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rojerwilko's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ale_ja's review
4.75
don’t rlly have a better way to describe this book than heavy, content wise obviously but also in style/writing/something i can’t quite touch, the way she concentrates her loudest/strongest/quietest sentences at the end of paragraphs, and the hardest paragraphs at the end of chapters, and how almost every chapter can be read as a story independent of the rest, and how the biggest smallest sentence was the end of it all.. there’s a weight there, & so much of it, work of art absolutely—also a work of pain i imagine..
olivia_rose1999's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
paulzacchaeus's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.25
vnalamalapu's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jennyshank's review
4.0
What I most appreciated about this novel was Lin's gorgeous and precise evocation of its Alaskan setting and its absolute emotional authenticity.
She described the forests near Anchorage where the family of Taiwanese immigrants lived with such specificity that I could feel, see, and smell them. She always made the reader aware of the quality of light as the novel unfolded--whether we were in endless summer daylight or the relentless dark of winter. The mood of the story matched its setting, with its cold rain and enormous, haunting forests echoing the grief the family feels over the loss of their young daughter, Ruby, due to meningitis.
The ten-year-old narrator, Gavin, who infected Ruby with meningitis but survived, has the quiet stillness and keen observational acuity of a forest creature. All of his reactions, in every scene, were convincing, as was the sad story of his father, once an engineer, diminished in this country to lesser work, and his determined mother, who cannot accept defeat.
She described the forests near Anchorage where the family of Taiwanese immigrants lived with such specificity that I could feel, see, and smell them. She always made the reader aware of the quality of light as the novel unfolded--whether we were in endless summer daylight or the relentless dark of winter. The mood of the story matched its setting, with its cold rain and enormous, haunting forests echoing the grief the family feels over the loss of their young daughter, Ruby, due to meningitis.
The ten-year-old narrator, Gavin, who infected Ruby with meningitis but survived, has the quiet stillness and keen observational acuity of a forest creature. All of his reactions, in every scene, were convincing, as was the sad story of his father, once an engineer, diminished in this country to lesser work, and his determined mother, who cannot accept defeat.
rataltouille's review
4.0
i have never read a more powerful opening scene OR final scene to a book and i don't think i ever will.
huskerbee's review
3.0
3.5. Don't get me wrong - it's a good book, the writing is at times beautiful, and at no point did I feel like putting it down. But I don't know what it is about this book that I can't put my finger on, because it felt ever so distant, ever so slightly out of reach. Is that the intended effect, to mirror the space between Gavin's family and the Alaskans and the vast unknown of the countryside/country? If it is, it definitely works, at the cost of feeling like I could relate to Gavin, which I feel is quite important in a first-person narrative.
There were a few things I wasn't sure what to make of, like Natty's behaviour, or the preoccupation with the Challenger disaster, although reading a book review helped me to link that with the implosion of Gavin's family (I'm not entirely convinced, though; seems a bit grandiose for a parallel). I think the most important and moving parts were the most human parts - Gavin and his father sitting on a riverbank trying (not) to talk through their emotions, or revealing that Pei-Pei uses the name 'Paige' to fit in. The strength of the book lies not so much in the 'drama' caused by Ruby's death so much as the constant, shifting out-of-placeness that the family faces, and dare I say the book would have worked just as well without the need to kill anyone off.
tldr; a good read that's well worth checking out, even if it doesn't quite get down to the /heart/ of the story it's trying to tell!
There were a few things I wasn't sure what to make of, like Natty's behaviour, or the preoccupation with the Challenger disaster, although reading a book review helped me to link that with the implosion of Gavin's family (I'm not entirely convinced, though; seems a bit grandiose for a parallel). I think the most important and moving parts were the most human parts - Gavin and his father sitting on a riverbank trying (not) to talk through their emotions, or revealing that Pei-Pei uses the name 'Paige' to fit in. The strength of the book lies not so much in the 'drama' caused by Ruby's death so much as the constant, shifting out-of-placeness that the family faces, and dare I say the book would have worked just as well without the need to kill anyone off.
tldr; a good read that's well worth checking out, even if it doesn't quite get down to the /heart/ of the story it's trying to tell!