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rieviolet's review against another edition
I really really tried to get to the end of this book (reading just a little bit every day to not be overwhelmed) but the mere idea of reading through the last one hundred pages feels like an herculean and draining task.
I do appreciate the intention of covering such a long period of history (from the Inka empire to modern Peruvian society) but I think that it ended up being too much to tackle. We jump from timeline to timeline, we are introduced to so many characters and are exposed to so many plotlines. It was so difficult to keep track of everything and everyone, I got lost and at times struggled to even remember how characters were connected and what that meant for the story.
And then there are sections that are so boring and slow-paced, that really add nothing to the story and just slow down the narrative.
I did not get along with the writing style. I found it too meandering, running around in circles without actually going anywhere most of the time. Certain passages (especially those focused on the main character Anais) just dragged on and on, weighed down by so much unnecessary details and rambling reflections, it honestly felt like the author was just showing off her writing skills and her sophisticated prose. I felt so frustrated that I would've really thrown the book across the room.
Also, the style was just too graphic for me, it felt gratuitously crude and violent in its descriptions, I could barely read through some sections without feeling sickened. Honestly, it would take less to list the trigger warnings that do not apply to the story than those that do.
I am disappointed because I was so intrigued by the premise and I found certain aspects of the story very interesting, for example the setting, the many references to Inca mythology and a few specific storylines that were really thematically powerful and lyrically evocative. It is a promising story but I really did not like its execution.
I do appreciate the intention of covering such a long period of history (from the Inka empire to modern Peruvian society) but I think that it ended up being too much to tackle. We jump from timeline to timeline, we are introduced to so many characters and are exposed to so many plotlines. It was so difficult to keep track of everything and everyone, I got lost and at times struggled to even remember how characters were connected and what that meant for the story.
And then there are sections that are so boring and slow-paced, that really add nothing to the story and just slow down the narrative.
I did not get along with the writing style. I found it too meandering, running around in circles without actually going anywhere most of the time. Certain passages (especially those focused on the main character Anais) just dragged on and on, weighed down by so much unnecessary details and rambling reflections, it honestly felt like the author was just showing off her writing skills and her sophisticated prose. I felt so frustrated that I would've really thrown the book across the room.
Also, the style was just too graphic for me, it felt gratuitously crude and violent in its descriptions, I could barely read through some sections without feeling sickened. Honestly, it would take less to list the trigger warnings that do not apply to the story than those that do.
I am disappointed because I was so intrigued by the premise and I found certain aspects of the story very interesting, for example the setting, the many references to Inca mythology and a few specific storylines that were really thematically powerful and lyrically evocative. It is a promising story but I really did not like its execution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Excrement, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, and Car accident