Scan barcode
smalley's review against another edition
3.0
This was a very strange read for me. It was one of the most frustrating books I've ever read in my life — when I was reading it, I just wanted to be done.
It's a translation, and some of the issues can be attributed to that, to the language: Amos Oz says reading his work in translation is like making love through a blanket, and I can see that here, see how it could have been beautiful in Hebrew.
But it was verbose and overwritten. It was too long — it could have been half the length and still told the same story. The narrator was overdramatic to a fault.
But — this is why it gets three stars from me. Usually I'll just put down a book I'm not enjoying. This one, for whatever reason, I felt compelled to keep reading. So make of that what you will.
It's a translation, and some of the issues can be attributed to that, to the language: Amos Oz says reading his work in translation is like making love through a blanket, and I can see that here, see how it could have been beautiful in Hebrew.
But it was verbose and overwritten. It was too long — it could have been half the length and still told the same story. The narrator was overdramatic to a fault.
But — this is why it gets three stars from me. Usually I'll just put down a book I'm not enjoying. This one, for whatever reason, I felt compelled to keep reading. So make of that what you will.
More...