Reviews

Wetterleuchten by Almuth Carstens, Stephanie Kallos

kjackmi's review against another edition

5.0

A beautiful, fully compassionate and human tale of grief. With echoes of "Our Town," Stephanie Kallos brings small town Nebraska to life (and a bit of Wales, besides!) with this portrait of three adults still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their mother during a tornado. Could barely stand to put this one down, and that is rare for me.

pwillon's review against another edition

4.0

Stephanie Kallos does not disappoint in this book. Wonderful character development and interweaving stories. This was one of those books that I looked forward to curling up with during any free moment.

skcoleman7's review against another edition

2.0

Not as excited about this book as I was by Kallos' debut "Broken for You." Currently on page 215 of the 500+ page book and don't feel I know the characters very well at all. We're told various facts about their history, but the story just seems to be rambling without providing the reader with a direction or much of a reason to keep reading. But I'm invested now! So hopefully something will happen in the remaining 300 pages to change my mind.

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Nope, no big revelations or exciting plot/character development. Was left a little cold by this one.

tlannan30's review against another edition

2.0

I was not a fan of this author's writing style. It really affected my ability to enjoy the story.

susanneb01's review against another edition

3.0

I was attracted to this novel because it deals with adult kids coming home to bury their last parent - something I could relate, or so I thought. Well, the experience I had did not mimic the one in the book, probably because the characters are so very different from my own family. Nevertheless, Stephanie Kallos is a good writer - detailed and somewhat poetic - and I enjoyed most of the story line. Although the three adult kids meet at their small Nebraska hometown for the funeral of their Dad, their Mom who disappeared years earlier in a tornado is a much more crucial part of the story. Not only did she disappear somewhat mysteriously, but she had been suffering from a debilitating disease for years before. Both of theses issues shaped the three kids in negative ways, and they work through their personal problems including eating disorders, relationship/commitment issues and plain weirdness in this novel. The ending leaves lots of room for optimism.

lucy1375's review against another edition

4.0

Excellent book. Well-written with a well-defined and unique plot about a family impacted by a Nebraska tornado that "takes" the mom when the children are young.

kristabelle41's review against another edition

3.0

I wanted to give this 4 stars...but the sheer fact that the editing was so horrible - I mean, come on, on one page the secretary is introduced as Chris, and then on the NEXT page, she's Kris and she stays Kris until several hundred pages later when Arthur has his stroke and CHRIS comes to let Larken know. GOD that irritated me. They misspelled Gaelen's name at least twice - Galean. Come on!!

In any event, I liked the story, and I was glad for a happy ending. Doesn't feel like we get many of those these days.

gadrake's review against another edition

4.0

This is a story that very slowly and lyrically examines the scope of grief as three adult siblings deal with their memories of the unresolved death of their mother years ago and now presently their father. The root cause of much of their angst is not revealed until the end. There isn't much action in this story, but plenty of relatable situations. Read-alike would be "I See You Everywhere" by Julia Glass.

cerceg's review against another edition

3.0

Although I read the book in just a few days despite its length and my busy schedule, I am still not sure whether that can be attributed to the content itself, or my desire to put this book behind me and move on to the next one. I did find myself to become invested in the characters and wanting to know how things turned out for them, but certain areas seemed to drag. Kallos does paint a wonderfully descriptive view of this small Nebraskan town, making it easy to transport yourself there throughout the read. I enjoyed the placement of Hope's diary entries, and the insight they provided to the history of this family interspersed throughout their present. The siblings are all believe-able characters. Gaelan and Bonnie were particularly enjoyable.

For those concerned with the "odd" discussion of the dead and their singing/whereabouts/philosophies, I, too, was put off by this at first. I kept an open mind and kept going, pleased that after the first few chapters this gets toned down quite a bit.

Also, there are a good number of editorial errors throughout, which were cringe-worthy, specifically obvious ones concerning character names or dates. Rather frustrating that more effort wasn't put in to catching these sorts of things.

Certainly not a book that everyone will appreciate, but I enjoyed it enough to give it a 3/5.

tyra_b's review against another edition

2.0

I really wanted to like this book (anytime I commit to 500+ pages, I WANT it to be good) but it had too many elements that I don't like. It was not linear in time, which can be okay if there are two stories the author is trying to tell like in Sarah's Key. There were mystical parts (dead people talking), etc. Not my cup of tea but I think it could make a great discussion book for a book club.