k8iedid's review against another edition
Another DNF from deep in the to-read list. Who was the Katie who added this book in 2016, and why? An interesting premise, but just not what I want to read right now.
anneliehyatt's review against another edition
4.0
This book is haunting, thoughtful, and beautifully written.
reasie's review against another edition
3.0
A quiet, reflective unfolding love story between two unremarkable people, told starting with their murder on a beach where they have gone to reenact their first love-making 30 years ago.
I really got a feel for Joeseph and Celice and their daughter Syl. I enjoyed the factual accounts, poetic and detailed, of decomposition and the natural world. Still, it felt rather light on substance, but maybe that's me. It was what it was, and it didn't need to be anything more.
I really got a feel for Joeseph and Celice and their daughter Syl. I enjoyed the factual accounts, poetic and detailed, of decomposition and the natural world. Still, it felt rather light on substance, but maybe that's me. It was what it was, and it didn't need to be anything more.
darylnash's review against another edition
1.0
Tries so hard to be unsentimental that it wraps back around the sentimentality scale again to maudlin. We are meant to think that the characters are ordinary with human flaws, but instead they are simply unlikable--I felt sad not for their deaths but that they had lived such hollow lives. And the omniscient narrator's voice--ye gods! At one point he describes the young couple French-kissing with the metaphor of a mother bird feeding its young a mouthful of worms. More interesting was the daughter Syl, but she doesn't show up till halfway through and of course the bulk of her story here is a cliched difficult relationship with her parents. I did find the descriptions of their bodies decaying fascinating, but I could have done without the bland narrative tacked onto the non-fiction.
nickinko's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second of Crace's novels that I've read (I started with the much more recent but equally impressive Harvest) and I'm starting to think he's a serious writer. The prose is poetic and original, and the themes and form of the novel layered and complex. More of a 9/10 than a 4/5.
mkg97's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
bundy23's review against another edition
3.0
The corpse stuff was cool but the back story bored me a bit as they weren't exactly likeable, or even interesting, people. It won me back towards the end as the daughter, despite being even less likeable than her parents, was at least interesting.
lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
Given the age of the book, I wondered if Christopher Nolan got the idea for the structure of "Momento" from Crace. We start with two dead bodies, Joseph and Celice, and what the last few moments of their lives were like (Celice's last half-minute, Joseph's last half-hour) following their murder by "persons unknown". From there we keep flashing backwards through their final day, their lives together and forwards to the decomposition of their bodies and the police discovery, as well as their daughter's arrival. That might sound confusing, but it's not: it's clear which timeline we're in and what's going on.
The writing is a little florrid, but it's also precise. What I mean is, there is detail that could have been excised but it's not detail for detail's sake. This is not a mystery, no detective looking for whodunnit or police investigation into the murder. Rather, it's an exploration of who Joseph and Celice were from their meeting through their deaths, and after.
The writing is a little florrid, but it's also precise. What I mean is, there is detail that could have been excised but it's not detail for detail's sake. This is not a mystery, no detective looking for whodunnit or police investigation into the murder. Rather, it's an exploration of who Joseph and Celice were from their meeting through their deaths, and after.
natsume00's review against another edition
3.0
This book ends with a quite ordinary conclusion for irreligious people including me. I wonder how religious people like this book.
I like the daughter's attitude.
I like the daughter's attitude.