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brandiereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
3.5
rholzer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
carladelgado's review against another edition
5.0
Such an amazing, powerful, and BEAUTIFUL novel! Words are just so wonderfully put together to create the novel. I can’t even imagine how much more magical it is to read in the original language. Wow. Such a great novel to read to welcome in women’s month. I love it!!!
yuno_hu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
pearloz's review against another edition
4.0
Well, slightly less than four stars. Great writing, engaging plot. I found the hunter's narrative a lot more compelling than the girl's. However, it was interesting to read about Mozambiqan life in a small, rural community, the thinly veiled mysticism, the Portuguese sprinkled throughout...her diary had a dream-like quality that reminded me of a lot of the Mexican fiction I've read lately. But the hunter's story was great: a man at odds with his past, with his station, with his abilities. The hunter in conflict--I could've used a whole novel on just him. This was my first Couto and I will certainly be reading more.
kecskes's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hanntastic's review against another edition
4.0
Global Read 21: Mozambique
It is kind of hard to give a review that doesn't spoil the gently unravelling plot. You do have to be prepared to sit with some confusion while you read it, but that's part of what drew me in. Both Mariamar and the hunter are interesting characters and I didn't prefer one story to the other which is unusual in books told from multiple voices. It isn't easy in the sense that it is very dark, but I did find it to be a page turner.
It is kind of hard to give a review that doesn't spoil the gently unravelling plot. You do have to be prepared to sit with some confusion while you read it, but that's part of what drew me in. Both Mariamar and the hunter are interesting characters and I didn't prefer one story to the other which is unusual in books told from multiple voices. It isn't easy in the sense that it is very dark, but I did find it to be a page turner.
laroline's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this book felt like a dream: fragemented, beautifully far away from everything, a dream who seems to be important, but that i can't remember after waking up
giselav's review against another edition
2.0
Such a frustrating read. This book has almost no plot to speak of. You could honestly sum everything that happened in detail in less than a page.
Most of the book is composed with vague, poetic sentences that are very beautiful, yes, but give you absolutely no information whatsoever. I don't mean a couple of beautiful sentences every now and then, but this book is nothing but vague meaningless statement after vague meaningless statement. It goes nowhere! It's so slow as well and the story isn't even that interesting.
It doesn't help that the characters all have different ideas on what's happening but you're not actually sure what is real and what isn't at any point in time. I'm pretty sure that's what Couto intended, but added to everything else it just made for an even more annoying read.
The only mildly exciting part was near the end, but it soon went back to the same sort of vague-ing and bullshitting about. Goddamn. I had to force myself to finish this book the whole time.
Most of the book is composed with vague, poetic sentences that are very beautiful, yes, but give you absolutely no information whatsoever. I don't mean a couple of beautiful sentences every now and then, but this book is nothing but vague meaningless statement after vague meaningless statement. It goes nowhere! It's so slow as well and the story isn't even that interesting.
It doesn't help that the characters all have different ideas on what's happening but you're not actually sure what is real and what isn't at any point in time. I'm pretty sure that's what Couto intended, but added to everything else it just made for an even more annoying read.
The only mildly exciting part was near the end, but it soon went back to the same sort of vague-ing and bullshitting about. Goddamn. I had to force myself to finish this book the whole time.
mel16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25