Reviews

Landscapes by Christine Lai

knkoch's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

I quite enjoyed this. I found it really effective in the themes it investigated. Penelope's narrative was beautiful, painful, tender, and self-aware, owing to its transmission through a journal narrative. I love reading fiction in this form, as characters writing journals or letters. Penelope's grappling, even battling, with her past, as well as an ecologically uncertain future, was moving to read. The third-person glimpses of Julian's narrative were equally fascinating, though for distinctly different reasons. I was impressed with the author's willingness to examine him without heavy or implied judgement. Truly, the examination itself demonstrated volumes about his character, and perhaps volumes about the sorts of people who live the way he does and have done what he has.

The emptiness of his mind and presence, the lack of self-awareness or introspection, due perhaps to fears about drowning in recrimination or loathing, made so much sense to me. For some people, there really is no "there there" when it comes to the self or self-understanding, because to truly understand themselves (the way we want them to, as the reader or outside observer), they would be overwhelmed by such raw exposure. It's why we have defenses and rationalization. His limited mind is contrasted so sharply with Penelope's analytical ability.

Another gem from Two Dollar Radio!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Sexual Assault/rape:

One of the main characters has experienced a sexual assault in the past. The assault is not recounted in detail, but alluded to frequently, and the character experiences severe distress as she grapples with the trauma of the event, both in recounting her immediate response afterwards and in the event's resurfacing in the present narrative.

acweber's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

kipress's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence

lady_librarian_84's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

miakilpatrick's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

daniellestamp15's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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? N/A

4.0

alisonburnis's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

apavlikovsky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

paper_prose's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

waltercoleslaw's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

"Each time I experience a sense of loss, I remind myself that none of this was mine to begin with, and none of it was as important as it seemed." An absolutely beautiful novel, a meditation on caring for beautiful things in a time of loss, decay, violence and doom, a commonplace book that reveals a haunting narrative in between sharp analyses of aesthetic depictions of violence and a catalog of precious but ephemeral objects.