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scruffie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Grief, and War
Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit, Animal death, Infidelity, and Rape
aditi_agarwal's review
dark
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
3.25
An easy read about a man battling depression and suicidal thoughts finding a purpose in life that makes him want to live.
I found it to be a good and simple read, just a tad bit unexciting and monotonous. There were a few emotional moments in between, especially when talking about the war, and the novel almost perfectly communicated the gradual transcendence of joylessness and hopelessness to purposefulness, however, despite that there were points when it fell completely flat.
I read the English translation of the book, and the purpose of the intermittent quotes seemed to have almost definitely been lost in translation. I also personally feel a lot of the moments would have probably been more impactful in the original Icelandic than in English.
I found it to be a good and simple read, just a tad bit unexciting and monotonous. There were a few emotional moments in between, especially when talking about the war, and the novel almost perfectly communicated the gradual transcendence of joylessness and hopelessness to purposefulness, however, despite that there were points when it fell completely flat.
I read the English translation of the book, and the purpose of the intermittent quotes seemed to have almost definitely been lost in translation. I also personally feel a lot of the moments would have probably been more impactful in the original Icelandic than in English.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and War
leonors's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Short and delicate. Mostly. I’m not sure what to think about the author’s approach to a difficult theme such as suicidal thoughts. On one hand, based on the way she depicts him, I don’t think Jonas really wanted to die. From the very beginning he keeps looking for flaws to fix in his suicidal plan, first the choice of weapon, then the problem of his daughter finding his corpse; then he chooses a country where the war is over, which means, despite what he says about it, that he won’t be at risk of being shot at any second. In this sense, he strikes me more as a man who at some level is still looking for sense and meaning, than one ready to give up.
Only putting things in this perspective I can consider acceptable how the author made the protagonist diminish his own unhappiness, by comparing it to what war survivors have been through and making him define it “an idiocy at best”. That’d otherwise be a shallow and ignorant view on mental illness, since plenty of studies show that psychological symptoms are the same regardless of how big the trauma has been. Unhappiness and suicidal thoughts aren’t a competition, and claiming the contrary is stupid and patronizing.
That being said, this can still be a nice story of a new beginning and of unexpected ways to find meaning in life when one’s going through a crisis.
Only putting things in this perspective I can consider acceptable how the author made the protagonist diminish his own unhappiness, by comparing it to what war survivors have been through and making him define it “an idiocy at best”. That’d otherwise be a shallow and ignorant view on mental illness, since plenty of studies show that psychological symptoms are the same regardless of how big the trauma has been. Unhappiness and suicidal thoughts aren’t a competition, and claiming the contrary is stupid and patronizing.
That being said, this can still be a nice story of a new beginning and of unexpected ways to find meaning in life when one’s going through a crisis.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Gun violence, and Grief
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