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A review by livres_de_bloss
The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg
2.0
2.5
The one thing I will say in it’s favour: this book is a fast read; if it hadn’t been, I likely wouldn’t have stuck with it. It was incredibly sad and I wonder if a lot of it’s weaknesses and failure to quite hit the mark were a result of a rough translation:
• I didn’t really feel the “location as character”. There is far too much telling and not enough showing. I’ve read books set in Paris that positively transport you there through strong writing and colourful descriptions. This book didn’t do that.
• The dialogue was stilted and unnatural. This resulted in the characters not feeling real or genuine.
• I got really tired of hearing how “beautiful” Jenny was and how, vapidly, all she seemed concerned with was being “fat”.
In short, this isn’t a bad book, it just missed the mark for me. It felt like it was missing the emotional component and because of it, I wasn’t able to get invested in the characters. This isn’t a happy book and I felt rather badly after I finished it. On the whole, I wouldn’t recommend.
The one thing I will say in it’s favour: this book is a fast read; if it hadn’t been, I likely wouldn’t have stuck with it. It was incredibly sad and I wonder if a lot of it’s weaknesses and failure to quite hit the mark were a result of a rough translation:
• I didn’t really feel the “location as character”. There is far too much telling and not enough showing. I’ve read books set in Paris that positively transport you there through strong writing and colourful descriptions. This book didn’t do that.
• The dialogue was stilted and unnatural. This resulted in the characters not feeling real or genuine.
• I got really tired of hearing how “beautiful” Jenny was and how, vapidly, all she seemed concerned with was being “fat”.
In short, this isn’t a bad book, it just missed the mark for me. It felt like it was missing the emotional component and because of it, I wasn’t able to get invested in the characters. This isn’t a happy book and I felt rather badly after I finished it. On the whole, I wouldn’t recommend.