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pearloz's review against another edition
4.0
Well, slightly less than four stars. Great writing, engaging plot. I found the hunter's narrative a lot more compelling than the girl's. However, it was interesting to read about Mozambiqan life in a small, rural community, the thinly veiled mysticism, the Portuguese sprinkled throughout...her diary had a dream-like quality that reminded me of a lot of the Mexican fiction I've read lately. But the hunter's story was great: a man at odds with his past, with his station, with his abilities. The hunter in conflict--I could've used a whole novel on just him. This was my first Couto and I will certainly be reading more.
kecskes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
hanntastic's review against another edition
4.0
Global Read 21: Mozambique
It is kind of hard to give a review that doesn't spoil the gently unravelling plot. You do have to be prepared to sit with some confusion while you read it, but that's part of what drew me in. Both Mariamar and the hunter are interesting characters and I didn't prefer one story to the other which is unusual in books told from multiple voices. It isn't easy in the sense that it is very dark, but I did find it to be a page turner.
It is kind of hard to give a review that doesn't spoil the gently unravelling plot. You do have to be prepared to sit with some confusion while you read it, but that's part of what drew me in. Both Mariamar and the hunter are interesting characters and I didn't prefer one story to the other which is unusual in books told from multiple voices. It isn't easy in the sense that it is very dark, but I did find it to be a page turner.
laroline's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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
3.0
this book felt like a dream: fragemented, beautifully far away from everything, a dream who seems to be important, but that i can't remember after waking up
giselav's review
2.0
Such a frustrating read. This book has almost no plot to speak of. You could honestly sum everything that happened in detail in less than a page.
Most of the book is composed with vague, poetic sentences that are very beautiful, yes, but give you absolutely no information whatsoever. I don't mean a couple of beautiful sentences every now and then, but this book is nothing but vague meaningless statement after vague meaningless statement. It goes nowhere! It's so slow as well and the story isn't even that interesting.
It doesn't help that the characters all have different ideas on what's happening but you're not actually sure what is real and what isn't at any point in time. I'm pretty sure that's what Couto intended, but added to everything else it just made for an even more annoying read.
The only mildly exciting part was near the end, but it soon went back to the same sort of vague-ing and bullshitting about. Goddamn. I had to force myself to finish this book the whole time.
Most of the book is composed with vague, poetic sentences that are very beautiful, yes, but give you absolutely no information whatsoever. I don't mean a couple of beautiful sentences every now and then, but this book is nothing but vague meaningless statement after vague meaningless statement. It goes nowhere! It's so slow as well and the story isn't even that interesting.
It doesn't help that the characters all have different ideas on what's happening but you're not actually sure what is real and what isn't at any point in time. I'm pretty sure that's what Couto intended, but added to everything else it just made for an even more annoying read.
The only mildly exciting part was near the end, but it soon went back to the same sort of vague-ing and bullshitting about. Goddamn. I had to force myself to finish this book the whole time.
mel16's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
itsme28's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
jeezjane's review against another edition
1.0
- 1.5/5
- this sounds evil of me but i was very excited to give this book one star. i would have actually abandoned it mid-way through because i was having a horrible time with it, but the thought of being able to complete it and being able to legitimately rate it one star pushed me forward.
- then i had to amend my rating to 1.5 star because it was so bad that i still completed the book? that deserves some credit
- anyway imo it was pretty bad
- these lions are terrorizing a tiny village called kulumani, that is still recovering from a past war. women are treated like shit here, and everyone has a shit life. a hunter is hired to get rid of the lions, and the book switches between his pov and the pov of a woman, mariamar, whose sister died from a lionness attack, and who had a past encounter with the hunter in which she fell in love with him(??)
- i found it so grueling to get through. purple prose, non sequitors everywhere, unclear timeliness (some of it probably purposefully done, but i refuse to believe all of it was on purpose, b/c... why would you make it this confusing on purpose), superficial descriptions of the setting but very little detail to allow the reader to actually understand fully what's going on, and for all that, some pointless bits of info are repeated over and over again, with slightly different wording
- there is a mystery rooted in supernatural elements that is never explained. there is personal history and angst that is "resolved" in truly unsatisfactory ways. there is no real character development. on the whole, the writing makes it read like some fever dream, or someone writing their dreams after waking up: it almost makes sense if you just barely think about it, but if you push just a little, it makes... no sense... and i do get that the genre of the book is magic realism, but it really didn't work for me because even the "real life" of the hunter was not really written that well. the author can write some beautiful non-sequitors but the sheer volume of them and lack of focus on the outside world made it seem that much of the hunter's diaries or the girl's introspection/thoughts are just filler to show off those non-sequitors. there is a plot (trying to kill the lions), but i thought the focus was weak/hazy, easily distracted, almost like the story itself needed a pair of glasses.
- did not enjoy it!!! sorry!!!!
- this sounds evil of me but i was very excited to give this book one star. i would have actually abandoned it mid-way through because i was having a horrible time with it, but the thought of being able to complete it and being able to legitimately rate it one star pushed me forward.
- then i had to amend my rating to 1.5 star because it was so bad that i still completed the book? that deserves some credit
- anyway imo it was pretty bad
- these lions are terrorizing a tiny village called kulumani, that is still recovering from a past war. women are treated like shit here, and everyone has a shit life. a hunter is hired to get rid of the lions, and the book switches between his pov and the pov of a woman, mariamar, whose sister died from a lionness attack, and who had a past encounter with the hunter in which she fell in love with him(??)
- i found it so grueling to get through. purple prose, non sequitors everywhere, unclear timeliness (some of it probably purposefully done, but i refuse to believe all of it was on purpose, b/c... why would you make it this confusing on purpose), superficial descriptions of the setting but very little detail to allow the reader to actually understand fully what's going on, and for all that, some pointless bits of info are repeated over and over again, with slightly different wording
- there is a mystery rooted in supernatural elements that is never explained. there is personal history and angst that is "resolved" in truly unsatisfactory ways. there is no real character development. on the whole, the writing makes it read like some fever dream, or someone writing their dreams after waking up: it almost makes sense if you just barely think about it, but if you push just a little, it makes... no sense... and i do get that the genre of the book is magic realism, but it really didn't work for me because even the "real life" of the hunter was not really written that well. the author can write some beautiful non-sequitors but the sheer volume of them and lack of focus on the outside world made it seem that much of the hunter's diaries or the girl's introspection/thoughts are just filler to show off those non-sequitors. there is a plot (trying to kill the lions), but i thought the focus was weak/hazy, easily distracted, almost like the story itself needed a pair of glasses.
- did not enjoy it!!! sorry!!!!
rocio_voncina's review against another edition
4.0
Titulo: La confesion de la leona
Autor: Mia Couto
Año publicado: 2012
Motivo de lectura: -
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Fisico / Electronico: Electronico
Mi edicion: -
Idioma: Español
Puntuacion: 4/5
Es la primera vez que leo a Mia Couto y estoy gratamente sorprendida.
Su estilo de escritura es realmente muy bueno y atrapa.
Esta novela es una mezcla entre realismo magico/folclorico/misticismo/critica a la sociedad, como las mujeres son sometidas en un ambiente donde esta normalizado ese comportamiento entonces el sometimiento no lo ven como un problema (cuando en realidad lo es).
Definitivamente este es un libro rico en simbolismos y metaforas. Donde en un principio puede creerse que es sobre leones y sus victimas, definitivamente el trasfondo es mucho mas profundo, y te hace reflexionar sobre las injusticias de genero, de religion, de cultura, etc. De esas lecturas que te dejan pensando.
Autor: Mia Couto
Año publicado: 2012
Motivo de lectura: -
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Fisico / Electronico: Electronico
Mi edicion: -
Idioma: Español
Puntuacion: 4/5
Es la primera vez que leo a Mia Couto y estoy gratamente sorprendida.
Su estilo de escritura es realmente muy bueno y atrapa.
Esta novela es una mezcla entre realismo magico/folclorico/misticismo/critica a la sociedad, como las mujeres son sometidas en un ambiente donde esta normalizado ese comportamiento entonces el sometimiento no lo ven como un problema (cuando en realidad lo es).
Definitivamente este es un libro rico en simbolismos y metaforas. Donde en un principio puede creerse que es sobre leones y sus victimas, definitivamente el trasfondo es mucho mas profundo, y te hace reflexionar sobre las injusticias de genero, de religion, de cultura, etc. De esas lecturas que te dejan pensando.