Reviews

The Faraway World, by Patricia Engel

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brittreadsalittle's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

julietealy's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

megdaven's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

The the thread through of this short story collection is its Latinx characters, and I would say the characterization of all the short stories' protagonists are amazing. Engel is very good at a short work, all of these short stories feel very complete to me, which has to be very hard to do. The only thing I didn't like is it feels like the stories were just collected together as the best of her short story work, rather than a collection of pieces that are working together very purposefully- but this more a preference for me with short stories than a fault of the actual work. If you liked Infinite Country, then this is definitely worth reading and enjoying.

hillarycopsey's review

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4.0

As with most story collections, I connected more with some stories than others. I was most impressed with the diversity of immigrant experiences Engel included in this collection of just 10 stories. Different countries, different classes, people who left, people who stayed. As with Infinite Country, Engel's writing, with its authenticity, challenges the simple narratives we expect to read.

My one complaint is that so many of her stories are in first person, and I sometimes found myself wondering who was speaking to me, still caught up in the last story. Is it a man, a woman, old, young? She often waits until a good bit into a story to reveal the full identity, and by then I'd spent that time still thinking it was the narrator from the previous story, often someone completely different. I think reading this spaced out, maybe one a day, one a week, would be best, to give yourself time to absorb them and be ready for the next.

Favorite story was the last, Aguacero.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.