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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Still not quite sure how I feel about this. I think I liked the story and how everything kinda sorta come together and I kind of liked the characters but not really? There were a few amazing sentences in the book that I wanted to highlight and write down and I liked certain aspects of the book but it just wasn't my favorite. I feel like the last 50 pages turned it into a three-star rather than a two-star. Maybe I'll reread it in the future and see if anything changes.
slow-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
9/10 : I saw this book in the library & picked it up based on the beautiful cover alone. The premise of this story is a modern reworking of the Ancient Greek mythology, Oedipus, of which I know only but the bare bones about {Google it}. As the tale begins, we are immediately thrown into a life lived on the water, the book catapults from one person to another, back & forth remembering stories from the river, until the mysteries slowly unravel, & the truths reveal themselves. Identity, language & fear are key themes, a deeply unsettling existence with so much meaning. I was really engrossed throughout, & found it a fascinating read. I struggled at first with the lack of speech marks, but you quickly get past that.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4'5★ Es un libro fascinante y extraño, con una prosa preciosa llena de alusiones al agua y a la naturaleza. Necesito aún procesarlo y ver que impacto que me deja.
What a wild ride. It was difficult to wade through the first third when I truly didn't know what was happening. Once it got going, I was sucked into the story and intrigued. As others have stated, the imagery, the connotations, the symbolism are all beautiful. However, I was left at the end wondering what it all meant- what was the point of all of this?
Summary:
Summary:
Spoiler
A re-telling of Oedipus Rex. Gretel grew up with her mother, Sarah, alongside a river. One winter, when Gretel is still young, a young man named Marcus comes to stay near them. In alternate chapters, in the present, Gretel searches for her mother, who left when she was 16 and never returned. She contemplates what happened that winter. Marcus was actually Margot, who was Sarah's first daughter. Margot was found and adopted by a couple, and formed a relationship with Fiona, a trans-woman who lived next door who had a gift of knowing. Fiona told Margot her future and urged her to run away. Margot ran away, stayed with a man named Charlie for a while on a house boat and accidentally killed him. She became Marcus, the man that stayed with Sarah and Gretel. Turns out Charlie was actually her father, and Marcus definitely sleeps with Sarah- therefore fulfilling the prophecy. In a confusing and seemingly meaningless and depressing ending, Marcus drowns while trying to catch the mysterious creature called the Bonak. In the present, Gretel and Sarah kill and eat the Bonak. Sarah suffers from dementia and eventually commits suicide.
The blurb suggested this would be unsettling and it was. Im not good with eery generally and definitely put me off running on the canal. I got a bit confused with characters coming & going/swapping. Some beautiful characterisation though and made me want to be a lexicographer.