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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a beautifully plotted and paced novella that paints a detailed picture of a woman in poverty while also meditating on the nature of writing. the way these two things interweave fascinated me and the lyricism to the writing drew me in until i felt like i knew the main character intimately. there were points with some dated language that took me out and points where it felt we were maybe veering into a caricature or stereotype but the quality and depth to the writing was phenomenal for it being so short.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Racism, Suicidal thoughts
emotional
hopeful
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:
Yes
In two words, this book is intentionally lifeless. BUT it did get me THINKIN and being CONFLICTED… Amazingly, the narrator presents profound topics in a way that’s so devoid of passion and feeling it is actually impressive. It’s like 100 pages of empty speculation. Also, the narrator reminds me of a depressed philosophy student who has never lived a day of his life. Go touch some grass dude!!! This book does has lots of one liners to ponder and spiral into, like yeah, okay, everything’s meaningless, the world is full of poverty and death and evil, and nobody knows who they are, we are all nothing, but hey, let’s not actually open our hearts to this darkness! Let’s just intellectualize it all… Maybe I just hate the narrator. This book is emotionally flat!!!!! I don’t roll with that!!! Also, the whole “story within a story” thing feels like a cop-out to just write something mediocre with flowery language and age-old questions and pin it on a mediocre narrator. But maybe that’s the whole point, to create something that is just so-so, or empty, maybe I’m supposed to be left with all these feeling I’m having. Honestly, I think this book is for troubled intellectuals and I’m not either of those. I don’t really feel much about this book except that it was not enjoyable or enlightening and I think I’ll forget about it within the next 48 hours… sorry for the ruthless review…
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t fully understand everything but I think my rating will go up once I read some jstor articles analyzing this. But yeah, writing, language, identity, existentialism
I’ll miss myself so bad when I die. What a thin slice of watermelon.
I write because I have nothing better to do in this world: I am superfluous and last in the world of men. I write because I am desperate and weary. I can no longer bear the routine of my existence and, were it not for the constant novelty of writing, I should die symbolically each day. Yet I am prepared to leave quietly by the back door. I have experienced almost everything, even passion and despair. Now I only wish to possess what might have been but never was.
Feb 27, 17
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
fast-paced
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is very short, but it's incredibly dense. The author isn't merely telling a story, they are playing with narrative and the distance between the author and the narrator and the characters; things are very meta; there's a good amount of allegory and you'll need some political, historical, and literary history and background to really be able to pull meaning from this. On the surface, if you just read it as a story about a girl somewhere in Brasil, it's not very interesting and confusing. But there's so much more going on than that! All of the good stuff is underneath and must be pulled forward actively by the reader - you'll get out of this book what you put into it.