A review by kbhenrickson
We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

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

4.0

This book is challenging for me to review. It is a very long multigenerational saga made up of many stories from the interconnected lives of the residents of a small town in Denmark from the early 1800s until the end of World War II. Some of the stories are completely engrossing, some are a little tedious, many are a bit grim. It is told from a strange perspective - unnamed residents (we) observing all of the events or listening to first-person accounts being told by a different resident. Everything is filtered through a very male perspective - this is not a positive or a negative. The women characters, however, (of which there aren't many) tend to be either victims or manipulative (or both), which I found a bit tiresome. Overall, it's kind of a downer, but it is very well told. The audiobook narrator does an excellent job, and I'm glad I ended up listening to the book rather than eye-reading.
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