malinowy 's review for:

Kudottujen kujien kaupunki by Emmi Itäranta

3.0

---

I wanted to love this book, so much. And there were a lot of things in it that I loved - the descriptions of the island, the exquisite language, the main character. But then there were things that I did not love - the overall plot, the ending, how it felt like the story is stuck in place. It took me a long time to get into the story, for it to get going at all, and once it finally did, it felt like it ended all too abruptly with very little explanation. Mostly I was left with the feeling that I did not get even a third of what happened, so much time was used on build-up and what happened to everyone in the end was left unexplained. I did like the sudden environmental route it took for a chapter or so, but in general it feels like the overall theme was lost somewhere between the beautiful words and that the author was trying a bit too hard. I could not help but compare this to 'The Memory of Water' and must say I liked that one a lot better. It was more coherent. This is not a bad book, but it's not living up to the potential and expectations. Points for the absolutely gorgeous cover.