Reviews

La resta by Alia Trabucco Zerán

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

5.0

This book is like one of those paintings which you could love without knowing their cultural or historical background which have high influence on the work of art. Coetzee talked about a scene in Robinson Crusoe in which the titular character discovered some shoes or something to realise that there would be read bodies in here. This whole book occurs in a sort of world that is like those shoes - an afterburn of immense violence that occurred in as Chile fought it's military rule as it rediscovers democracy. The story is written from point of view of militants' children. Not much happens in the book but it is still amazing. Psychological depth with which characters are built, an impresssionist style while building the world full of death, the somewhat obvious metaphors like children of militants carrying the dead weight of corpses of their parents looking for a place to bury them and often some timely humour amidst all that.... They all make this small book a powerful pill of literature.

grindrgrrl's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

jennaw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ro5w's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

asainspace's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

trumanrose's review against another edition

it's alright, but just not in the mood for this kind of prose

kolymaarasto's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

a_eterno's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

really enjoyed reading the original in chilean spanish, brought me back to my time there 
i think i "got" the book but i'm not sure if it was for me

kinklekota's review against another edition

3.0

It's flawed, but thematically and stylistically interesting. I believe it could be great if it was pared down a bit. It's strange to say about a 200-page book, but it's just too long.

stone_stupas's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death of parent