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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
It felt like a collection of short stories but with small connections between the characters in each story - it was short and interesting and a little sad.
A very cute fixup novel. Could’ve easily been 3x as long, with each chapter/character being more in-depth. Would recommend if you’re experiencing a reading slump!
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t hate it by any means, just wasn’t for me.
On the map the plane was marked by a plane-shaped symbol that would be, if it were to scale, about a thousand kilometers long. In fact it was hard to understand quite what an insignificant speck this airplane was, in terms of the size of the ocean it was flying over, in terms of the quantity of emptiness that surrounded it on all sides.
I read this trim novel in two propulsive seatings. Each of the ten or so interconnected chapters focus on a different character and the life they are living. People travel for work, family, to escape their lives at home, get closer to home. Szalay explores -successfully, in my opinion giving the economy of words- how the development of air travel has simultaneous brought us closer and left us isolated; how some people have the “right” to travel anywhere while others need “sponsors” to go anywhere. Maybe some of the themes could have used some further development particularly the nurse in Kerala who talks about toxic masculinity and the domestic servant in the Gulf who’s in a secret gay relationship.
PS: Maybe one of the reasons I found this narrative so captivating and original is because I have not read enough of travel writing. That will change soon!
I read this trim novel in two propulsive seatings. Each of the ten or so interconnected chapters focus on a different character and the life they are living. People travel for work, family, to escape their lives at home, get closer to home. Szalay explores -successfully, in my opinion giving the economy of words- how the development of air travel has simultaneous brought us closer and left us isolated; how some people have the “right” to travel anywhere while others need “sponsors” to go anywhere. Maybe some of the themes could have used some further development particularly the nurse in Kerala who talks about toxic masculinity and the domestic servant in the Gulf who’s in a secret gay relationship.
PS: Maybe one of the reasons I found this narrative so captivating and original is because I have not read enough of travel writing. That will change soon!
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was an interesting and quick read. Have you ever wondered what is going on on someone else's lives? You pass a stranger on the street looking frantic or a fragment of a conversation, that's what reading this book was like for me. A glimpse of different people's lives making small connections from one character to the next then finishes off with a connection from the first chapter, it comes around full circle.
The lack of plot or one main character isn't even relevant in a book like this, it's meant to make you think and that's what it does.
The lack of plot or one main character isn't even relevant in a book like this, it's meant to make you think and that's what it does.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
nothing huge, first few stories were really good but the other meh
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-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