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eventerj9's review against another edition
4.0
That was one weird book. I liked it but the protagonist was definitely a strange one.
modknight's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to read about Morocco. I know some people did not like the second person point of view but I liked it.
volcanic_ash's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Really enjoyable! I absolutely devoured this one. Different from anything I’ve read before, and I truly didn’t know where it was going next.
michrichter1's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting concept, but I found myself getting a bit irritated by the use of the second person throughout. I liked the hook at the end, and it kept me entertained and reading, despite not being able to relate to the main character, whatever her name is.
bjr2022's review against another edition
4.0
A gripping read from the first page, The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty is a mysterious story about running away from your life, skydiving off the grid, and free-falling to who knows where. I was unprepared for the tension and great storytelling after reading Vendela Vida’s meandering, sometimes disjointed The Lovers. This book swept me away, which is what I wanted.
jcansdale's review against another edition
3.0
I found the second person narration very distracting, but the premise of the story interesting enough to keep me reading.
literateworld's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
attytheresa's review against another edition
2.0
I should have liked this book. But I didn't. I didn't hate it either. At its core, it is about a woman running away from her life, which from the beginning we sense has gone seriously off the rails, looking at first for anything that makes the pain of the recent past less, then ultimately to reinvent herself. And where does she run away to? Morocco of course. Doesn't everyone?! Personally, I'd head to Paris. Morocco feels like somewhere you went to find yourself in the 1970s not in 2015 when this book was published.
My problem with this book is I think that the entire short novel (only 136 pages) is written with the narrator speaking of herself as 'you' - always in the second person. There is something judgmental and harsh about how that reads here. It also made me feel like I was rushing headlong without direction - which of course I realized at the end was deliberate because that is what our narrator is experiencing -but at a remove. Obviously, this author is gifted as she succeeded in pulling me into the character's heedless flight away, that sense of no real control. But I did not like it and it contributed to my negative feelings about this woman.
Our narrator, whose real name we never learn although we learn much about her life, is also an unreliable narrator, but not because of drugs or alcohol or mental illness. Her reasons, when they are revealed, are heart-breaking, and should have made me find her far more sympathetic than I did. By the end, I was a bit impatient with her, although I grudgingly admired how she was so easily overcoming all the hurdles and problems raining on her in Morocco. And boy are there hurdles!
Most of the action is set in Casablanca -- and nothing described makes me want to ever visit there! Well maybe just to visit the Rick's Cafe built for the tourist trade that loves the movie. As is oft repeated, "When you get to Casablanca, the first thing you do is get out of Casablanca."
Couple of notes: The epigraph at the beginning, a quote from Clarice Lispector, is absolutely the perfect preface. The apt title is from Rumi's eponymous poem which is presented in the text about half-way through, read by the narrator.
My problem with this book is I think that the entire short novel (only 136 pages) is written with the narrator speaking of herself as 'you' - always in the second person. There is something judgmental and harsh about how that reads here. It also made me feel like I was rushing headlong without direction - which of course I realized at the end was deliberate because that is what our narrator is experiencing -but at a remove. Obviously, this author is gifted as she succeeded in pulling me into the character's heedless flight away, that sense of no real control. But I did not like it and it contributed to my negative feelings about this woman.
Our narrator, whose real name we never learn although we learn much about her life, is also an unreliable narrator, but not because of drugs or alcohol or mental illness. Her reasons, when they are revealed, are heart-breaking, and should have made me find her far more sympathetic than I did. By the end, I was a bit impatient with her, although I grudgingly admired how she was so easily overcoming all the hurdles and problems raining on her in Morocco. And boy are there hurdles!
Most of the action is set in Casablanca -- and nothing described makes me want to ever visit there! Well maybe just to visit the Rick's Cafe built for the tourist trade that loves the movie. As is oft repeated, "When you get to Casablanca, the first thing you do is get out of Casablanca."
Couple of notes: The epigraph at the beginning, a quote from Clarice Lispector, is absolutely the perfect preface. The apt title is from Rumi's eponymous poem which is presented in the text about half-way through, read by the narrator.
jacks623's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
tartancrusader's review against another edition
3.0
As many have previously remarked upon, this is told in the second person. Consequently it reminded me most strongly of a Choose Your Own Adventure game book which ultimately proved too distracting to be as enjoyable as it might otherwise have been. Nevertheless, this was still enjoyable.