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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A somber, contemplative, and utterly unique literary time travel story. The concept of endlessly repeating valleys, alike in all aspects but 20 years apart, is simply and brilliantly constructed, and all the more impressive because the speculative setting is downplayed in order to focus on the emotional journey of main character Odile. I enjoyed the conciseness and lingering loveliness of the prose, which painted haunting pictures in my mind. This is a tough read, delving into grief and childhood trauma and missed chances, so maybe not the best choice for a vacation read (we live and learn!!). As such, despite my interest in the concept and the strength of the writing, I found the subject matter very heavy, though thankfully not entirely hopeless. I would have been happy with a few more chapters as the ending felt a bit abrupt, but overall “The Other Valley” is a thought-provoking novel that has me looking at the world with new eyes.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
First book club pick of the year!
If I think about this world too hard my head starts to hurt but oh my god was I locked in reading this one - so so interesting to think about
If I think about this world too hard my head starts to hurt but oh my god was I locked in reading this one - so so interesting to think about
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated