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A review by opalmars
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3,5 * — I’m gonna be the 1 person who didn’t really care about this book, huh?
I genuinely thought this was it. I thought I was FINALLY going to love a book, after MONTHS of just “okay” reads. But no. This was yet another book I don’t feel much about. 😔 I’m sooo fucking sad. I haven’t felt truly passionate about a book in MONTHS. I haven’t given anything above a 4 star in 2024. 🫠💔 I just want a book to make me feel SOMETHING positive. Anything! I’m tired of simply enjoying books. I want to LOVE something! So this book was disappointing not only because it didn’t live up to my expectations, but also because it’s YET ANOTHER book I don’t feel much about, after a streak of like, 50 books that don’t go above 4 stars. 😭
Aff. Let’s get into the actual review, shall we?
The writing here is quite challenging, and very confusing. While this book can be hard to get into, that actually wasn’t a problem to me, due to the fact that I read the first third of the book while listening to the audiobook (both at the same time). Reading with my eyes allowed me to pick up on all the highlighted passages (italics, “titles”, etc.) and to fully understand everything I was reading, while the audio helped me read much faster than I would on my own, which made it so I didn’t have to spend too long in the confusing first chunk of this book, so I didn’t even have time to get bored or too lost. Additionally, the narrator made different voices for all of the characters, which also helped me better understand the background characters’ “interruptions”. I really recommend doing this, at least for the first chunk of the book. I think it can really help you get into the story.
I ended up audiobooking the rest of the book, and, by that point, it was quite easy to understand everything just via audio (mind you, I never listen to audiobooks, bc I usually get lost lol, so this is really high praise). I really liked the narrator!
Now for the story itself: it was… fine. The plot is quite simple: just 2 guys travelling and encountering some challenges during their trip. What makes this story unique is that the narrative isn’t quite linear; the POVs are constantly changing without warning, the background characters are constantly interrupting the narrative with their thoughts, and the story about the 2 men is being told to a mysterious “you” character, which makes this a story-within-a-story. This is why this book is so difficult to understand, but it’s also why it is so unique, and I definitely think that deserves some merit!
While the story was good, it unfortunately never fully resonated with me. I couldn’t even tell you exactly why. I just know that I didn’t connect with the characters, and I felt absolutely nothing while reading this. I will remember this book solely because it was strange and unique. The characters and the plot didn’t leave any impression on me. It’s as simple as that.
That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Not many thoughts, because this book left me mostly indifferent, and that makes me unbelievably sad. I’m going to cry now. Goodbye.
I genuinely thought this was it. I thought I was FINALLY going to love a book, after MONTHS of just “okay” reads. But no. This was yet another book I don’t feel much about. 😔 I’m sooo fucking sad. I haven’t felt truly passionate about a book in MONTHS. I haven’t given anything above a 4 star in 2024. 🫠💔 I just want a book to make me feel SOMETHING positive. Anything! I’m tired of simply enjoying books. I want to LOVE something! So this book was disappointing not only because it didn’t live up to my expectations, but also because it’s YET ANOTHER book I don’t feel much about, after a streak of like, 50 books that don’t go above 4 stars. 😭
Aff. Let’s get into the actual review, shall we?
The writing here is quite challenging, and very confusing. While this book can be hard to get into, that actually wasn’t a problem to me, due to the fact that I read the first third of the book while listening to the audiobook (both at the same time). Reading with my eyes allowed me to pick up on all the highlighted passages (italics, “titles”, etc.) and to fully understand everything I was reading, while the audio helped me read much faster than I would on my own, which made it so I didn’t have to spend too long in the confusing first chunk of this book, so I didn’t even have time to get bored or too lost. Additionally, the narrator made different voices for all of the characters, which also helped me better understand the background characters’ “interruptions”. I really recommend doing this, at least for the first chunk of the book. I think it can really help you get into the story.
I ended up audiobooking the rest of the book, and, by that point, it was quite easy to understand everything just via audio (mind you, I never listen to audiobooks, bc I usually get lost lol, so this is really high praise). I really liked the narrator!
Now for the story itself: it was… fine. The plot is quite simple: just 2 guys travelling and encountering some challenges during their trip. What makes this story unique is that the narrative isn’t quite linear; the POVs are constantly changing without warning, the background characters are constantly interrupting the narrative with their thoughts, and the story about the 2 men is being told to a mysterious “you” character, which makes this a story-within-a-story. This is why this book is so difficult to understand, but it’s also why it is so unique, and I definitely think that deserves some merit!
While the story was good, it unfortunately never fully resonated with me. I couldn’t even tell you exactly why. I just know that I didn’t connect with the characters, and I felt absolutely nothing while reading this. I will remember this book solely because it was strange and unique. The characters and the plot didn’t leave any impression on me. It’s as simple as that.
That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Not many thoughts, because this book left me mostly indifferent, and that makes me unbelievably sad. I’m going to cry now. Goodbye.