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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My very first DNF. The character was unlikable, which is not a dealbreaker, but she was also boring, which is. I started checking to see how much was left at approximately 5% and toughed it out to almost 50% because I was on a flight. I just ... didn't care about the MC or peripheral characters at all.
In the suburbs of a snow-covered Swedish town, the life of a young mother is falling apart: her partner - a criminal of an unspecified nature - has disappeared and the authorities, following the movements of money, arrive at her, who is in danger of losing everything. She turns to her husband's companions, to the women she believed to be friends, but finds only closed doors, turned backs and betrayal. With her insistence, however, she finally manages to break through to the heart of one of her old friends, who decides to stop being the plaything of a criminal and, in the name of solidarity between women, will help the protagonist to take her life back in her hands in a Bonnie & Clide ending.
A strange novel, which at first seems like a typical Scandinavian noir but doesn't leave you disappointed when you realise it isn't, and which you can't help but keep reading until the last page.
A strange novel, which at first seems like a typical Scandinavian noir but doesn't leave you disappointed when you realise it isn't, and which you can't help but keep reading until the last page.
You feel incredibly human, and aware of small details while reading: the bite of cold under a jacket just a bit too short, the ache of a mother's body in response to an infant. Stark, beautiful, and intimate, very highly suggested.
Läs min recension på bloggen: http://www.fiktiviteter.se/2018/05/14/de-vita-staden-av-karolina-ramqvist/
Slow, anti-climactic. It held my attention enough to finish it but it didn't get very interesting until close the the end. The end rushed and unsatisfying.
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this. Particularly the description of the physicality of new motherhood contrasted with some very foreign (to me) circumstances and the Swedish landscape.
This is one of the most claustrophobic books that I've read, but it's a mental sensation I got, not a physical one.
Karin is living with her baby daughter Dream in a big, isolated house. There's no heat, it's dirty and there's almost nothing to eat. Her partner was some kind of big criminal (he's no longer in the picture) and despite his promises of nothing bad ever happening to them, she's alone and none of his "business partners" has done anything to help her. He´s gone and she's alone and broke. Also, the authorities have already told her they're taking the house and the car from her.
The sensation of everything closing in around her is real, as she travels to the city, white with snow, to search for John's friends and partners and find out if there's any money left for her.
You can feel Karin's physical discomfort, her almost mental breakdown, the cold and the grime surrounding her. But just when everything seems to be against her, she finds the resources and help to turn everything around.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Karin is living with her baby daughter Dream in a big, isolated house. There's no heat, it's dirty and there's almost nothing to eat. Her partner was some kind of big criminal (he's no longer in the picture) and despite his promises of nothing bad ever happening to them, she's alone and none of his "business partners" has done anything to help her. He´s gone and she's alone and broke. Also, the authorities have already told her they're taking the house and the car from her.
The sensation of everything closing in around her is real, as she travels to the city, white with snow, to search for John's friends and partners and find out if there's any money left for her.
You can feel Karin's physical discomfort, her almost mental breakdown, the cold and the grime surrounding her. But just when everything seems to be against her, she finds the resources and help to turn everything around.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
tense
It did feel strange when I realised I was reading a book translated from my own language, oops. The translation seems to have been done well from what I can see.
This is a novella about a few days in Karin's life. Something has happened. She is now left with a big house. No money. Too many bills to pay and her man is gone. Jail, dead, something. And she has a baby to care for in a freezing house.
Karin, well she is obviously someone who is not great caring for herself. She needs a man to do things for her. She is left with resentment now when she never wanted a kid and now she has one. She is trying to find a few out of the mess that has been left to her. So did I care for her, not at first, but she does try to pick herself up, even if not always by the best ways.
I liked the quietness of her watching her young daughter play and not saying anything because Kari never talks to the child anyway. Which of course is horrible.
But I did feel it would have been better to read the previous book. Not that it is a series but there seems to be a book before this one where she is trapped in that same house, alone and wanting him there. Right, the house is important, aha, this is one of those books you should dissect at the table of literature. Great now I can feel my uni degree awakening, better step away.
A short novella that takes no time at all to read
This is a novella about a few days in Karin's life. Something has happened. She is now left with a big house. No money. Too many bills to pay and her man is gone. Jail, dead, something. And she has a baby to care for in a freezing house.
Karin, well she is obviously someone who is not great caring for herself. She needs a man to do things for her. She is left with resentment now when she never wanted a kid and now she has one. She is trying to find a few out of the mess that has been left to her. So did I care for her, not at first, but she does try to pick herself up, even if not always by the best ways.
I liked the quietness of her watching her young daughter play and not saying anything because Kari never talks to the child anyway. Which of course is horrible.
But I did feel it would have been better to read the previous book. Not that it is a series but there seems to be a book before this one where she is trapped in that same house, alone and wanting him there. Right, the house is important, aha, this is one of those books you should dissect at the table of literature. Great now I can feel my uni degree awakening, better step away.
A short novella that takes no time at all to read