aliciawrong's review
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Antisemitism, War, Genocide, Death, and Grief
dancefever's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
BEAUTIFUL prose, the descriptions of greece made me desperate to go back!! really interesting portrayal of intergenerational trauma too. the only thing was the female characters felt a bit flat and seen only through the male gaze: a bit ironic seeing as the book was written by a woman and so inspired by the work of john berger. still a gorgeous book though so 4 stars it is
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, and War
Moderate: Antisemitism and Child death
sherbertwells's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The story of poet and translator Jakob Beer, from his rescue by a Greek geologist during WWII until after his death in 1993. The structure is listless and the prose, while suitably haunted, fails to distinguish the book from the throngs of 21st-century literary fiction.
“I tried to bury images, to cover them over with Greek and English words, with all the geologic eras. With the walks Athos and I took every Sunday into the ravines. Years later I would try a different avalanche of facts: train schedules, camp records, statistics, methods of execution. But t night my mother, my father, Bella, Mones, simply rose, shook the earth from their clothes, and waited” (93)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and Grief
Moderate: Antisemitism, Sexual content, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death and Vomit
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