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lorebug's Reviews (62)
my first full length novel from steinbeck and i can see what people meant by how great of a novel this is. the descriptions and characterizations were fulfilling and delicate, everyone felt realistic and humanly flawed. the way the story played out for our characters, the creating of even deeper stories, as we spanned a few generations was remarkably done. i do feel like a fence sitter though because i don’t know exactly where i land because while there are many elements that are great about this story, i am an endings person. i found myself anticipating the ending having read a majority of steinbeck’s shorter works. they hit straight at the gut and leave you staring at a wall for some time afterwards. for some reason the last 50 pages here felt rushed and i didn’t get the visceral gut wrenching feeling this time around. i felt like a pivotal character was written off in such an unsatisfactory way, that a family destroyed in only a few pages didn’t hit nearly as hard as it should have was kind of disappointing. overall, i enjoyed my time reading this american classic with V and think this is one of steinbeck’s most hopeful endings. (did he get soft?) i think this is where my john steinbeck summer ends though
things are settling down from the coup d’état. enjoyed the slower, domestic nature of this installment. lots of frustrating moments from cajieri. the boy is gracefully learning from his mistakes at least. good god is he constantly stirring up trouble though lol. ilisidi’s tongue is like a whip for getting out information. she could ring out water from a stone, love her to death
had a lot of fun reading and discussing this with solis. there’s lots to critique with all the obtuse and rampant misogyny, fatphobia, and xenophobia but if you put those to the way side there is such a compelling story here. i loved the gothic atmosphere and plot. collin’s prose is beautiful and compelling. i was worried i’d find this boring since i’m not much of a fan of mysteries. the choice of the narrative being written as character testimonies was so much fun though. i enjoyed the unreliability of it all and how it’s truly up to our judgment to decide who and what to believe. the count was probably my favorite villain in this. his manipulation and the way he moved through the story was so sinister and eerie. walter and marian are the true stars though their friendship and detective duo was such a delight to follow. this is by no means perfect but even in its flaws the way collin’s uses the perils at which women were affronted during this time as a device within the story was excellent.
back on planet and everything has essentially collapsed on the mainland leading to a lot of stress for bren AND ME
