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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
I like the way he gives us his stories,I truly enjoyed this book.
What a wonderful story. Even though I don't think I am smart enough to solve it for the real underlying message (like The Life of Pi). Three very quirky and seemingly separate stories weaved together by location first, but their link becomes clearer by the very end of the book. I stayed up all night to finish it.
A novel it ain't.
3 related novellas? Maybe.
Good writing. Failed structure.
3 related novellas? Maybe.
Good writing. Failed structure.
I’m not entirely sure what I read. First of all though, why were there so many lists?! There was absolutely no need for so many lists of trivial things like camping equipment or animals. Other than that, the writing was easy. It felt almost Hemingway esque, with how simple the sentences were. Between the three characters there seemed to be no real connection, save one which isn’t revealed until the last ten pages. Each of the men have interesting stories, in such a way to make you question what in blazes is going on because it’s so strange and illogical. By the end, it comes together, but not without that question permanently connected to the book: what just happened?
Entertaining-ish, but not amazing. Makes me want to travel to Portugal, though.
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Yann Martel has a gift. A gift with words and with animals. I didn't read The Life of Pi, but I can guess what that book must have been like.
This book started slowly and incomprehensibly. It was only until the about a full third into the book that I started understanding it. It's a series of magical scenes hung on the loose skeleton of a book, certainly not a traditional novel by any measures. The final third elevates it from a three to a four star. If you find yourself reading this wondering if you should continue, keep going at least until the Home section, then the book opens up magnificently.
I bought this book in the Entre Tanto, an indoor market in Lisbon, Portugal. I was so happy to see a familiar author in English among the Portugese books at the bookstore. It was a memento of the week I spent there.
This book doesn't bring the wonderful colours of Lisbon back to me, but it does bring the saudade, a sentiment of longing and nostalgia that's inseparable from being Portuguese. Yann injects his own sense of wonder into the sadness, and in the end, it's a hybrid work full of hybrid emotions. This is a thing that only a Canadian can do.
This book started slowly and incomprehensibly. It was only until the about a full third into the book that I started understanding it. It's a series of magical scenes hung on the loose skeleton of a book, certainly not a traditional novel by any measures. The final third elevates it from a three to a four star. If you find yourself reading this wondering if you should continue, keep going at least until the Home section, then the book opens up magnificently.
I bought this book in the Entre Tanto, an indoor market in Lisbon, Portugal. I was so happy to see a familiar author in English among the Portugese books at the bookstore. It was a memento of the week I spent there.
This book doesn't bring the wonderful colours of Lisbon back to me, but it does bring the saudade, a sentiment of longing and nostalgia that's inseparable from being Portuguese. Yann injects his own sense of wonder into the sadness, and in the end, it's a hybrid work full of hybrid emotions. This is a thing that only a Canadian can do.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
interesting was a slow going read to start off with, the book is about loss, finding oneself based in the high mountains of portugal and how 3 stories are inter linked with each other and the latter story is very heart felt with a man losing his wife and finding joy and de cluttering his life.
The prose is good, and the symbolism thought-provoking, but I feel like I missed something-- or, rather, that it missed me.