A review by madelines_library
Euphoria by Lily King

adventurous dark informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have complicated feelings towards this book. I would warn anyone that the book starts out (and continues to be) EXTREMELY SLOW... personally, were I not on a road trip I would have stopped reading. At first, I wondered if it was too much in my wheelhouse. I have found that it is actually a good book, but only when one finishes it. It is at the end when things come together, and the reader has an "aha!" moment, where things they hadn't noticed before become all they can think about.
I personally loved the attention to the impossibility of knowing a person, like the challenges anthropologists face in knowing a culture. when you finish the book, readers may realize they don't know the three characters they have spent so much time with. Moreover, though it was a more obvious theme, i did think it was important that the poor ethics/darkside of anthropology in this era was highlighted. While i was extremely frustrated at this book spent so much time on the three westerners, treating the Native New Guineans as set pieces, I have taken that to be a comment on Anthropology during that era (that much research was not really an effort to better know the cultures being studied, but to promote the white anthropologist "interpreting" the culture). Though the book was a monster to get through if you enjoy a book with plot, movement, etc., once the book ends everything falls together, and the book was suddenly worth the time spent. 
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