Scan barcode
sisa_moyo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
About a suspiciously familiar pandemic starting in “country C”, gigantic rats, mountains of garbage and broken marriages.
oddly gripping, despite all the trash, and rat exterminations, phone calls and how this pandemic affected lives, economies, the environment and so many other things.
Oh and also murders.
oddly gripping, despite all the trash, and rat exterminations, phone calls and how this pandemic affected lives, economies, the environment and so many other things.
Oh and also murders.
hyebitshines's review against another edition
3.0
this was a strange book that I started reading in May, on my sister’s balcony in humid Houston, and couldn’t bring myself to finish until now … in this story that reflects if not depicts our pandemic reality on worse terms, between teeming rats and underground sewers,
we see the main character, elusively dubbed “the man,” as he descends into a life of vagrancy and questioning what his humanity means. oh, and he brutally killed his ex-wife before arriving in the foreign country to which he’s transferred.
yet the man’s murderous instincts are likened to some out-of-mind, blackout possession where his body vents out the layers of denial and self-justification he is buried in. while I admire the writing, the visceral descriptions, the poignant observations about people and what makes them human or inhuman, it was a difficult story to read, like I was trying to tamp down a real headache. and the man’s actions at the end all just seem senseless. which there’s nothing wrong with, but this wasn’t a story I was inclined to want to finish.
I should note that this story was published before COVID, in 2018, giving it some sense of eerily close foreshadowing. I definitely want to read more of this writer, at a different time.
we see the main character, elusively dubbed “the man,” as he descends into a life of vagrancy and questioning what his humanity means. oh, and he brutally killed his ex-wife before arriving in the foreign country to which he’s transferred.
yet the man’s murderous instincts are likened to some out-of-mind, blackout possession where his body vents out the layers of denial and self-justification he is buried in. while I admire the writing, the visceral descriptions, the poignant observations about people and what makes them human or inhuman, it was a difficult story to read, like I was trying to tamp down a real headache. and the man’s actions at the end all just seem senseless. which there’s nothing wrong with, but this wasn’t a story I was inclined to want to finish.
I should note that this story was published before COVID, in 2018, giving it some sense of eerily close foreshadowing. I definitely want to read more of this writer, at a different time.
lizsg's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
angela_iseli's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
marissa_nicole's review against another edition
dark
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
triplecitrus's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
heyyyther's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. For sure a really interesting choice to read during our own pandemic and quarantine situation, similar to the novel’s.
bundy23's review against another edition
3.0
It says Kafkaesque in the blurb and that's much that's exactly what it is. I though it was somehow neither good not bad but if you're really into the absurdism of Kafka this might be right up your alley.
gladdenangie's review
3.0
This was an interesting book to read during our own quarantine days. The story was really dark with several graphic and disturbing scenes. Not one I’d recommend to everyone, but interesting nonetheless.
Some of my favorite quotes...
“This despair at knowing he would never make his way back weighed heavily on him. And he grew unhappy at the thought that he might never again run his fingers along the fine grain of ordinary everyday life.”
“The biggest impact the epidemic had on people was not infection and death but rather suspicion of others for fear of exactly that. Every person except for themselves was a potential pathogen, and every place outside of their own homes was dirty beyond belief and had viruses floating in the air.”
“Fear and rumors and viruses shared a similar nature. They bore a tremendous vitality of their own, oblivious to human efforts to stamp them out. They could spread rapidly even while offering no clue to their routes of transmission. And they would burn for a long, long time, like dry grassland, only to vanish in an instant as if doused with water.”
Some of my favorite quotes...
“This despair at knowing he would never make his way back weighed heavily on him. And he grew unhappy at the thought that he might never again run his fingers along the fine grain of ordinary everyday life.”
“The biggest impact the epidemic had on people was not infection and death but rather suspicion of others for fear of exactly that. Every person except for themselves was a potential pathogen, and every place outside of their own homes was dirty beyond belief and had viruses floating in the air.”
“Fear and rumors and viruses shared a similar nature. They bore a tremendous vitality of their own, oblivious to human efforts to stamp them out. They could spread rapidly even while offering no clue to their routes of transmission. And they would burn for a long, long time, like dry grassland, only to vanish in an instant as if doused with water.”