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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
I really wanted to like this book because the synopsis sounded SO interesting, and I have several friends who really enjoyed it, but I just could not get into the plot or feel connected to any of the characters. I will admit that I stopped reading about 2/3 of the way through-maybe if I persevered to the end I would have been more satisfied, so my rating should be taken with a grain of salt. But when picking up my free-reading book started to feel like a chore, I decided it wasn't worth it to force myself to read the whole book.
I only wish it had been longer- felt like I wasn't ready for it to end (and not in a good way)
This is a well-written chronicle, but for some reason -- likely unrelated to the book -- it didn't quite resonate with me the way I'd expected it to.
I thought the omniscient POV was very well done in this book, giving us glimpses into so many contemporaneous but very different lives. Politics drives the book - the conflict is a character here that breathes and grows. We know Sai just as we know the rest of the characters and we have hope for her, mostly as a function of her youth.
Beautifully written. Not fun to read. Worth reading. The ending is devastating.
I'm not quite sure what I expected, but this sad and difficult book was not it. (You would think the title would have tipped me off ...) I am not entirely sure why I was disappointed - probably because there was so much hype in advance, including the Man Booker prize, and while I thought this was a good book, I did not think it was the best thing since sliced bread as the reviewers did. So maybe 3.5 stars?
I wanted to like this book but I found it so boring.
medium-paced
A long slog
Moments of beautiful writing and sense of place, but overall I found this book to be a slog. It could have been 150-200 pages shorter IMHO.
Moments of beautiful writing and sense of place, but overall I found this book to be a slog. It could have been 150-200 pages shorter IMHO.
some of the passages are so beautiful they almost take your breath away, but this book is so very sad