beckyblake's review
5.0
The linked stories in this collection are beautifully crafted and insightful. Perfectly chosen physical details provide a sensual experience for the reader, a feeling of participation in Juliet's stories. Snyder's writing is enviable!
brogan7's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
4.0
The first half of this book is absolutely outstanding. Tender, insightful, tense with danger (they are always close to peril, physical or emotional), it sweeps you along as a reader and the lines! The lines are like poetry, you think oh my goodness I must be missing pieces, it's so rich with words it drips like nectar, so much, so much.
The moment the narrative breaks is very clear: it's the first time in the book that Juliet is pulled into the future. The author refers to her as "middle aged.". The narrative thread spools, pools, bends back on itself, is broken.
I don't know why Snyder did this: and once, it was forgivable. But multiple times? And the story unspools but no longer holds the reader where we were...."the Juliet stories"--but it was a novel--but then it splinters and is stories, after all, but why? She never told us what we needed to know to end the first part of the story. The careful balance, the tension between mother and daughter, between which character we most wanted to see, between how a daughter sees her mother when that daughter is a child, and then when she is herself a woman...and how that woman sees herself, what she wanted, when she got together with her husband, and how things end up working out...
There were these filigrees of tension, and then Snyder dropped them and went on to tell other stories, Juliet stories, yes, but I wanted something more, something grounded in that first rush of 150 pages...
It is a beautiful book though. Well worth the read. An experience of language and through language that I won't soon forget.
"She has tears in her eyes. By gazing into the drink and not at her mother, she has allowed herself to let go, to ease into the song's ending, its unwavering high note held softly but tenaciously. The note does not drop down or fall off the way your ear anticipates, but holds, diminishing by increments until you can hear it no longer, though you imagine you are hearing it still." (p.240)
The moment the narrative breaks is very clear: it's the first time in the book that Juliet is pulled into the future. The author refers to her as "middle aged.". The narrative thread spools, pools, bends back on itself, is broken.
I don't know why Snyder did this: and once, it was forgivable. But multiple times? And the story unspools but no longer holds the reader where we were...."the Juliet stories"--but it was a novel--but then it splinters and is stories, after all, but why? She never told us what we needed to know to end the first part of the story. The careful balance, the tension between mother and daughter, between which character we most wanted to see, between how a daughter sees her mother when that daughter is a child, and then when she is herself a woman...and how that woman sees herself, what she wanted, when she got together with her husband, and how things end up working out...
There were these filigrees of tension, and then Snyder dropped them and went on to tell other stories, Juliet stories, yes, but I wanted something more, something grounded in that first rush of 150 pages...
It is a beautiful book though. Well worth the read. An experience of language and through language that I won't soon forget.
"She has tears in her eyes. By gazing into the drink and not at her mother, she has allowed herself to let go, to ease into the song's ending, its unwavering high note held softly but tenaciously. The note does not drop down or fall off the way your ear anticipates, but holds, diminishing by increments until you can hear it no longer, though you imagine you are hearing it still." (p.240)
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Infidelity
Minor: Suicide
Spoiler
child deathsagi's review
2.0
(First reads giveaway)
Despite the book being well written, in a pleasantly subtle style (although sometimes too ambiguous, leaving me confused and annoyed), I found myself having no interest in (or even really liking) any of the characters, so I couldn't enjoy it much.
Despite the book being well written, in a pleasantly subtle style (although sometimes too ambiguous, leaving me confused and annoyed), I found myself having no interest in (or even really liking) any of the characters, so I couldn't enjoy it much.
kateycakes's review
2.0
I really tried to like this book; I imagined it was going to be like a fictionalized version of Something Fierce (a coming of age novel in the height of a political revolution). The plot had the most arbitrary occurrences, which I think were efforts to make the narrative more interesting, but this ultimately wasn't successful.
breecreative's review
1.0
I should know better...if I see it in a magazine, it's won awards or is promoted by Oprah...I won't like it. But I fell for the hype...again. Admittedly, I saw this one in a Canadian magazine, saying it was "the best Canadian lit" etc.
It wasn't terrible, though I'm not really sure what made it NOT terrible. First of all, I couldn't understand what was going on about 90% of the time. It was completely pointless. I hated Juliet's mom, not that I really cared that much about any of the family members. When I thought it was about to get juicy, include SOME plot, it moved on to something else. Add to that, it was told from Juliet's point-of-view for the most part. Then switched from Juliet to a narrator and back (without rhyme or reason) once she moved to Canada. THEN it switched from that to every family member in succession. THEN it switched back to Juliet, but by then I was so lost, I had no idea what was going on. Oh, and it would randomly have blatant foreshadowing like "I knew I would do that, she thought later." Very confusing.
The story just doesn't ever TELL you anything. It's a lot of words that say nothing, and you're left guessing about what just happened. I kept thinking that it would get better, but I should have just given up on it. I have to say, I'm glad it's over.
It wasn't terrible, though I'm not really sure what made it NOT terrible. First of all, I couldn't understand what was going on about 90% of the time. It was completely pointless. I hated Juliet's mom, not that I really cared that much about any of the family members. When I thought it was about to get juicy, include SOME plot, it moved on to something else. Add to that, it was told from Juliet's point-of-view for the most part. Then switched from Juliet to a narrator and back (without rhyme or reason) once she moved to Canada. THEN it switched from that to every family member in succession. THEN it switched back to Juliet, but by then I was so lost, I had no idea what was going on. Oh, and it would randomly have blatant foreshadowing like "I knew I would do that, she thought later." Very confusing.
The story just doesn't ever TELL you anything. It's a lot of words that say nothing, and you're left guessing about what just happened. I kept thinking that it would get better, but I should have just given up on it. I have to say, I'm glad it's over.
chantale's review
2.0
Juliet's parents are activists who move their family to Nicaragua in the 1980's to protest the war. Their father leaves Gloria and the three children for long periods for his protest work during which Gloria becomes depressed and Juliet is left to fend for herself, Keith and Emmanuel. Gloria falls in love with another expat family's father who raises his own daughter while his wife works.
Keith is diagnosed with cancer and this is the catalyst for the end of Juliets's parent's marriage. This book deals with feelings of displacement as Juliet reflects and comes to terms with her own infidelities in her relationship with Mike, her husband and her concern to provide a stable life for her own unborn child.
Reminds me of A Thousand Farewells by Nallah Ayed and Chai Tea Sunday by Heather A. Clark.
Keith is diagnosed with cancer and this is the catalyst for the end of Juliets's parent's marriage. This book deals with feelings of displacement as Juliet reflects and comes to terms with her own infidelities in her relationship with Mike, her husband and her concern to provide a stable life for her own unborn child.
Reminds me of A Thousand Farewells by Nallah Ayed and Chai Tea Sunday by Heather A. Clark.
clarehitchens's review
5.0
Read this book. It has a buzz coming out of the gate that is well deserved. I read Carrie's blog, so I feel like I watched these stories come together even though they weren't discussed in any specific way. Now that they form a complete book it's better than I even imagined. The writing is superb. Read it. You won't regret it.
unphilosophize's review
3.0
I feel like this book is a thinly veiled autobiography. I found it hard to get into, the first 100 pages were slow and it didn't feel like a lot was happening. They style was choppy and disconnected which added to its slowness.
The book highlights the naiveté of children and their blindness to the world of adults.
I didn't like the large time jumps in the second half of the novel and was unenthused by the ending which was much like the beginning, disjointed and unconnected. It also didn't touch on the parts of the books that I found the most compelling.
Not bad. What you would expect from canlit by a mom who write a blog on obscure canlit.
The book highlights the naiveté of children and their blindness to the world of adults.
I didn't like the large time jumps in the second half of the novel and was unenthused by the ending which was much like the beginning, disjointed and unconnected. It also didn't touch on the parts of the books that I found the most compelling.
Not bad. What you would expect from canlit by a mom who write a blog on obscure canlit.
evilonion's review
4.0
I received an advance copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway.
I found the stories about Juliet absolutely captivating and beautifully written.
I found the stories about Juliet absolutely captivating and beautifully written.
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