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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Traag. Hoofdpersonages niet helemaal geloofwaardig qua leeftijd.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved THE MEMORY POLICE, so I had high hopes going into this book. Unfortunately, I found it disappointing. MINA'S MATCHBOOK is a meandering exploration of memory. It's slow, and the POV character lacks much in the way of personality of her own. The most interesting parts were when you could tell she had missed some important point by virtue of her age at the time the events of the novel were taking place, but then that felt odd because she's telling the story of her youth from a much older vantage point looking back, so she should understand things differently now.
I was surprised by the description of the events of the 1972 Olympics (when Palestinian militants held Israeli Olympians hostage to negotiate the release of Palestinians who had been imprisoned), and disappointed by what felt like lazy research at best and hasbara at worst, but honestly the most frustrating part of it was how little it seemed to relate to the rest of the story.
Ultimately, that - the absence of a clear narrative throughline - is that made this book fall flat for me. It just didn't feel like it was going anywhere, ever, not just in terms of plot but in terms of how the characters might change or grow. It was a real nothingburger of a book.
I was surprised by the description of the events of the 1972 Olympics (when Palestinian militants held Israeli Olympians hostage to negotiate the release of Palestinians who had been imprisoned), and disappointed by what felt like lazy research at best and hasbara at worst, but honestly the most frustrating part of it was how little it seemed to relate to the rest of the story.
Ultimately, that - the absence of a clear narrative throughline - is that made this book fall flat for me. It just didn't feel like it was going anywhere, ever, not just in terms of plot but in terms of how the characters might change or grow. It was a real nothingburger of a book.
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
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:
No
Would have been better with more pygmy hippo content.
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
reflective
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:
No
This book was well written. There is strong character development, and the whole story is quite captivating, but ultimately falls flat as there's no real main plot. Rather, there are several smaller plots and dramas involving family dynamics and blended cultures. It reminds me of The Remains of The Day for this reason. There is a lot of introspection and you spend a lot of time with one character in a kind of day to day reflection of a time in a life.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
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:
Yes