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breadandmushrooms's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
whitebreadgf's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"I knew now that no one is insignificant and that every day every one of us must choose whether to build civilisation or the opposite, let the world fall apart."
Within this book I was searching for a story about existentialism and identity. I did find that, but along with it came an interesting story about Ellinor finding her purpose in a small political revolution about the postal directive, an issue that seems insanely unimportant to everyone around her.
The writing is extremely terse and I love it, matter-of-factly prose is extremely engaging from a first person perspective since it shows you long monologues aren't needed to create an engaging an emotionally complex character.
“I didn't worry, I thought: This is worrying.”
It touches on fitting in with the people in your life such as family when you don't necessarily prioritize the same things. You can find cause in the global ideas that you advocate for, and also the vulnerable moments you share with people close with you despite your few shared similarities. There's a balance for these things and it's important - think global, live local!
xi_b's review against another edition
4.0
At first, I wasn’t sure where the book was going to go but by the end I was so glad I stuck with it. It’s a fairly light read but the second half really loaded up on rewarding meditations on finding purpose and connection. Highly recommend if you’ve ever experienced apathy, felt stuck or had an “existential crisis”
A few passages that I want to hold onto:
“Many people live in the basement even though there is room at the top where the view is wider and the outlook broader and where fear of the future and the unknown can be turned into anticipation.”
“Her vulnerability had made her visible to me, she became audible to me…It’s when we crack that we become loveable”
“It’s important to choose boldly in big as well as little things.”
A few passages that I want to hold onto:
“Many people live in the basement even though there is room at the top where the view is wider and the outlook broader and where fear of the future and the unknown can be turned into anticipation.”
“Her vulnerability had made her visible to me, she became audible to me…It’s when we crack that we become loveable”
“It’s important to choose boldly in big as well as little things.”
tedgraham's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
peckreadsbooks's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
alixf889's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
relaxing
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
4.75
marmoo's review against another edition
3.0
Deeply interior, this was a disorienting book to get into, as it throws you into the mind of a character who describes herself as a “peripheral, fossilized figure unsuited to being the protagonist, too weak to hold the fragments together.”
Ellinor, this self-identified unsuited protagonist, is tough to get to know—at least until her unlikely crusade for the Norwegian postal service revitalizes her sense of purpose. Initially, however, she is depressed and disassociating. “I didn’t worry,” she narrates, “I thought: This is worrying.” That level of remove make her an inaccessible character, both to the other people in her life and to the readers.
When her boyfriend cries at a movie and she doesn’t, she thinks, “He was capable of emotion. Whereas I was cold, stone cold. But I couldn’t feel bad for not being moved by this film. Didn’t he see it? How it exploited our longing for trials and tribulations, drama, and meaning.”
The novel initially seems skeptical of that longing—look at this PR woman trying to control public opinion when she can’t even control her own—but it slowly drifts toward its own earnest engagement with trials and tribulations, drama, and meaning. As Ellinor chooses to invest all her emotions and energy in a seemingly quixotic effort to prevent a niche parliamentary change to the postal service, she and the novel find new life.
Ellinor, this self-identified unsuited protagonist, is tough to get to know—at least until her unlikely crusade for the Norwegian postal service revitalizes her sense of purpose. Initially, however, she is depressed and disassociating. “I didn’t worry,” she narrates, “I thought: This is worrying.” That level of remove make her an inaccessible character, both to the other people in her life and to the readers.
When her boyfriend cries at a movie and she doesn’t, she thinks, “He was capable of emotion. Whereas I was cold, stone cold. But I couldn’t feel bad for not being moved by this film. Didn’t he see it? How it exploited our longing for trials and tribulations, drama, and meaning.”
The novel initially seems skeptical of that longing—look at this PR woman trying to control public opinion when she can’t even control her own—but it slowly drifts toward its own earnest engagement with trials and tribulations, drama, and meaning. As Ellinor chooses to invest all her emotions and energy in a seemingly quixotic effort to prevent a niche parliamentary change to the postal service, she and the novel find new life.
dharper87's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is actually a pretty decent work of existentialist thinking -- if there is no morality and life has no point we have to make our meaning out of it. We have to pull ourselves out of the brink every day.
Sometimes, that pull from the well of despair is helped by working with a Postal Worker's Union to stop the government from imposing a detrimental policy? Wherever we find meaning, I guess!
Sometimes, that pull from the well of despair is helped by working with a Postal Worker's Union to stop the government from imposing a detrimental policy? Wherever we find meaning, I guess!