shelfimprovement's review against another edition
3.0
Tatiana is a Mexican expat living in Berlin at the dawn of the 21st century, trying to distance herself from her family and avoiding the development of any new relationships. She takes a part-time job transcribing the notes of an aging historian, and becomes involved with a man she is sent to interview.
About 30 pages in, I had a suspicion and had to flip to the author biography. Yup, Chloe Aridjis is a poet. She has a PhD in poetry, actually. That's something that really shows in this novel. The prose is lovely, very heavy on the metaphors, and not particularly narrative. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the novel - the bit about the train stations that were frozen in time was particularly striking, and I loved the story of how Jonas became obsessed with clouds. The thing is, though, there's no real conflict to this story. I never felt like we were building towards anything, and that was disappointing.
Read this if you are a poet, if you like poetic language, if you enjoy dissecting dense metaphors. If you're looking for a well-constructed plot or multi-dimensional characters, this is not the book for you.
About 30 pages in, I had a suspicion and had to flip to the author biography. Yup, Chloe Aridjis is a poet. She has a PhD in poetry, actually. That's something that really shows in this novel. The prose is lovely, very heavy on the metaphors, and not particularly narrative. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the novel - the bit about the train stations that were frozen in time was particularly striking, and I loved the story of how Jonas became obsessed with clouds. The thing is, though, there's no real conflict to this story. I never felt like we were building towards anything, and that was disappointing.
Read this if you are a poet, if you like poetic language, if you enjoy dissecting dense metaphors. If you're looking for a well-constructed plot or multi-dimensional characters, this is not the book for you.
lozwesty's review
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
lynnsikora's review against another edition
3.0
This book freaked me out a bit at parts as I celebrated 5 years in Hamburg while reading about the main character having spent 5 years in Berlin. I enjoyed the parts of life in Germany as I could so closely relate; however, at times it was also tedious because I felt like I was reading about parts of my every day life which I try to escape through reading! A lovely little book though though.
bethnellvaccaro's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not quite sure what to make of this book, but I really liked it. Not much happens, but I loved the description of Berlin. I have never been to Berlin and know very little about the city, but I enjoy books where place is as much a character as the people.
nicolephipps's review against another edition
3.0
does "ehhh" count as a review?
It was short; parts were really pretty. But other parts were really boring.
Not-so much happened. And then it ended.
It was short; parts were really pretty. But other parts were really boring.
Not-so much happened. And then it ended.
maggiemoo89's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
reillywoehler's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
leerazer's review against another edition
4.0
Essentially a brooding, atmospheric illumination of the city of Berlin. The city is certainly the co-main character of the novel, at least, and it feels here like a dark, dense stain sinking into the fabric of the universe. It is the shadowed spot left on the wall of the empty apartment above the protagonist that is not covered up even when a new tenant arrives to rehabilitate the space. It is the secret underground bowling alley of the Nazis, or the Stasi, it makes little difference which, where the ghosts impatiently wait to reclaim the place.
The tone is brilliantly set from the opening paragraph: "It was an evening when the moral remains of the city bobbed up to the surface and floated like driftwood before sinking back down to the seabed to further splinter and rot." Now there's a sentence to make any city's Chamber of Commerce fall to its knees in pain.
The narrative vehicle for this contemporary analysis of Berlin is the story of Tatiana, a young woman from a Mexican Jewish family, who has lived in Berlin for several years. She muddles along in the post-German reunification haze, working part-time for a historian, transcribing his spoken notes. She has difficulty making any real connection with people or work and bounces along on each path, unable to settle anywhere for long. Berlin's past seems to colonize her imagination, leaving her unbalanced in the present. Ultimately an act of violence (with a resolution from the school of urban magical realism) prompts her to sever ties with the city and return to her family in Mexico.
All in all, a well-written debut novel to be read for its take on the interplay of past and present.
The tone is brilliantly set from the opening paragraph: "It was an evening when the moral remains of the city bobbed up to the surface and floated like driftwood before sinking back down to the seabed to further splinter and rot." Now there's a sentence to make any city's Chamber of Commerce fall to its knees in pain.
The narrative vehicle for this contemporary analysis of Berlin is the story of Tatiana, a young woman from a Mexican Jewish family, who has lived in Berlin for several years. She muddles along in the post-German reunification haze, working part-time for a historian, transcribing his spoken notes. She has difficulty making any real connection with people or work and bounces along on each path, unable to settle anywhere for long. Berlin's past seems to colonize her imagination, leaving her unbalanced in the present. Ultimately an act of violence (with a resolution from the school of urban magical realism) prompts her to sever ties with the city and return to her family in Mexico.
All in all, a well-written debut novel to be read for its take on the interplay of past and present.
rmolnar's review against another edition
4.0
Chloe Aridjis captures perfectly the feelings of being lost and lonely, yet content, in a foreign but familiar city. The weight of the city's history is always present. It is heavy and presses in on the reader, as it does the book's characters. I found Book of Clouds to be simultaneously comforting and unsettling - a real feat, in my opinion - and by the end I felt as disconnected from the world as Tatiana is in the novel.
It isn't a particularly plot-driven novel, but a meandering exploration of home, self and history. I thoroughly enjoyed that exploration even if, in the end, it resulted in much self-reflection.
It isn't a particularly plot-driven novel, but a meandering exploration of home, self and history. I thoroughly enjoyed that exploration even if, in the end, it resulted in much self-reflection.
alyx_cullen's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0