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kmerms 's review for:
On the Calculation of Volume I
by Solvej Balle
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If you've ever gotten frustrated with a piece of time loop media because you thought, "Hey, this is way too fun. If you really got stuck in a time loop it would be a lot scarier and also super boring," then this book is right up your alley.
I think I wanted to like it more than I actually did because of the awards it won and the originality of its interpretation of the time-loop genre, but it was soooooo slow. Intentionally slow, yes. It made you feel every minute of the countless (to avoid spoilers) days that the protagonist was stuck in the time loop. She did very little. She said very little. She didn't have to find her murderer or experience every good thing that happened on that day or make a big change in her life. She just... existed. And it was a real slog.
There were some beautiful passages in the book. I think Balle is really good at capturing subtle human emotion, and her scenes were set so realistically that I could see the protagonist's day in my mind scene for scene. But I've never read a book so stealthily plotless in my life.
And the fact that she doesn't even escape the day by the end??? You're telling me that the next 6 books are also going to take place on November 18th??????? I'm going to lose my mind.
I'm inconclusive about whether I'll read the next one.
I think I wanted to like it more than I actually did because of the awards it won and the originality of its interpretation of the time-loop genre, but it was soooooo slow. Intentionally slow, yes. It made you feel every minute of the countless (to avoid spoilers) days that the protagonist was stuck in the time loop. She did very little. She said very little. She didn't have to find her murderer or experience every good thing that happened on that day or make a big change in her life. She just... existed. And it was a real slog.
There were some beautiful passages in the book. I think Balle is really good at capturing subtle human emotion, and her scenes were set so realistically that I could see the protagonist's day in my mind scene for scene. But I've never read a book so stealthily plotless in my life.
I'm inconclusive about whether I'll read the next one.