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serendipitysbooks's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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? It's complicated
4.75
The World and All That it Holds is an epic love story that spans most of the first half of the twentieth century, thousands of kilometres - mostly on foot - from Sarajevo to Shanghai, via Bolshevik Russia, Tashkent and the Taklamakan Desert. It’s a story, both tender and tragic, which unfolds against the backdrop of World War I and the Sino-Japanese war. At it’s heart are two Bosnian men, Pinto and Osman, one Jewish the other Muslim, and Rahela, a beloved daughter. It’s a story which focuses a lot on migration, on the refugee experience, and the realities of being a stateless person. It includes espionage and opium addiction. It’s not the easiest of reads with a changing cast of characters, subtle changes of perspective, the looping of time, and the inclusion of multiple languages. It’s poignant, haunting, and beautifully written. It has much to say about humanity. It may not be perfect but I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Antisemitism
Moderate: Homophobia and Islamophobia
_moomin's review against another edition
God. This book has so much potential and some beautiful moments but it is SO BORING between those bits. The author repeats motifs and phrases so frequently and inelegantly that it takes the reader out of the story. I have no reason to pick this up again. You keep waiting for Pinto to be able to return to Sarajevo or for him to have any control over the events of his life, but it's world war I and he's a gay Bosnian Jew so of course he can't do either of those things! Great characters and often pretty prose but too repetitive and slow-paced for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape and Islamophobia
spec_tacles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Addiction, Death, Gore, Genocide, Violence, Murder, Drug use, Grief, and Drug abuse
Minor: Homophobia and Islamophobia
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