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danisbookshelfx's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Light hearted yet incredibly moving at the same time. Wish I could read it again without knowing the ending!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Miscarriage
Minor: Suicide
samidhak's review against another edition
2.0
DNF @200
I’ve been reading this book for over a month now, and while I’ve had books on my currently reading list which have surpassed this amount of time, there was just something about this book that made me dread picking it up and finishing it. For starters, the main character has lost her son and periodically thinks about killing herself, and has attempted to kill herself once. The second character has a turbulent relationship with her teenage son. AND oh, she’s also suffering from cancer. And the third character has some sort of mentally unstable situation where she talks to birds and sings to graves.
All of these sound very intriguing for a book, but the story is depressing to the core. For me personally, I thought that the characters did a lot of self talk and self loathing which made me feel negative about a lot of things. The only reason I picked this up was because someone compared this to Elenor Oliphant is Fine, and I love that book to bits. So for me to actually go into this thinking that the tide would turn and funny things would come through, was just an illusion. This book made me really sad and at parts traumatized me because of the way the main character was feeling. Due to the descriptive writing, this made it even more cruelsome to read. So I washed my hands and said goodbye to it.
P.S. can someone tell me how it ends?
I’ve been reading this book for over a month now, and while I’ve had books on my currently reading list which have surpassed this amount of time, there was just something about this book that made me dread picking it up and finishing it. For starters, the main character has lost her son and periodically thinks about killing herself, and has attempted to kill herself once. The second character has a turbulent relationship with her teenage son. AND oh, she’s also suffering from cancer. And the third character has some sort of mentally unstable situation where she talks to birds and sings to graves.
All of these sound very intriguing for a book, but the story is depressing to the core. For me personally, I thought that the characters did a lot of self talk and self loathing which made me feel negative about a lot of things. The only reason I picked this up was because someone compared this to Elenor Oliphant is Fine, and I love that book to bits. So for me to actually go into this thinking that the tide would turn and funny things would come through, was just an illusion. This book made me really sad and at parts traumatized me because of the way the main character was feeling. Due to the descriptive writing, this made it even more cruelsome to read. So I washed my hands and said goodbye to it.
P.S. can someone tell me how it ends?
lizbird's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. It has a good mix of happy and sad, the characters were well described and very colourful. I really liked Masha’s humorous descriptions, especially of her car Edith and her silly dog too. In the last quarter of the book the outcome became predictable, but that did not take away the suspense. I did however find the end a little abrupt. I would have enjoyed witnessing the meeting of Masha and her long lost Gabriel.
anneduff's review against another edition
5.0
What a glorious celebration of life! This is the first time in ages that I've read the last words of a book and then sat, quietly reflecting, while my brain and body absorb the thoughts and feelings that have been stirred. This might well become the first book that I read twice....
serena2286's review
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
venaisabella's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
years_of_reading_women's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-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
3.75
jmatkinson1's review against another edition
5.0
Twelve years ago Masha's life changed irrevocably when her young son disappeared, presumed drowned. Masha left her pos tin the local council and retrained to become a psychotherapist but her demons pursued her. Living alone with only her beloved wolfhound Haizum for company, Masha haunts the local cemetery finding solace among the gravestones and swims at the lido. Slowly though, Masha realises that she needs to move on and with the help of her friends so decides to put the past behind her and open up her life to new experiences and possibly romance. Meanwhile single mother Alice drifts around sanity trying to protect her son Mattie but Alice and Masha are linked and their lives are about to collide.
This is a very slow book to savour and enjoy. The characters are quirky and the twist at the end is somewhat unexpected and all the better for it. There are gaping holes in the narrative but I can forgive these are the writing is incredibly engaging and almost very restrained. There are huge themes touched on here, the loss of a child, cancer, mental illness, family breakdown etc. but they are handled so delicately that it is only after finishing the book that the reader actually realises how profound the story is.
This is a very slow book to savour and enjoy. The characters are quirky and the twist at the end is somewhat unexpected and all the better for it. There are gaping holes in the narrative but I can forgive these are the writing is incredibly engaging and almost very restrained. There are huge themes touched on here, the loss of a child, cancer, mental illness, family breakdown etc. but they are handled so delicately that it is only after finishing the book that the reader actually realises how profound the story is.
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
3.0
This novel is really sad! I understand the author has had some experience of serious illness and cancer but that’s what made it really hard to read for me. It does have much of the trademark humour and observation that The Keeper of Lost Things had, but is so much darker overall.
The two story structure was nice - with Masha as the main focus and then the story of Alice and her son Mattie.All characters have their obsessions and problems and they feel hurt in different ways. Masha for example lost her son when he was very small and so now she spends time in the graveyard to be close to him. She looks upon the inhabitants of this cemetery as a kind of family and seems to know them all. She even has dreams of becoming a sort of tour guide and bringing them back to life by telling their stories.
That got me right there. It took me ages to read the rest as I couldn’t see through the tears. Anyone who has experienced death of a close family member will get this book and it may even help some.
The two story structure was nice - with Masha as the main focus and then the story of Alice and her son Mattie.All characters have their obsessions and problems and they feel hurt in different ways. Masha for example lost her son when he was very small and so now she spends time in the graveyard to be close to him. She looks upon the inhabitants of this cemetery as a kind of family and seems to know them all. She even has dreams of becoming a sort of tour guide and bringing them back to life by telling their stories.
That got me right there. It took me ages to read the rest as I couldn’t see through the tears. Anyone who has experienced death of a close family member will get this book and it may even help some.