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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Who calls this a romance or a love story? It's absolutely not.
If you want to read about a dysfunctional family, child abuse, colonialism, racism and misogyny, go for it. Yes, the writing has some kind of quality to it, but not as much as it is praised for.
And if I read what all the male critics in particular had to say about this book, I only want to throw up.
If you want to read about a dysfunctional family, child abuse, colonialism, racism and misogyny, go for it. Yes, the writing has some kind of quality to it, but not as much as it is praised for.
And if I read what all the male critics in particular had to say about this book, I only want to throw up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Colonisation, Classism
(I decided on 3 stars, more like 3.5 though)
I am very conflicted on this book and what to say about it...first off, the writing style is gorgeous. It reminds me of Virginia Woolf at many points with its extremely evocative, stream-of-consciousness qualities. While this *is* a novella with only 95 pages in the German version, it certainly isn't the kind of book you just consume over the course of an hour or even a day.
Reason 1: the aforementioned, rich prose. It is so powerful that you (or at least that was my impression) simply only can take *so much* of it in one sitting before getting oversaturated.
Reason 2: the subject matter. Maybe it is me coming at this from a "modern" standpoint but I hughly disagree that this is a romance.
This is a story of a relationship, if you can even call it that, between a 27-year old man and a 15-year old girl. Now I now that 15-year olds aren't exactly children anymore but they also aren't grown-ups, and still in development both physically and mentally. They just arent't on the same level as 27 year old adults...so their relationship made me extremely uncomfortable to read about.
Especially since the female lead (there are no names mentioned throughout for anyone) is at multiple points referred to as a child or having "a child's body". There is even a line going like (my own translation from German) "he took her as he would have taken his own child", and yes, this is in a sexual context.
I could go into "psycho-analysis" of why FL would be tempted to enter this relationship - the family dynamics described her certainly would offer a lot of explanation. As a non-professional, I will not do that though.
Maybe the most disturbing factor in here is the relationship being portrayed as completely normal and consensual. At no point in the novella is it even doubted or even hinted at being something wrong. (Okay, there *are*one or two lines about Male Lead being ashamed at being seen with her or conflicted but that's a miniscule, almost overlooked part.)
In conclusion - it is not a "bad" book at all but I am not sure if I would recommend it to anyone.
I am very conflicted on this book and what to say about it...first off, the writing style is gorgeous. It reminds me of Virginia Woolf at many points with its extremely evocative, stream-of-consciousness qualities. While this *is* a novella with only 95 pages in the German version, it certainly isn't the kind of book you just consume over the course of an hour or even a day.
Reason 1: the aforementioned, rich prose. It is so powerful that you (or at least that was my impression) simply only can take *so much* of it in one sitting before getting oversaturated.
Reason 2: the subject matter. Maybe it is me coming at this from a "modern" standpoint but I hughly disagree that this is a romance.
This is a story of a relationship, if you can even call it that, between a 27-year old man and a 15-year old girl. Now I now that 15-year olds aren't exactly children anymore but they also aren't grown-ups, and still in development both physically and mentally. They just arent't on the same level as 27 year old adults...so their relationship made me extremely uncomfortable to read about.
Especially since the female lead (there are no names mentioned throughout for anyone) is at multiple points referred to as a child or having "a child's body". There is even a line going like (my own translation from German) "he took her as he would have taken his own child", and yes, this is in a sexual context.
I could go into "psycho-analysis" of why FL would be tempted to enter this relationship - the family dynamics described her certainly would offer a lot of explanation. As a non-professional, I will not do that though.
Maybe the most disturbing factor in here is the relationship being portrayed as completely normal and consensual. At no point in the novella is it even doubted or even hinted at being something wrong. (Okay, there *are*one or two lines about Male Lead being ashamed at being seen with her or conflicted but that's a miniscule, almost overlooked part.)
In conclusion - it is not a "bad" book at all but I am not sure if I would recommend it to anyone.
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
the harshnesses of desire. the fragments of griefs. the laments of love
I kind of despise this book. On the aesthetic side, I find the emptiness of tone to fall completely flat, and the novel comes off somehow as both pretentious and vapid. The split between narrative (if you can call it that) and memoir-like reflection doesn't work for me, and the novel feels like it both goes nowhere and tells you nothing about the protagonist. The lack of social commentary on colonialism (which should be a big part of the work) made this feel even more empty. The subject is also pretty tough, and I didn't love how everyone in my class readily accepted the central relationship as legitimate. On paper, I do think it probably could be judged as a good work of art, but that doesn't make it worth reading. There are some interesting reflections on how memory works as a preserving force and whether the past version of oneself lines up with the present version, but it didn't make the book any more enjoyable.
- Read this in class, totally altered my reading experience, cannot see the book outside of the class
- Boy oh boy did I have a terrible reading experience with this one, hated it
- So many parts made me icks, felt so sad reading this and class interpretation generally didn't match how heartbroken I was feeling, so that's what made me uncomfortable
- Will remember image of her mother beating her and claiming to smell the Chinese on her, that will definitely stick with me and I have already returned to it again and again
- Generally, just 2 close 4 comfort
- Boy oh boy did I have a terrible reading experience with this one, hated it
- So many parts made me icks, felt so sad reading this and class interpretation generally didn't match how heartbroken I was feeling, so that's what made me uncomfortable
- Will remember image of her mother beating her and claiming to smell the Chinese on her, that will definitely stick with me and I have already returned to it again and again
- Generally, just 2 close 4 comfort
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated