Reviews

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus

kcdf's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

dnabrams87's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.75

gyttja's review

4.0

Hade redan sett filmen men då jag läste att Daniel Kraus, författare av boken och Guillermo del Toro, regisör till filmen, skapat berätelsen tillsammans med tanke att det skulle bli både bok och film av det blev jag intresserad av att även läsa boken. Sen hjälpte det ju att jag också tyckte filmen var bra.

Boken tillför en hel del av djup till karaktärerna som jag kunde tycka saknades lite i filmen. Flera scener som jag när jag såg filmen tolkade på ett sätt fick jag helt nya perspektiv på av boken.

Det som jag känner saknades i boken är att den ibland kändes som att den hastade igenom vissa partier och på så vis missade att få mig att verkligen känna med karaktärerna i vissa stunder.

Slutligen vill jag säga att jag mycket lättare kände att jag kunde tolka budskapen i berättelsen från boken i jämförelse med filmen. Därför kommer jag att hålla boken mycket mer kär än filmen. Och om någon frågar kommer jag säga; Läs boken först!

_ahsoka_tano_'s review

emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

rubal_mittal's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

3.0

moody_gobling's review

3.0

In my estimation, it takes very good writing to make a fictional person an object of hatred. And I did so enjoy hating Strickland until his demise. The rest of the characters here floated along in a dreamlike state of grey morality and absolute humanity until the book was finished. I felt sympathy for Giles, and wanted to get to know more about Mrs. Strickland’s life, I enjoyed being inside of Zelda’s brain However, all was nearly washed away, diluted from being too interesting in the eclipse of Elisa and The Creature. Both of whom sadly did not interest me in the slightest.

akryku's review

dark medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ch_lilia's review against another edition

3.0

3.5/5

lexisun's review

adventurous inspiring fast-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? No

4.75

Loved: everything about it. The setting was immersive, the language was beautiful, each character was deeply and sympathetically explored. 

Didn’t love:

Spoiler

I’m dumb, and I like being told things explicitly. I get that the implication is that she was his kind of people all along at the end, but I do wish I could have been told more about that.

flower_mail's review

4.0

There were parts I adored, and overall this was charming. But the Amazon scenes were too frequent and slowed the pace a lot. (Those were very The Things They Carried's grenade/shit field scenes, which is great writing but very jarring compared to the rest.)

The magical realism was beautifully done and very reminiscent of Like Water for Chocolate or Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I loved the creature's chapters. Zelda should have gotten more of them, and it seems a little racist that she got maybe two chapters, despite being a main character. Even the fish man got more!