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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was hard to read and for many chapters of the book I felt lost. I did not know how to feel about most of our main characters, many of them ranging from incredibly loving to cruel and cold. But no matter what they did I always loved their love and the possible future they could have. The life and mystery of Simon, a child entrenched in the issues of adults, pull you through difficult chapters. What convinced me that I loved this book was the ending, I suggest you get there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
This novel charmed, confused, and challenged me. That’s all I’ll say because I’m too darn uncertain about my thoughts to say more at this point!
"Between waking and being awake there is a moment full of doubt and dream, when you struggle to remember what the place and when the time and whether you really are."
This immensely emotionally loaded book tells the story of a mute boy, his alcoholic father and an emotionally distant woman. Nothing is what it seems and characters never cease to surprise. At first, these three seem to all bring something to the table that the others need, be it company, kindness or conversation. However, as the tension builds to an escaltion, they all realise how hard it is to come by the truth, to move on and to let others in.
This book really got to me. Especially the parts about Simon, explaining his actions and reactions in his head. I initially found it very difficult to understand how Simon could still love Joe, after all he has done to him. Just as I found it hard to understand how Joe could love and hurt Simon the way he does. For Joe, it comes down to him not knowing how else to get through to the child and the frustration of not getting the response he wants, momentarily forgetting that the boy can't speak. When it comes to Simon, Joe is his home. He doesn't know or understand anything else. That only makes the story more heartbreaking.
The book is beautifully human with a lot of flawed characters.
This immensely emotionally loaded book tells the story of a mute boy, his alcoholic father and an emotionally distant woman. Nothing is what it seems and characters never cease to surprise. At first, these three seem to all bring something to the table that the others need, be it company, kindness or conversation. However, as the tension builds to an escaltion, they all realise how hard it is to come by the truth, to move on and to let others in.
This book really got to me. Especially the parts about Simon, explaining his actions and reactions in his head. I initially found it very difficult to understand how Simon could still love Joe, after all he has done to him. Just as I found it hard to understand how Joe could love and hurt Simon the way he does. For Joe, it comes down to him not knowing how else to get through to the child and the frustration of not getting the response he wants, momentarily forgetting that the boy can't speak. When it comes to Simon, Joe is his home. He doesn't know or understand anything else. That only makes the story more heartbreaking.
The book is beautifully human with a lot of flawed characters.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
What a deeply complicated book, & how beautifully written. The rhythm & song of the words slip into poetry, portraying situations & people both broken & sublime, crushing my heart, rousing my righteous anger, asking me to look differently at something horrific, whether I agree with it or not. Intergenerational trauma, alcoholism, rage directed physically at a small child, disconnect from family & culture & land, & then a level of healing almost unimaginable (unbelievable?). Probably why I had to forget almost every detail of the book from when I first read it 10 years ago, before I could read it again. Am I happy to have reread it? I’m too unsettled to know.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Powerful, beautiful. Hulme's writing is lyrical and poetic. In the foreword, she explains how she uses language, and why she writes in a very specific way ("blue-green" is different to blue green or bluegreen) and that shone through in almost every sentence. Her way of writing emotions is nothing short of spectacular, and I don't think it would be possible to read this without falling in love with Kerewin's dark view of the world, Sim's furious curiosity, Joe's deep, deep love.
That said, these are some of the most human characters I've ever read. They are profoundly and sometimes repulsively flawed. I won't spoil, but I don't know how I feel about its portrayal of relationships, of actions and consequences. I don't know that she's wrong to have her characters end up where they do, but nor am I sure it's right. This is a story which rejects those notions, I think. These are broken people, trying. Love is the most important thing. Reading such brokenness and such love was powerful, if hard. This is not an easy read, but it is certainly worth your effort if you have it.
Potential spoilers, but triggers warning I wish I'd had going in-
graphic physical abuse & description of cancer
That said, these are some of the most human characters I've ever read. They are profoundly and sometimes repulsively flawed. I won't spoil, but I don't know how I feel about its portrayal of relationships, of actions and consequences. I don't know that she's wrong to have her characters end up where they do, but nor am I sure it's right. This is a story which rejects those notions, I think. These are broken people, trying. Love is the most important thing. Reading such brokenness and such love was powerful, if hard. This is not an easy read, but it is certainly worth your effort if you have it.
Potential spoilers, but triggers warning I wish I'd had going in-
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How to describe how I feel about this book...well, it came on a three-day, 30-mile backpacking trip with me. And it is 445 pages long. So, I think the simple fact that I didn't grow to resent the extra weight it added to my pack speaks pretty well of it.
It's a Kiwi book, set on the South Island in the early 80s. Some aspects I really liked; Hulme sprinkles a lot of Maori through the book, plus a glossary, and it's always fun to get a sense of a completely different language. At her best, she has a real knack for capturing the complexity of people (the mute and abused six-year-old Simon, for example, is at once cuddle-worthy and infuriating). At her more amateurish, complexity gives way to moral yuckiness (Simon's abusive father is a sympathetic character some of the time, but just because separating children from their parents isn't always what's best doesn't render the father automatically forgivable).
So, didn't love it, but was certainly interested by it. Read if you're ever tramping (as the Kiwis say) around NZ.
It's a Kiwi book, set on the South Island in the early 80s. Some aspects I really liked; Hulme sprinkles a lot of Maori through the book, plus a glossary, and it's always fun to get a sense of a completely different language. At her best, she has a real knack for capturing the complexity of people (the mute and abused six-year-old Simon, for example, is at once cuddle-worthy and infuriating). At her more amateurish, complexity gives way to moral yuckiness (Simon's abusive father is a sympathetic character some of the time, but just because separating children from their parents isn't always what's best doesn't render the father automatically forgivable).
So, didn't love it, but was certainly interested by it. Read if you're ever tramping (as the Kiwis say) around NZ.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
There is a part of this book that emotionally destroyed me. Like, reached into my chest and squeezed my heart til it was bruised. I've never read anything quite like it, and I wasn't prepared for it.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes