and Kidnapping
thebobsphere's review
4.0
In the great vein of Bukowski and Fante, Julián tells his stories using an alter ego, Sebastian. Like the two authors mentioned Fuks also talks about his childhood and the political environment, however, whereas Bukowski and Fante focused on the more sordid aspects of their lives, almost verging into comedic territory, Julián Fuks takes a more philosophical bent.
The majority of Resistance questions sibling relationships. Before Sebastian and his sister were born, his parents adopted a boy and his validity as a brother puzzles Sebastian. Should someone adopted be called a brother? are the parents of an adopted child really parents? At what point should an adopted child be accepted and should the adopted child accept?
The backdrop of the book is the Argentina Junta and how it affected his family, thus a theme of separation and adaptation runes throughout the book, which ties in with the adopted theme; when one is in a new country aren’t they ‘adopted’ as well? – to accentuate Fuks goes into the roots of his surname, which are European, which means his forebears were migrants as well.
In this brief novel, Fuks brings up more concepts and themes: memory, displacement, even the act of telling a story are part of the book’s focus. As this is part of a planned trilogy , the second part, Occupation will be reviewed tomorrow, I am curious to see how Julián Fuks will continue this interesting slice of autofiction.
The majority of Resistance questions sibling relationships. Before Sebastian and his sister were born, his parents adopted a boy and his validity as a brother puzzles Sebastian. Should someone adopted be called a brother? are the parents of an adopted child really parents? At what point should an adopted child be accepted and should the adopted child accept?
The backdrop of the book is the Argentina Junta and how it affected his family, thus a theme of separation and adaptation runes throughout the book, which ties in with the adopted theme; when one is in a new country aren’t they ‘adopted’ as well? – to accentuate Fuks goes into the roots of his surname, which are European, which means his forebears were migrants as well.
In this brief novel, Fuks brings up more concepts and themes: memory, displacement, even the act of telling a story are part of the book’s focus. As this is part of a planned trilogy , the second part, Occupation will be reviewed tomorrow, I am curious to see how Julián Fuks will continue this interesting slice of autofiction.
tenhogui's review against another edition
5.0
Encontrei nesse livro uma delicadeza que não esperava. Lemos livros sem saber do que se trata, com apenas uma ideia própria da impressão que nos passam. E por fim, as irregularidades da narrativa se fazem explicitamente presentes, são insinuadas pelo autor fictício e quem sabe o que de fato poderiam ser?
booksnpunks's review
3.0
A book about brotherhood and it's complexities. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did. It's short but the writing feels quite stunted and hard to wade through a lot of the time and it was this which stopped me from being fully invested in it. It's also very slow and not much happens so it was hard to get excited about. Sad because I usually really love the PEN winners but this just did not really do it for me. Gave it three stars due to some really moving moments at the end and because I know critically that this was a deep and provoking exploration of family and brotherly love however personally I didn't rate it much.
pearloz's review
4.0
Wonderful novel, about the author/narrator and his brother. Mostly about the history of his brother, adopted before the author or their sister were born. I really liked how the author judiciously, meticulously laid out the family history as it wove in and out of the history of Argentina. Then, somewhere in the middle, the revelation...the grandmother's protest. The grandmothers of Argentina lamenting and looking for their grandchildren, grandchildren born to children that had been kidnapped and disappeared; the grandchildren, taken from their families, placed in the homes of the elites, dignitaries, ranking officials...narrator's father?
I found the ending slightly gimmicky with the parents reading the book we're reading, but when our narrator visits his brother, that very last page was a heartbreaker. I love Charco Press so much.
I found the ending slightly gimmicky with the parents reading the book we're reading, but when our narrator visits his brother, that very last page was a heartbreaker. I love Charco Press so much.
evilchocho's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
itsjadenbaby's review against another edition
I really love the concept of this book. Family lore and formation under intense circumstances is right up my alley. What stopped me from wanting to move further with this book was how complicated and flowery the language was. I’ve never been one for stories told in that way and always struggle to enjoy them to the extent I know I would if it was told in a different way.