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A review by shanaqui
The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I'm not totally sure how I feel about this book. On the surface, it's totally my thing: an epistolary novel, but sci-fi! And there's elements of an eco-thriller in it, though it's worth noting that all of that happens "off-screen": instead, what we get is the partner of someone who is involved, trying to put together the pieces of exactly what's happened and why her spouse is missing.
The letters don't quite ring true to me, as someone who writes them semi-regularly. I can read it as a character thing to a certain extent, but... people don't really describe things like that in letters, and don't narrate such details. And yes, okay, that's also necessary for the narrative to make sense and allow people to piece something together, but there's a balance to strike, and for me, this didn't get there.
I did enjoy the level of ambiguity in the events here -- is what Lumi sees real? Is her imagining of Sol's actions correct? What exactly is happening, and how will things end for the two of them? I can see that being really frustrating for some readers, but it worked well for me.
So... in the end, I did really want to know what happened, and I enjoyed the process of piecing things together, but the idea that it was written as a series of letters didn't quite ring true for me.
The letters don't quite ring true to me, as someone who writes them semi-regularly. I can read it as a character thing to a certain extent, but... people don't really describe things like that in letters, and don't narrate such details. And yes, okay, that's also necessary for the narrative to make sense and allow people to piece something together, but there's a balance to strike, and for me, this didn't get there.
I did enjoy the level of ambiguity in the events here -- is what Lumi sees real? Is her imagining of Sol's actions correct? What exactly is happening, and how will things end for the two of them? I can see that being really frustrating for some readers, but it worked well for me.
So... in the end, I did really want to know what happened, and I enjoyed the process of piecing things together, but the idea that it was written as a series of letters didn't quite ring true for me.