sese's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review against another edition
5.0
Short stories are my new thing solely due to the pleasure of reading this book. Highly, highly recommend.
krosa's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- 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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, War, and Racism
ronanmcd's review against another edition
5.0
A pot of emotion, filled with all characters from diaspora, migration and movement. From underlings & down-trodden to the landed & remote Donoghue investigates the stories, real-life, of the peopling of new lands and meeting of new horizons.
caitrisriding's review against another edition
1.0
I did not enjoy this book much at all. There was one maybe two stories that were decent and I enjoyed a little. Other than that most of the tales in this book were dull, boring, or incredibly over sexualized and with no meaning to them. The concept of the book I liked, but for me it could of been done in a much better way. It was personally not my taste, and was hard to get through many of the stories.
julibug86's review against another edition
3.0
She writes so well and the stories were interesting, but I wish she'd just taken one of the stories and developed it into a novel.
dja777's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed these, especially the one about the elephant Jumbo's trainer. Very different from Room. I'll be interested to read whatever she writes next.
jillianselene's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a wonderful collection of short stories, each written in a different place and a different time period. Each story is based off of a historical figure, time period, or event. It's sectioned into three parts: arrivals, in transit, and departures. I love that Donoghue can take the smallest of details, like a newspaper headline or a small collection of letters, and create an entire story from it. I very much enjoyed it! It took me awhile to read, but I think that's because I've never quite read anything like it. I would read one story and want to soak it in fully and wait before reading the next one, so it took me awhile to read it as i was reading just a little bit at a time. Anyways, if you enjoy historical fiction, short stories, or the writing of Emma Donoghue, I recommend this book!
lola425's review against another edition
4.0
I did not read Room and am more familiar with Donoghue from Kissing the Witch, which retlls fairy tales with a lesbian/feminist twist. I found this to similar to that book, in that she uses history as a jumping off point for her storytelling. I can honestly say that I enjoted all of these stories and liked that she explained the origins after you have read them, rather than before so your perception of the characters and the story is not impeded by picking apart what is fact and what is fiction. It is a testament to Donoghue's skill that the stories scan just as well as non-fiction as they do as pure fiction.