veposve's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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madelynfrank's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have so many thoughts about this book as probably a lot of people had? Was FA supposed to be gross right? Very gross. Prose is beautiful and often funny. Plot and characters all flow between each other in time which I really enjoyed. Felt very tangential like a story. Racism/sexism/pedophilia was a bummer but I guess to be expected. 

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lindseyhall44's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Another stunning novel by one of the most talented authors to ever existed. Within the social commentary, magical realism, and class dynamics, there is also an incredible amount of heart. I would highly, highly recommend.

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gabriella_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Was anyone going to tell me there’s a
pedophilic relationship
in this or was I supposed to find out on my own? Genuinely left a disgusting taste in my mouth reading this. 

And why was there so much casual racism and bigoted language throughout the book? It was physically painful in a book that otherwise had a gripping prose (but was problematic, I smell misogyny). 

I don’t want to rate this because I feel so conflicted. 

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eve81's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

i would've adored this book were it not for the bit about América Vicuña and all the other uncomfortable or wrong elements like the racism (I could be wrong but man, some of the descriptions of the Black characters felt anti-Black and also one of the main protags was like fairly racist???). Regardless of messaging or whatever with América, it felt pointless, uncomfortable as heck and rendered the touching(??) love story of the main protagonists much less easy to root for freely. 

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readwhileitrains's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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smallredboy's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

I hated this book. I truly cannot understate how much I hated this book. If it wasn't a mandatory reading for Spanish, I would've ditched it at about 10%. I can't stress enough how much I hated this book. Not one of the characters was likeable, the narration was as stretched out as possible, each description of each house and each outfit making me slowly go insane. The plot had some semblance of interest to it, but everything about it was ruined by the last few pages and the cheesy fucking ending.

I was going to give this book a gentle 2 to 3 starts before it's just dropped 80% into the book that the male protagonist, Florentino Ariza,
is sleeping with a fourteen-year-old who he's supposed to be a mentor to and who is RELATED TO HIM.
. I  got so angry at this that I had to finish the book, so I wouldn't have to deal with it  tomorrow. Fuck this book.

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