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tayahmarie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The story follows a new mom named Karin who is navigating motherhood on her own after losing her husband and assets - even more heartbreaking is that she’s doing it in complete isolation. Due to those factors, this quickly became an extremely unsettling, eerie, and bleak read.
I could genuinely feel Karin’s physical and mental pain as she was trying to keep it together for baby Dream’s sake. I felt so bad for her… and this once again makes you come face to face with the harsh truth that so many women deal with postpartum depression and don’t have the resources to effectively work through it.
Two elements that I really enjoyed were how short this was and Ramqvist’s writing. It’s absolutely beautiful. The imagery/atmospheric tone included in the plot can make the reader feel as though they’re actually outside in the brutal winter.
Despite understanding and appreciating the important topics such as motherhood, trying to overcome hardships, postpartum depression, and what that can do to one's psyche, I do think it was a bit hard to differentiate the characters when there was actual dialogue. Since isolation is a huge plot point, Dream can’t talk, and because we spend so much time in Karin’s head when we actually do get some form of dialogue taking place between Karin and someone else… it’s a little jarring. This is also told in the third person but instead of saying “x said” it’ll say “she said” for both characters. So a lot of the time I was like “wait, what?” Lol. This was my first translated read from Swedish to English and although I’m interested in reading more, this book was just not 100% for me.
I could genuinely feel Karin’s physical and mental pain as she was trying to keep it together for baby Dream’s sake. I felt so bad for her… and this once again makes you come face to face with the harsh truth that so many women deal with postpartum depression and don’t have the resources to effectively work through it.
Two elements that I really enjoyed were how short this was and Ramqvist’s writing. It’s absolutely beautiful. The imagery/atmospheric tone included in the plot can make the reader feel as though they’re actually outside in the brutal winter.
Despite understanding and appreciating the important topics such as motherhood, trying to overcome hardships, postpartum depression, and what that can do to one's psyche, I do think it was a bit hard to differentiate the characters when there was actual dialogue. Since isolation is a huge plot point, Dream can’t talk, and because we spend so much time in Karin’s head when we actually do get some form of dialogue taking place between Karin and someone else… it’s a little jarring. This is also told in the third person but instead of saying “x said” it’ll say “she said” for both characters. So a lot of the time I was like “wait, what?” Lol. This was my first translated read from Swedish to English and although I’m interested in reading more, this book was just not 100% for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Abandonment
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