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A review by readsrandiread
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Scholars may study, historians may research, readers may read, but nobody knows more about today, this very day, than the person who lives it. Nobody knows more about her, than her.”
This story, this book, this character of Aubry Tourvel, is quite something. And as a debut novel el, excuse me?!
Usually I fly through books with short chapters, which ASWTAWW had, but this book was an exception to that. It took me so long to finish. I was only able to read 10-15 pages at a time before I would set it down. I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy it, I just couldn’t stay with it too long, if that makes sense at all.
It’s a very meandering story, moving back and forth through Aubry’s life and travels and people she meets. But for the most part, I could follow and appreciate the meandering. The characters, big and small, in this book were fantastic, and there’s a lot of them.
“He drove Aubry another hour in his cigar-shaped automobile, leaving the city behind them. She thought, What a strange way to see the world, if you could see it at all, everything flying by so fast—the streets, these forests, unknown, unexplored, as if they’d never been. What kind of life is that for a street or a forest, or a woman in an automobile zooming past them? A whole world, unacquainted.”
This book felt very deep to me, and I think some of its deeper messages flew over my head, but I still enjoyed it. I think it’s a story that will stick with me.
If magical realism is your jam, I would pick this one up.
This story, this book, this character of Aubry Tourvel, is quite something. And as a debut novel el, excuse me?!
Usually I fly through books with short chapters, which ASWTAWW had, but this book was an exception to that. It took me so long to finish. I was only able to read 10-15 pages at a time before I would set it down. I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy it, I just couldn’t stay with it too long, if that makes sense at all.
It’s a very meandering story, moving back and forth through Aubry’s life and travels and people she meets. But for the most part, I could follow and appreciate the meandering. The characters, big and small, in this book were fantastic, and there’s a lot of them.
“He drove Aubry another hour in his cigar-shaped automobile, leaving the city behind them. She thought, What a strange way to see the world, if you could see it at all, everything flying by so fast—the streets, these forests, unknown, unexplored, as if they’d never been. What kind of life is that for a street or a forest, or a woman in an automobile zooming past them? A whole world, unacquainted.”
This book felt very deep to me, and I think some of its deeper messages flew over my head, but I still enjoyed it. I think it’s a story that will stick with me.
If magical realism is your jam, I would pick this one up.