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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A few notes of this I guess
- It felt like a book about characters that were all fish that were too big for their ponds. Their lives and their ambitions were all quashed by their connection to their family that was suffocating them from the inside
- I kind of hated that the book was written in reverse. Maybe a different book would have done it better but it felt like there were no resolutions and I just didn’t understand where things were going half the time.
- It was however easy to read and some chapters read better than others. It was an interesting character study for the most part
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An interesting story about Eko and Leo and their three daughters. Yet it's told in reverse, from 2040 to 2014, with each chapter told from a different point of view: All the family members as well as others who interact with them such as the family driver, the nanny, and such. We see where the family has ended up and then we slowly figure out how they got there. I've read another book in reverse and it felt repetitive and frankly a little boring. Min does a great job avoiding this, as each chapter is so fresh and inventive. The tension was low, because I knew how it all ended. But immersing myself in the lives of this ultra rich family was satisfying.
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-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
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
While I don’t appreciate being tricked into reading a short story collection disguised as a reversed family chronicle I can forgive Min because this is actually really good
I really vibed with this book. The “gimmick” is that it starts in 2040 and is told in reverse, ending in 2014. Each chapter is a vignette from a different POV. As a whole, the book tells the (mostly plotless) story of a family in Shanghai. To me, this read a bit like interconnected short stories (which I love) and I really enjoyed working backwards to learn the characters’ motivations.
I was drawn to this book for, like, a year now. I have some friends that really didn’t care for this book though and their criticism stuck in my head. When I saw this sitting on the shelf at the library though, I couldn’t resist it. I am so glad I picked it up. I understand the criticism. Those things just didn’t seem bad to me when I read the book. I loved the character study and didn’t mind the lack of plot. I loved that this was slow-paced and told in vignettes. I loved the reverse chronology and felt like it added to the story. The story really was better for it. In short, I know this isn’t a book for everyone… but it was a book for me.
I was drawn to this book for, like, a year now. I have some friends that really didn’t care for this book though and their criticism stuck in my head. When I saw this sitting on the shelf at the library though, I couldn’t resist it. I am so glad I picked it up. I understand the criticism. Those things just didn’t seem bad to me when I read the book. I loved the character study and didn’t mind the lack of plot. I loved that this was slow-paced and told in vignettes. I loved the reverse chronology and felt like it added to the story. The story really was better for it. In short, I know this isn’t a book for everyone… but it was a book for me.