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A review by caerrie
Sea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.25
First of all: this is technically a novel, but don't read it expecting a novel. You will be disappointed. Approach it more like poetry, or like an atmospheric playlist.
This is a strange book, but it's beautiful. The narrator, 17-year old Luisa, is... not unsympathetic, at least not really, but she is blissfully and obliviously privileged and unbelievably pretentious. Her musings are aimless and never really seem to be leading up to anything. But again, the paper-thin main story is probably not the point of this book. It's incredibly atmospheric, and I really felt myself plunged into a Mexico city apartment or a remote Mexican beach - the descriptions and the vibe are so vivid that it really springs up right before your eyes, even for me who's never set foot on the continent.
So yes, the prose is lovely and the chapters are more like individual snippets (short stories would be too strong a word), so it's a nice book to read in the sun for twenty-or-so minutes every other day. But the fact that nothing is happening, and nobody seems to have an arc or a real aim or a concrete problem, gets progressively more annoying the further you get. The only throughline, apart from Louisa's rambling voice throughout, might be the idea that things and people and places and ideas are less interesting in the concrete, that once looked at in the light of day, they tend to lose their appeal. And the author falls prey to her own thesis statement, HARD, especially towards the end of the book, one that really cements that nothing in the book seems to have had any consequence and nothing has been learned and Luisa certainly hasn't matured in any way. Luisa's father is another example: I quite enjoyed the glimpses we get of him throughout the book, but as soon as he steps into the main story and we really hear him talk, he was not only uninteresting, he was just a collection of incredibly weird writing choices. His entire behaviour and almost every emotion he displayed was just completely at odds with the situation.
Overall, again - the writing is poetic and evocative, the setting is lovely, but the book has absolutely nothing else going for it.
This is a strange book, but it's beautiful. The narrator, 17-year old Luisa, is... not unsympathetic, at least not really, but she is blissfully and obliviously privileged and unbelievably pretentious. Her musings are aimless and never really seem to be leading up to anything. But again, the paper-thin main story is probably not the point of this book. It's incredibly atmospheric, and I really felt myself plunged into a Mexico city apartment or a remote Mexican beach - the descriptions and the vibe are so vivid that it really springs up right before your eyes, even for me who's never set foot on the continent.
So yes, the prose is lovely and the chapters are more like individual snippets (short stories would be too strong a word), so it's a nice book to read in the sun for twenty-or-so minutes every other day. But the fact that nothing is happening, and nobody seems to have an arc or a real aim or a concrete problem, gets progressively more annoying the further you get. The only throughline, apart from Louisa's rambling voice throughout, might be the idea that things and people and places and ideas are less interesting in the concrete, that once looked at in the light of day, they tend to lose their appeal. And the author falls prey to her own thesis statement, HARD, especially towards the end of the book, one that really cements that nothing in the book seems to have had any consequence and nothing has been learned and Luisa certainly hasn't matured in any way. Luisa's father is another example: I quite enjoyed the glimpses we get of him throughout the book, but as soon as he steps into the main story and we really hear him talk, he was not only uninteresting, he was just a collection of incredibly weird writing choices. His entire behaviour and almost every emotion he displayed was just completely at odds with the situation.
Overall, again - the writing is poetic and evocative, the setting is lovely, but the book has absolutely nothing else going for it.