chaosofcold's review against another edition
5.0
A truly beautiful exploration of isolation, madness and loneliness. Damn.
4.5 > up
4.5 > up
gorecki's review
4.0
Two men in a fishing boat thrown around a stormy sea. The horror of the depths reaching up for them, the pouring rain, the lightning, the wind, and then after - the horror of surviving it and making it through to the next day with a mirror-smooth surface of a sea without a shore in sight and with only the depth of the ocean around them. Is surviving really always better?
In this short novel, we get a glimpse into the surfacing of madness and internal demons once a human is thrown into the depths of despair in the open ocean. It’s a brutal and uncomfortable book dealing with insanity, cruelty, and violence - both physical and mental. It’s a story of how once reduced to an insignificant spot on the endless surface of the ocean man becomes a(n even more) vicious animal. As the sharks come out of the depths sensing the tiniest drop of blood in the water, so do a person’s demons and hatred float up to the surface to take over whatever little sanity they have left.
I can’t say much about the plot as there’s very little of it and anything I say would give away too much, but if you’re looking for a raw and uncomfortable read that makes your stomach queazy, this might be it. At 180 pages, it draws sharp connections between external and internal storms and what can happen to someone once they’re reduced to nothing else but their very basic and animalistic survival instincts.
In this short novel, we get a glimpse into the surfacing of madness and internal demons once a human is thrown into the depths of despair in the open ocean. It’s a brutal and uncomfortable book dealing with insanity, cruelty, and violence - both physical and mental. It’s a story of how once reduced to an insignificant spot on the endless surface of the ocean man becomes a(n even more) vicious animal. As the sharks come out of the depths sensing the tiniest drop of blood in the water, so do a person’s demons and hatred float up to the surface to take over whatever little sanity they have left.
I can’t say much about the plot as there’s very little of it and anything I say would give away too much, but if you’re looking for a raw and uncomfortable read that makes your stomach queazy, this might be it. At 180 pages, it draws sharp connections between external and internal storms and what can happen to someone once they’re reduced to nothing else but their very basic and animalistic survival instincts.
seaswift14's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
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
4.25
lbhopewell's review
2.0
In the vein of Old Man and the Sea, but darker, more gruesome, and unnecessarily macabre. This book could have used a more firm editor, as it started to drone on with little happening in the physical or mental worlds.
tommooney's review
4.0
This was terrific. On the surface it's a harrowing survival story of two Latin American fishermen lost at sea after a storm sweeps their boat away. But really it is a powerful existential fable that feels at times as though it were a lost chapter from The Odyssey.
Spare and lyrical, it moves in waves from immediate realism to hallucinatory spiritualism, from McCarthy to Hemingway to Coelho and back again. Very good; I look forward to reading more of his work.
Spare and lyrical, it moves in waves from immediate realism to hallucinatory spiritualism, from McCarthy to Hemingway to Coelho and back again. Very good; I look forward to reading more of his work.
thebooktrail88's review
4.0
Visit the lcocations in the book
Given the setting, it’s very apt that this book and its story has lingered with me and I’ve felt its ripples long after finishing it. It’s a simple premise – two men who get stuck on a boat drifting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, lost at sea.
This is a slow moving read and one where you are carried along on the language of it as it takes you through life’s ups and downs, quite literally at times.
Bolivar and Hector sail out in Bolivar’s boat Camille. The action takes place on this tiny boat in the middle of a vast ocean. Survival is key. The feeling is one of claustrophobia and danger. However, it’s also about two men, brought together in the most extreme of circumstances. The novel explores what it means to be human, what it takes to be strong when life throws a curve ball, what it means to survive any which way you can.
Of course time on the boat is not easy.Life has been paused for a bit. There’s a sense of eerie calm but also extreme fear of what might happen soon. Is there a good end in sight? What has life meant until now? Who might they leave behind and how do you deal with that thought? When they start to hallucinate, the study of these two men becomes even more symbolic and insightful.
I loved the simplicity of this on the surface and the complexity of it when you look underneath. Like that duck, or that iceberg or whatever metaphor you care to use.
We are controlled by the water around us, the stillness, the vast expanse of it can keep us alive or can swallow us whole. A very thought provoking read.
zacbombsthroughstories's review
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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
3.0
I was slightly underwhelmed by this book, I feel that Paul Lynch's writing probably isn't for me. I didn't feel invested enough in the characters to be drawn in by the story or what they had to say. I also found myself irritated by the repetition of the phrase 'it was then that...' which was used often to add suspense. However overall I did think the story was enjoyable and I read it all the way through.
elvire's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
booktwitcher23's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
2.5