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jenbsbooks 's review for:
Slanting Towards the Sea
by Lidija Hilje
I picked up this book (library borrow) because it fulfilled the Summer Goodreads Challenge Debut Darlings. I was glad for the push, because I'm not sure if this is one I would have picked up otherwise (the premise sounded interesting, good ratings, but it was one I was able to get in time, even though I did have to wait for hold). Still new, maybe it will become more mainstream.
This would be a great "book club" book ... lots of possible discussion topics. I went with the audio, and still stopped to make several highlights/notes. There was a title tie in, although not really obvious. Most of the book is present tense, although it's really two timelines, the present and the past. The past is told in past tense (logical, although some authors have done the opposite, go figure). First person - all from Ivona's POV. 61 chapters, spread through five parts:
1. Vlaho
2. Mariana
3. Asier
4. Ivona
5. Bearings
Those people/headings really do define those portions of the text. The writing was "lyrical" ... it just felt poetic. The blurb seems to overaccentuate the Croatia/new country angle, but I didn't really think that was an essential part to the story. It was the setting, but I didn't feel like the location really defined the story. I did NOT know where this story was going, how it would end. It was painful, real enough that it could possibly be true. Seriously, what are the correct choices and sacrifices?
Some words I note: osmosis (I remember my college biology teacher saying "in all these novels that use the word 'osmosis' figuratively, they mean "diffusion" because osmosis is only WATER), adage, susurrus, roiling, careen.
Some phrases/thoughts ...
*The fuller my hands, the emptier my head (stay busy)
*Walk bent as if I'd been hit (words can cause a physical pain to the body)
*Our home wasn't any less broken just because we lived in one household (her parent's marriage)
*hard on oneself in the dark
*Funny how not having sex makes people more uncomfortable than having it.
*Asier's son - doesn't want the relationship, or wants his father to try harder?
*Afraid of waiting for loss so much that I did the act of cutting myself.
*INFERTILITY - so many thoughts on this!!!! (trigger warnings!)
*Chick Pea Soup - daughter doesn't make it as good as the mother. The mother perfected it because the husband was so hard on her all the time.
*Cicada - mate then die (several references/symbolism?)
I wish there were discussion questions included. None online as of yet (that I could find).
ProFanity x19. Some sex.
This would be a great "book club" book ... lots of possible discussion topics. I went with the audio, and still stopped to make several highlights/notes. There was a title tie in, although not really obvious. Most of the book is present tense, although it's really two timelines, the present and the past. The past is told in past tense (logical, although some authors have done the opposite, go figure). First person - all from Ivona's POV. 61 chapters, spread through five parts:
1. Vlaho
2. Mariana
3. Asier
4. Ivona
5. Bearings
Those people/headings really do define those portions of the text. The writing was "lyrical" ... it just felt poetic. The blurb seems to overaccentuate the Croatia/new country angle, but I didn't really think that was an essential part to the story. It was the setting, but I didn't feel like the location really defined the story. I did NOT know where this story was going, how it would end. It was painful, real enough that it could possibly be true. Seriously, what are the correct choices and sacrifices?
Some words I note: osmosis (I remember my college biology teacher saying "in all these novels that use the word 'osmosis' figuratively, they mean "diffusion" because osmosis is only WATER), adage, susurrus, roiling, careen.
Some phrases/thoughts ...
*The fuller my hands, the emptier my head (stay busy)
*Walk bent as if I'd been hit (words can cause a physical pain to the body)
*Our home wasn't any less broken just because we lived in one household (her parent's marriage)
*hard on oneself in the dark
*Funny how not having sex makes people more uncomfortable than having it.
*Asier's son - doesn't want the relationship, or wants his father to try harder?
*Afraid of waiting for loss so much that I did the act of cutting myself.
*INFERTILITY - so many thoughts on this!!!! (trigger warnings!)
*Chick Pea Soup - daughter doesn't make it as good as the mother. The mother perfected it because the husband was so hard on her all the time.
*Cicada - mate then die (several references/symbolism?)
I wish there were discussion questions included. None online as of yet (that I could find).
ProFanity x19. Some sex.