Scan barcode
A review by cassiemartino
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly
3.0
you know the drill - trying to pound this out before my ~special gummy snack~ kicks in
one of my friends is backpacking through various national parks in the american southwest rn, and it got me thinking about what a big, adventurous life he seems to live in my eyes. the exciting places he goes, the beautiful wilderness he sees. that's what this book is, but on a global scale. this is probably my sheltered americanness showing, but like, there's characters and cultures and cities all across the fucking globe mentioned in this novel. i have a very small (and sad and unhappy but that's a discussion for another time), unadventurous, sheltered little midwestern american life. i was actually blown away by how these characters can just fuck off to argentina one day like it's no big deal. they move to different countries and study in different countries and it's just like... how is their world so big? how do i get a life that big and exciting? i really loved this aspect of the book, even though it was jarring at first and it seems like i'm having an emotional breakdown abt it here
and speaking of international influences, i think this was the first novel i've read set in new zealand/aotearoa! it was so incredibly fun to read abt this family with maori heritage - i've literally never seen that representation in a novel before. i really want to find more fiction that centers maori characters. i wish that little bit of this big-ass family's culture was explored a little more in depth
the big-ass family affected my view of the novel too - it was fun at times, bc i love a good family drama, but there were just so. many. people to keep up with. when i saw a list of characters in the beginning of the novel like it was a shakespearean tragedy, i knew i was in for a heck of a time. it was kinda hard to keep up with who was who at times, and i think i got a little distracted and confused because of that
ANYWAY i'm starting to ramble lmao, this was a unique read and i really need to go on the hunt for more new zealand/aotearoa/maori books
one of my friends is backpacking through various national parks in the american southwest rn, and it got me thinking about what a big, adventurous life he seems to live in my eyes. the exciting places he goes, the beautiful wilderness he sees. that's what this book is, but on a global scale. this is probably my sheltered americanness showing, but like, there's characters and cultures and cities all across the fucking globe mentioned in this novel. i have a very small (and sad and unhappy but that's a discussion for another time), unadventurous, sheltered little midwestern american life. i was actually blown away by how these characters can just fuck off to argentina one day like it's no big deal. they move to different countries and study in different countries and it's just like... how is their world so big? how do i get a life that big and exciting? i really loved this aspect of the book, even though it was jarring at first and it seems like i'm having an emotional breakdown abt it here
and speaking of international influences, i think this was the first novel i've read set in new zealand/aotearoa! it was so incredibly fun to read abt this family with maori heritage - i've literally never seen that representation in a novel before. i really want to find more fiction that centers maori characters. i wish that little bit of this big-ass family's culture was explored a little more in depth
the big-ass family affected my view of the novel too - it was fun at times, bc i love a good family drama, but there were just so. many. people to keep up with. when i saw a list of characters in the beginning of the novel like it was a shakespearean tragedy, i knew i was in for a heck of a time. it was kinda hard to keep up with who was who at times, and i think i got a little distracted and confused because of that
ANYWAY i'm starting to ramble lmao, this was a unique read and i really need to go on the hunt for more new zealand/aotearoa/maori books