kinddog2073's review
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Had a hard time with this one. Difficult for me to connect with it. The writing is clearly meant to be beautiful, but at no point while reading did I find myself event remotely affected by it. This mostly came down to, I suspect, being deeply annoyed by Martine. I picked up the book from a secondhand store because by the description on the back, it sounded like there were a number of points of similarity in my own experience. And indeed, there are many. And typically I enjoy stories about mothers and daughters, as this story very much is. But I was so annoyed with Martine. Her approach to everything confounded me to the point of frustration. Her approach to photography felt alien to me, as an enthusiastic amateur. Her approach to relationships was bizarre. And fundamentally, her approach to New York City, walking around aimlessly at night, alone, in a city where she has no connections, nothing, is bizarre. NYC isn't especially dangerous but someone walking around with an expensive camera rig at night alone is just silly!
The book is also impossible to place in time and I found this difficult to accept as well. It appears to start in the early 80s, as far as I can tell, based on an allusion to a memorial for John Lennon. Charitably, I'd estimate as late as 82. When Martine's daughter is five, which is 6 years after the move to NYC, there are apparently people in Old Sydney Town casually holding mobile phones. Is that 1988? There weren't casual mobile phones until quite a bit later, and certainly not with cultural purchase such that someone would be using one at work. It seemed to evoke a sense of the late 90s, at that point?
In any case, there were many such details I found strange and difficult to accept. Overall I think the book just wasn't to my taste. There isn't anything intrinsically wrong and other folks seem to like it (you can look up reviews elsewhere). Please take my review as my own impression and not a categorical dismissal of the book.
The book is also impossible to place in time and I found this difficult to accept as well. It appears to start in the early 80s, as far as I can tell, based on an allusion to a memorial for John Lennon. Charitably, I'd estimate as late as 82. When Martine's daughter is five, which is 6 years after the move to NYC, there are apparently people in Old Sydney Town casually holding mobile phones. Is that 1988? There weren't casual mobile phones until quite a bit later, and certainly not with cultural purchase such that someone would be using one at work. It seemed to evoke a sense of the late 90s, at that point?
In any case, there were many such details I found strange and difficult to accept. Overall I think the book just wasn't to my taste. There isn't anything intrinsically wrong and other folks seem to like it (you can look up reviews elsewhere). Please take my review as my own impression and not a categorical dismissal of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Abandonment
Moderate: Antisemitism and Eating disorder
Disordered eating is described in relative detail as an aspect or manifestation of grief, not as something on its own.
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