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clovetra's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
hmm. i really don’t know what to think about this book. this is one of the rare times where i read other reviews simply because i don’t know how to describe my thoughts on this.
i really think my expectations for this were set incredibly high, and this book didn’t meet them. i mean it’s in NYTs top 100 books of the 21st century (voted by the public) so i expected something….. More. i mean the author won a nobel prize! i expected to be enthralled but instead i was mildly interested.
the main character felt one-note. after a while, her only talking about animals or astrology became frustrating. there felt as though there wasn’t much to her, until the penultimate chapter, but even then it couldn’t save my opinions of her throughout the story.
the plot seems to meander, not really doing too much. there’s a death, then the mc yaps about eccentric topics, a death occurs, and wash rinse repeat. i’m not really too big a fan of stories without a driving force, and it really just felt like i was reading one of those recipes online where the author writes 45 paragraphs before the actual recipe. like homegirl i don’t give a shit about how animals are murdering everyone… i just want you to be solving this shit! i was expecting this to be a real mystery, but it felt like the ‘plot’ of the deaths took a back seat, which was really odd. i did find some things the mc talked about interesting philosophically, but then it was peppered with the words of a mad man. idk i didn’t find i had any feelings towards the mc, therefore i wanted to rip my hair out every time she rambled.
this book felt like it was ‘stream of consciousness’, and sorry i can’t fucking stand books like that!!! i at least need SOMETHING to connect the book. although the deaths were that link, and the book is marketed towards the mystery element, it felt as though they were brushed past instead to focus on the 7th paragraph about how the mc hates animal cruelty. like i’m with u girl but at the same time you have no discernible personality outside of that.
i really tried to like this, and at times i was tangentially intrigued by the book, most of the time i was just like “….meh”. i really hope this is just an issue of this plot and not of the actual writer because if it’s the latter…… girl.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, and Death
Moderate: Medical content and Murder
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
mariebrunelm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Dans la froideur de l’hiver polonais, la vieille Mme Doucheyko vit seule, entre ses promenades routinières, son intérêt pour l’astrologie et les traductions de William Blake qu'elle compose avec un ancien élève. Elle croit dur comme fer au pouvoir de la nature, si bien que lorsqu'un chasseur notoire du voisinage est retrouvé mort avec un os de biche coincé en travers de la gorge, elle y voit la main de la justice, voire quelque chose de plus mystérieux encore. Puis c'est un deuxième cadavre qui est découvert.
Munissez-vous d’une boisson chaude pour apprécier ce roman glacé, teinté de gothique. Je m’y suis beaucoup attachée au personnage principal, mais sachant combien j’aime les protagonistes âgées, ce n’est pas si étonnant. Ce livre m’attirait pour son atmosphère fantastique et je n’ai certes pas été déçue de ce côté-là, même si c'est plus une histoire d’ambiance que de faits. En revanche, je ne m'attendais pas à l'humour assez noir qui parcourt le texte, porté par la voix de sa narratrice, et cela m’a beaucoup plus également. J'ai ressenti une légère rigidité de la langue qui est due, je pense, à la traduction, mais cela ne m'a pas empêchée de passer un bon moment entre les pages de ce roman de saison.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Death
Minor: Violence
alyssatuininga's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
4.25
A beautifully written, quirky meandering book. I absolutely loved the main character (except maybe for her interest in Astrology which I mostly skimmed). The prose is gorgeous and I loved her writing style. The characters are wonderfully weird and the plot is downright crazy. I did find that the plot meandered a bit and it was a slower read for me. Overall a wonderful book and I enjoyed the characters so very much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Murder
breadbummer's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Can we please get more books narrated by weird old women??? Because of this type of main character, I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this. I'll admit, it did seem kind of slow to me in some parts but, even at these sections, just like with Duszejko's love of astrology, paying attention to the tiniest details is key to figuring out what's going on. I definitely had my suspicions as the book progressed, but I was still glued to the page when everything was revealed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury
sidekicksam's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Janina Duszjeko lives reclusively, almost at the border of society. She's very much into Astrology, predicts people's future date of deaths based on the location of the planets on the moment of birth, and is generally considered... colourful. When one of her two neighbours dies and the other asks her to help dress him before his body stiffens, she sets in motion a series of peculiar events that affect the people around her..
This book is an interesting character study, with vivid world-building and a witty pen to add a little extra dazzle. The first scene is set in mid-winter Poland, which was such a different vibe from the sunny weather I was reading it in, that I almost DNF'ed it to finish it in the winter time. In the end, I was happy I stayed on this weird ride of a book, because I giggled multiple times at the character of Janina and her quirks. The plot is predictable, but I did really enjoy reading it.
My favourite passage:
It's hard work talking to some people, most often males. I have a Theory about it. With age, many men come down with testosterone autism, the symptoms of which are a gradual decline in social intelligence and capacity for interpersonal communication, as well as a reduced ability to formulate thoughts. The Person beset by this Ailment becomes taciturn and appears to be lost in translation. He develops an interest in various Tools and machinery, and he's drawn to the Second World War and the biographies of famous people, mainly politicians and villains. This capacity to read novels almost entirely vanishes; testosterone autism disturbs the character's psychological understanding. I think Oddball was suffering from this Ailment.
This book is an interesting character study, with vivid world-building and a witty pen to add a little extra dazzle. The first scene is set in mid-winter Poland, which was such a different vibe from the sunny weather I was reading it in, that I almost DNF'ed it to finish it in the winter time. In the end, I was happy I stayed on this weird ride of a book, because I giggled multiple times at the character of Janina and her quirks. The plot is predictable, but I did really enjoy reading it.
My favourite passage:
It's hard work talking to some people, most often males. I have a Theory about it. With age, many men come down with testosterone autism, the symptoms of which are a gradual decline in social intelligence and capacity for interpersonal communication, as well as a reduced ability to formulate thoughts. The Person beset by this Ailment becomes taciturn and appears to be lost in translation. He develops an interest in various Tools and machinery, and he's drawn to the Second World War and the biographies of famous people, mainly politicians and villains. This capacity to read novels almost entirely vanishes; testosterone autism disturbs the character's psychological understanding. I think Oddball was suffering from this Ailment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder
carojust's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I'd read Olga Tokarczuk write about paint drying.
This was so much fun -- unreliable narrator, small clues everywhere, small town characters and cozy soups, forest animals and bugs. And as an astrology girlie, I couldn't not enjoy the extensive musings on birth charts and aspects; I knew these parts would lose a lot of people, and that's what's so incredibly ingenious. This all created a mystical world guided by the laws of nature, and our narrator the omniscient and moral light in the cold night.
I really love that this narrator is an older woman, who reminds us constantly how she's dismissed as a lunatic, and largely ignored and forgotten by the community. It's especially brilliant in the unraveling.
I highly recommend this if you are interested in translated fiction, sleuthy mysteries, and really beautiful, intelligent writing.
This was so much fun -- unreliable narrator, small clues everywhere, small town characters and cozy soups, forest animals and bugs. And as an astrology girlie, I couldn't not enjoy the extensive musings on birth charts and aspects; I knew these parts would lose a lot of people, and that's what's so incredibly ingenious. This all created a mystical world guided by the laws of nature, and our narrator the omniscient and moral light in the cold night.
I really love that this narrator is an older woman, who reminds us constantly how she's dismissed as a lunatic, and largely ignored and forgotten by the community. It's especially brilliant in the unraveling.
I highly recommend this if you are interested in translated fiction, sleuthy mysteries, and really beautiful, intelligent writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
andrewhatesham's review against another edition
For me, this is too slow paced, and I don't like the main character that much. I only read 28 pages but I can just tell that I probably won't enjoy this.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
stardust_heidi's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Read this book as part of the StoryGraph genre challenge. It was a ride, that’s for sure. The main character was wildly interesting with a sharp, blunt wit that made me cackle at times. There was lots of introspective meandering between major plot points, with endless astrology calculations and righteous animal rights messaging. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it dragged a bit at times and was occasionally hard to follow. I love the genre challenge because it definitely forces me out of my comfort zone at times. 😅
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Gore
melodyseestrees's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I saw the reveal coming from the first body. The story dragged in many places and there wasn't a twist to speak of but the characters were all more or less interesting. The prose was well done. I can't speak to the accuracy of the horoscopes being shown but I suppose it doesn't matter if I believe it, so long as Duszejko does. You can also track the pattern you believe to be real when you are the one making sure a person dies on the specific day their horoscope tells you. I do wish there was a bit more sleuthing involved but the experience was still relatively enjoyable. Give yourself time to actually enjoy the story but don't expect a fast-past gorefest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Gun violence, Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
augie_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Murder