Reviews - The Book of Records

102 reviews for:

The Book of Records

Madeleine Thien

3.67 AVERAGE

kilmosnaps's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I kept calling this ‘The Memory of Records.’

The first book where I thought would work great as a novella. I didn’t need the stories of the 3 books. While I did wiki to see if they were real people (yes), all I wanted was the story of Lina and her father surviving “The Sea.” Her father explaining his past was so phenomenally interesting and moving. I wanted more of that.

I got this book thru NetGalley back in March, didn’t realize I had to review on there (lol) and then got from the library. It was solidly written and I would read another of Thien’s books.

‘Nearly fifty years stand between then and now, but his words approach me like a warning. The world we deserve. The world we can imagine. They are a map and caution, as I try, once more, to find the Sea.

‘The strangeness of the buildings, how they grew out of each other, must’ve been created by necessity. Windows sometimes turned out to be doors, and rooms turned out to be hallways.’

“Maybe you would write it down. Not all of it. And not now, but later on, when you’re older. When you’ve lived a long life, here or somewhere else.”

‘So many other detours had happened between youth and old age. But this is true, for everyone who arrives by chance, who grows old and countries not their own.’

“Do you think devotion is a kind of happiness?”