A review by ladybugwrites
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada

adventurous funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a book about languages, about lack of borders, about connection between people who don't speak the same language. It's beautifully written with a relatively unimportant plot - the plot isn't the important part, it's the backdrop of a what this book encapsulates, which is a love of languages and a love of people.

I really liked the first part and I like the ending, but I thought the book dragged a little. Some of the chapters contained the entire backstory of a character, and it got boring when the real art that appears in this book is the one created between the characters. 

Now, I will have one gripe with this book that really annoyed me. It won't spoil it, because I don't think it's important to the plot and therefore the reason it annoyed me so much. Whilst it never says that the terror attack in Norway is the one that happened the 22 July 2011, the description of it is a clear reference to it and the use of the name Breivik on a character right after felt, it felt mean almost. By how it was glossed over, it felt like it was making fun of the seriousness of it. It's barely there, it didn't need to be in the book, or - since the book makes the impression it's in some kind of future - it could've been a completely different one. It was completely unnecessary and it left a really bad taste in my mouth, especially when the rest of this book was good and I really liked it. This might be because I'm Norwegain, I don't know. But it felt like it was in bad taste and that annoyed me.