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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
I have wanted to read this book for so long and now that I finally finished it I'm really pretty disappointed. It was interesting how the different women's lives intertwined, but it was just meh and there was a potential to make it so much more interesting. Jumping back to the story of Eivør was too distracting for me and I wasn't quite sure why she was the overarching character that was brought up in all of the women's stories instead of just The Biographer's since she was the one writing about Eivør's story. Overall it was just meh, but a pretty quick read and I did enjoy the overall ideas/themes of the book, but still meh.
Wow, I actually loved this book more than I originally thought I would, and I knew I was going to love it. But I was surprised to how emotionally attached I was with some characters to the point where I was scared to keep reading because there were moments that were too real. Little inklings of present fear were dropped throughout to create a much larger terrifying world. Then there were these lovable characters where I thought: If something bad happens, I'm just going to start sobbing.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion
Minor: Addiction
It did take me awhile to adjust to the style (and to remember all the names of everyone), but once you get a feel for the writing style, it is SO good. The way each of the characters' stories intertwine is truly amazing. When I got to the last 100 pages I didn't want to put it down. Echoing some of the others' reviews, I suppose this is "dystopian" but it is more than that, it's an incredibly interesting and moving look into the lives of 5 women and how they determine 'purpose.'
Plus, there were some really great lines about the ocean.
Plus, there were some really great lines about the ocean.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Read this book. It’s smart, gritty, and beautifully written. The intricacies of the female existence and motherhood have been explored, agonized over, and richly cultivated in this collection of narratives. This book is not only politically timely but deeply personal and intimate. In equal measure sparking empathy and revulsion at the innermost thoughts of these women whose lives are laid open. Definitely a book I’ll read over and over - an excellent novel. And can we get the Biographer’s story IRL, please? I’d give two fingers for it.
Read this book. It’s smart, gritty, and beautifully written. The intricacies of the female existence and motherhood have been explored, agonized over, and richly cultivated in this collection of narratives. This book is not only politically timely but deeply personal and intimate. In equal measure sparking empathy and revulsion at the innermost thoughts of these women whose lives are laid open. Definitely a book I’ll read over and over - an excellent novel. And can we get the Biographer’s story IRL, please? I’d give two fingers for it.
2.5—I understand how the different POVs all speak to a central theme, but the stories were weak and some of the character development felt lazy. Creative writing style but I could have done without the biographical excerpts.
I picked this book months ago from Book of the Month, I’ve been looking forward to reading it but kept putting off.
I’m really glad I read the book before I bothered to look at the reviews already posted.
The novel interweaves the lives of four women, in a country that no longer allows women to chose abortion, no longer allows for single parent adoptions, and this I found was dreadful, simply because it’s a future that could happen.
The biographer is a history teacher, whom is wonderful and struggles to obtain the one thing she wants most, a child, and with the new legislation coming into effect she’s running out of time.
The mender is the croon of the story; and she is fierce and wise. She was my favorite. She was set in her ways and didn’t care what anyone thought, and was so close to nature that I found myself envious. (Yes I am weird)
The wife is struggling to maintain her failed marriage in attempt to follow the “every child needs two” thought process and secretly binge eats sweets and has a romantic notion of suicide.
The daughter, brilliant, young, and of course naive finds herself in a situation that she feels there is no way out except abortion. She refers to the fetus as a clump, and cannot bare the notion of bringing the live into the world.
The four women interconnect and you see this as the novel unfolds, each have their own secrets, their own struggles and manage to overcome them.
I can’t exactly explain why I feel the way I do about this book, I can say that I loved the complexity of it, I loved that it wasn’t a long drawn out romance, that it was back and forth with each character. I loved how the characters felt real, and though I hoped for a happy ending for all the female characters but I feel that they all became enlightened by the end, and finding inner strength isn’t something everyone can accomplish.
I’m really glad I read the book before I bothered to look at the reviews already posted.
The novel interweaves the lives of four women, in a country that no longer allows women to chose abortion, no longer allows for single parent adoptions, and this I found was dreadful, simply because it’s a future that could happen.
The biographer is a history teacher, whom is wonderful and struggles to obtain the one thing she wants most, a child, and with the new legislation coming into effect she’s running out of time.
The mender is the croon of the story; and she is fierce and wise. She was my favorite. She was set in her ways and didn’t care what anyone thought, and was so close to nature that I found myself envious. (Yes I am weird)
The wife is struggling to maintain her failed marriage in attempt to follow the “every child needs two” thought process and secretly binge eats sweets and has a romantic notion of suicide.
The daughter, brilliant, young, and of course naive finds herself in a situation that she feels there is no way out except abortion. She refers to the fetus as a clump, and cannot bare the notion of bringing the live into the world.
The four women interconnect and you see this as the novel unfolds, each have their own secrets, their own struggles and manage to overcome them.
I can’t exactly explain why I feel the way I do about this book, I can say that I loved the complexity of it, I loved that it wasn’t a long drawn out romance, that it was back and forth with each character. I loved how the characters felt real, and though I hoped for a happy ending for all the female characters but I feel that they all became enlightened by the end, and finding inner strength isn’t something everyone can accomplish.
This was a strangely written book, but I really enjoyed how the author pulled the characters together as the story progressed. The four main characters each faced challenges during the story and it was interesting to see how they dealt with those challenges and became stronger women at the end.
So this book was a weird one for me. I was hoping to really enjoy it as the synopsis seemed fitting for me so I pushed it to the top of my ToReadSoon bookshelf. However, I was really disappointed.
The story didn’t grab me at all, and neither did the characters or the writing. Firstly, there’s really one major event in the book that only occurs in the last 40 pages or so, and the outcome’s shit.
Secondly, the characters are not really likeable and don’t have hugely distinctive characteristics to make them stand out to us (apart from maybe the mender) so I found myself getting confused a bit. The biographer and the wife were basically the same, bitchy, unhappy women.
Third, the writing was definitely not to my style at all. In other words, it was atrociously written. I think the writer used the style to highlight the mundane existence of these women/the magical nature/the teenage nature, but to be honest, it was just awful. It was semi stream of consciousness so all we got was random bits spotted in conversations. There’s whole pages about the wife cooking quinoa. Like, cmon?!
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this to someone looking for something similar to The Handmaid’s Tale or a nice feminist fiction book. There’s nothing really feminist (or interesting, or exciting) about this book at all.
The story didn’t grab me at all, and neither did the characters or the writing. Firstly, there’s really one major event in the book that only occurs in the last 40 pages or so, and the outcome’s shit.
Secondly, the characters are not really likeable and don’t have hugely distinctive characteristics to make them stand out to us (apart from maybe the mender) so I found myself getting confused a bit. The biographer and the wife were basically the same, bitchy, unhappy women.
Third, the writing was definitely not to my style at all. In other words, it was atrociously written. I think the writer used the style to highlight the mundane existence of these women/the magical nature/the teenage nature, but to be honest, it was just awful. It was semi stream of consciousness so all we got was random bits spotted in conversations. There’s whole pages about the wife cooking quinoa. Like, cmon?!
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this to someone looking for something similar to The Handmaid’s Tale or a nice feminist fiction book. There’s nothing really feminist (or interesting, or exciting) about this book at all.
"There are many names for fog. Pogonip. Brume. Ground clouds. Gloom. Mínervudottír had written every name in her brown leather notebook. She stood now in a dense, creamy mist, the worst ice fog she'd ever known", p. 339
Like Mínervudottír before them, every character in this book becomes ingulfed in a dense mist, a gloom that encapsulates the entire story. It weaves itself into every house, every man, woman and child. It comes from the ocean they live on the cusp of, but also from their country itself. From Washington, from Canada. From everyone who refuses to help, everyone who stood by while laws were passed from one day to the next. It creeps into their lives and changes them, changes the teenagers, the witches, the mothers, the childless.
The gloom is dense, and seemingly impossible to get through. And yet, they do.They keep their legs. They keep moving, like sharks.
Like Mínervudottír before them, every character in this book becomes ingulfed in a dense mist, a gloom that encapsulates the entire story. It weaves itself into every house, every man, woman and child. It comes from the ocean they live on the cusp of, but also from their country itself. From Washington, from Canada. From everyone who refuses to help, everyone who stood by while laws were passed from one day to the next. It creeps into their lives and changes them, changes the teenagers, the witches, the mothers, the childless.
The gloom is dense, and seemingly impossible to get through. And yet, they do.They keep their legs. They keep moving, like sharks.