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jodar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Some of the key things the MC seeks to teach us:
- Life isn’t perfect, but if could be worse – one of my favourite passages:
No one I knew in the 1600s wanted to find their inner billionaire. They just wanted to live to see adolescence and avoid body lice. (Part 5, “Dubai, now”)
- We can’t control everything, but we aren’t entirely at the mercy of fate either. And what you choose to do matters:
‘You can’t choose where you are born, you can’t decide who won’t leave you, you can’t choose much. A life has unchangeable tides the same as history does. But there is still room inside it for choice. For decisions.… Just one wrong turn can get you very lost. What you do in the present stays with you . It comes back. You don’t get away with anything.’ (MC to pupil, Part 3, ”London, now”)
- People are often annoying and can cause you mental anguish while you live with them and intense grief at death. But avoiding close relationships, although seductive for a time, is not the answer in the end, as without other people life is lonely and joyless. Various passages throughout the novel, for example:
‘Love is where you find the meaning. Those seven years I was with her contained more than anything else.… You simply can’t fall in love and not think there is something bigger ruling us. Something, you know, not quite us. Something that lives inside us, caged in us, ready to help us or fuck us over. We are mysteries to ourselves.…’ (Omai to the MC, Part 5.“Byron Bay, Australia, now”)
- What will be will be, and it is fruitless and self-destructive to fear the future:
I understand that the way you stop time is by stopping being ruled by it. I am no longer drowning in my past, or fearful of my future. How can I be?
The future is you.
(MC’s final thoughts at the very close of the novel, having finally, after over four centuries,succeeded in reconciling with his daughter and also begun a new intimate relationship )
All well and very good, but to me there’s a strange, gaping hole in the narrative and MC’s exploration of meaning: religion. Religion is noted as the reason for his Huguenot family’s forced late 16th-century departure from France to England. The MC and his first love attend church in early 17th century England, until his unchanging appearance makes it untenable to continue. And the MC continues to live through periods of religious ferment. So it’s not as though the MC wasn’t exposed to contemporary Christianity, at least. And yet the MC doesn’t seem to consider, grapple with or argue against any religious understanding of life’s broader meaning. At all. At any time. Nor as far as I can recall do any of the other characters in the book. It’s almost as if every character in the novel, purportedly through centuries of time and across wide geographical areas of the earth, were all 21st century, English secularists all along. I find this weird and unbelievable!
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Medical trauma, and Alcohol
thebowandthebook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Child death
froggydanny's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
kay_w's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and War
lilym_p's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War
sweetlikesadia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
💫I liked the plot and talked about the cons of being immortal through the centuries.
💫The book was east to read and the layout was interesting..switching from the past to the future.
📈I lost interest most times..I also felt that the author added the plot twist to create more drama, which is was good but would have liked more of a build up.
Graphic: Mental illness and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Murder
Minor: Cursing and Forced institutionalization
achay91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Colonisation
introverted_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
mj0's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
I can't wait for this brilliant novel to be turned into a movie (apparently starring Benedict Cumberbatch), though unfortunately, it's 2022 and it was first pitched to be a movie in 2017. So will we get a movie adaptation? I don't know. But I really, really hope so.
Though I don't think you can ever express this kind of novel in a movie in a way it does it justice.
I highly recommend, to all types of readers.
Graphic: Mental illness and Grief
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, and Colonisation
bookcentipede's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment