annasbooks00's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
tittamarja's review against another edition
2.0
Kirjan alkupuoli oli kiinnostava, mutta loppu lässähti, se jäi ihan liian avoimeksi. Yleensä tykkään avoimista lopuista, mutta tämän loppu tuntui vasta alulta, ihan kuin tarinalle olisi jo taputeltu jatko-osaa.
juniperusxx's review against another edition
4.0
Hauras, herkkä ja kaunis tarina, mutta jotenkin liiankin kaunis, että olisin voinut täysillä eläytyä ja kokea sen uskottavaksi. Mentiin lähellä teennäisyyden rajaa. Luin tätä kuitenkin mielelläni, loppuratkaisu jäi epäselvyydessään vaivaamaan mieltä.
booksanddachshunds's review against another edition
5.0
This book is nothing i’ve ever read so far.. but I loved it nonetheless ! It’s not a love story, rather a message of hope ..
This book is mostly Elizabeth’s story. A lady who decided to live in the darkness of her appartment. No one know who live there nor has seen her. She never leaves it, not even to go buy food, and haven’t decorated anything. All her belongings remains in boxes apart from a kitchen, a table, and a bed.
But one day, a young guy named Elias found some mail that belongs to her - they are appartment neighbors that have the same last name, so he can clearly see in how the postman would’ve made this mistake. Although nothing even prove someone is indeed in this appartment, something is telling him there’s someone on the other side of the door, listening. He then proceed to talk to this person and leave the mail there. Which proceed into obligating Elizabeth to give him a book in return, to not be “in dept” of that mysterious person who brought her her mail, which she’s irritated about because she didn’t asked anything ! That is the source of more exchange between the two of them, including Otto, an old retired librarian who lives on the next floor of thoses two, and who happens to be and old friend of Elias. A love story will also happen betweens the pages, in the second plan.
I felt alot of complicities between myself and Elizabeth … I feel like she might be mentally illed with depression as well as me, with how she barricaded herself in the dark appartment. She is broken, sad and scared, just like I am, but will slowly break herself of that shell. She’ll start leaving her appartment more and more, with the help of the two boys, and eventually we get to know who she was and what she’ve been through.
There’s also quite some diversities.. Elias is a dyslexic, who find the purpose of his life through drawing. We learn that he have big difficulties in reading, which when he do, will draw what he’s reading in order to understand. He’s also an author of graphic books, alongside with her good friend Maja, who write the story of his books after what he drawed. And here comes Otto, who helps Elias in his reading difficulties. But not by reading the books to him, they much prefer the old man telling him the stories as one would tell their adventures; by memory. Something much more appreciated by the two mens, who reunite themself every tuesday for supper.
After that first encounter with Elizabeth, Elias proceed to wonder who she is, what that lady has passed through.. he then started to draw her as a bird. More specifically as a black bird, and a story had formed in his head …
This book is mostly Elizabeth’s story. A lady who decided to live in the darkness of her appartment. No one know who live there nor has seen her. She never leaves it, not even to go buy food, and haven’t decorated anything. All her belongings remains in boxes apart from a kitchen, a table, and a bed.
But one day, a young guy named Elias found some mail that belongs to her - they are appartment neighbors that have the same last name, so he can clearly see in how the postman would’ve made this mistake. Although nothing even prove someone is indeed in this appartment, something is telling him there’s someone on the other side of the door, listening. He then proceed to talk to this person and leave the mail there. Which proceed into obligating Elizabeth to give him a book in return, to not be “in dept” of that mysterious person who brought her her mail, which she’s irritated about because she didn’t asked anything ! That is the source of more exchange between the two of them, including Otto, an old retired librarian who lives on the next floor of thoses two, and who happens to be and old friend of Elias. A love story will also happen betweens the pages, in the second plan.
I felt alot of complicities between myself and Elizabeth … I feel like she might be mentally illed with depression as well as me, with how she barricaded herself in the dark appartment. She is broken, sad and scared, just like I am, but will slowly break herself of that shell. She’ll start leaving her appartment more and more, with the help of the two boys, and eventually we get to know who she was and what she’ve been through.
There’s also quite some diversities.. Elias is a dyslexic, who find the purpose of his life through drawing. We learn that he have big difficulties in reading, which when he do, will draw what he’s reading in order to understand. He’s also an author of graphic books, alongside with her good friend Maja, who write the story of his books after what he drawed. And here comes Otto, who helps Elias in his reading difficulties. But not by reading the books to him, they much prefer the old man telling him the stories as one would tell their adventures; by memory. Something much more appreciated by the two mens, who reunite themself every tuesday for supper.
After that first encounter with Elizabeth, Elias proceed to wonder who she is, what that lady has passed through.. he then started to draw her as a bird. More specifically as a black bird, and a story had formed in his head …
spinnerlynne's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Jag tror inte att den här boken är för alla. Om du tycker att sociala situationer är jobbiga eller ibland har svårt att känna hopp så kan den vara för dig.
Jag köpte boken mest för att framsidan var så fin, jag älskar koltrastar. Baksidestexten lät som något för mig, men sist jag läste något som lät liknande gillade jag det inte alls så jag hade inga som helst förväntningar. Men det tog inte många sidor innan jag satt och hoppades på att personerna skulle våga saker, och blev sååå stolt över dem när de gjorde det. För mig kändes alla tvivel och farhågor väldigt trovärdiga -- huvudpersonerna är som klippta och skurna ur samma mall som jag. (Inte för att de är lika varandra. De har olika anledningar till sina trevande angreppssätt.)
Precis den bok jag behövde just nu. En lättläst munsbit som jag kommer att återvända till!
Jag köpte boken mest för att framsidan var så fin, jag älskar koltrastar. Baksidestexten lät som något för mig, men sist jag läste något som lät liknande gillade jag det inte alls så jag hade inga som helst förväntningar. Men det tog inte många sidor innan jag satt och hoppades på att personerna skulle våga saker, och blev sååå stolt över dem när de gjorde det. För mig kändes alla tvivel och farhågor väldigt trovärdiga -- huvudpersonerna är som klippta och skurna ur samma mall som jag. (Inte för att de är lika varandra. De har olika anledningar till sina trevande angreppssätt.)
Precis den bok jag behövde just nu. En lättläst munsbit som jag kommer att återvända till!
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Homophobia
gillesnullens's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
aastakyvik's review against another edition
2.0
This was a difficult novel to rate. After reading the first third of the book I was sure it was going to be one of my new favourite books, but after finishing it I just felt confused about what I actually felt around it. It was a tender story with beautiful writing, and sometime it reminded me a bit of Fredrik Backman, but a tad darker.
While I loved Otto, and felt like he was a fully realised character, the other two felt a bit off sometimes. Elisabeth was kinda interesting at the start, but as I read she reminded me more and more of an angsty and depressed teen from a YA novel, rather than a mature 50 year old woman. She had some growth throughout the story, but it felt forced and she never really read as a real person to me. Elias' pictures are a big part of Elisabeths arc, but while his pictures was supposed to stay important he himself faded out sometimes through the novel, and what first was a novel written in three point of views, got unbalanced when Elias got less of a role. I didn't really feel like I got to know him, it was kind of like he only was there to be someone to push Elisabeth out of her shell and nothing more. He's hinting to his sexuality at the start, in saying that beatings happen to people like him, but his sexuality doesn't really get explored. He gets a boyfriend and seems to be happy at the end, but nothing is ever really talked about which felt too easy after his troubled start.
The story is highly character driven, which is a shame given that only one of the three characters (in my opinion) is fully realised. I personally didn't have anything against the open ending, but I also didn't care for what happened to Elisabeth, only about how hurt Otto would be, which I feel says a lot. At the end I'm giving this three stars, but I'm still excited to read another book from Olsson as I loved her writing style.
While I loved Otto, and felt like he was a fully realised character, the other two felt a bit off sometimes. Elisabeth was kinda interesting at the start, but as I read she reminded me more and more of an angsty and depressed teen from a YA novel, rather than a mature 50 year old woman. She had some growth throughout the story, but it felt forced and she never really read as a real person to me. Elias' pictures are a big part of Elisabeths arc, but while his pictures was supposed to stay important he himself faded out sometimes through the novel, and what first was a novel written in three point of views, got unbalanced when Elias got less of a role. I didn't really feel like I got to know him, it was kind of like he only was there to be someone to push Elisabeth out of her shell and nothing more. He's hinting to his sexuality at the start, in saying that beatings happen to people like him, but his sexuality doesn't really get explored. He gets a boyfriend and seems to be happy at the end, but nothing is ever really talked about which felt too easy after his troubled start.
The story is highly character driven, which is a shame given that only one of the three characters (in my opinion) is fully realised. I personally didn't have anything against the open ending, but I also didn't care for what happened to Elisabeth, only about how hurt Otto would be, which I feel says a lot. At the end I'm giving this three stars, but I'm still excited to read another book from Olsson as I loved her writing style.
chiligoat's review against another edition
2.0
Inte den sortens roman som sätter sina spår. Ett väl redigerat verk med väldigt god struktur men med direkta språkproblem. Det finns en skarv mellan språkstil och karaktärer som skär sig illa, absolut allra mest i dialogen. Andra saker är bättre: jag känner själv hela tre(!) queera serieskapare som heter någon variant av Elias, och uppskattar det genuina användandet av mat - har även själv nyttjat pulversoppa som intressevärd vid skildring av person med som knappt lyckas ta sig igenom depression. Men boken i stort är en sådan där man i slutet nästan börjar skumma igenom meningar för att komma till slutet av mening, av kapitel, av själva boken. Det är orättvist att kalla boken tråkig för att den skulle vara långsam, det finns ingenting tråkigt med en skildring av liv som möts, tvärt om. Tyvärr är dock just det här trevägsmötet just det: ganska tråkigt.
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