Reviews

Another one of those books that I feel like I didn't do the stories justice. My enjoyment of this book definitely suffered from picking up and putting it down in the middle of each short story. The exploration of relationships was the book's highlight.

Spoiler

Shoko's Smile - Shifting of a friendship dynamic over time
Xin Chao, Xin Chao - Family friendship vs friendship between children
Sister, My Little Soonae - Really didn't remember this one,
Hanji and Youngju - Budding romantic relationship and drifting apart
A Song from Afar - Deep admiration and a tad of romantic, or even romanticising another person. Mutual friendship
Michaela - Mother and daughter but also how age changes perspective
The Secret - Grandmother and grandchild

For now my appreciation for this book is extremely surface level, but I find myself making similar observations about relationships anyway. I haven't read anything that explored friendship dynamics to this depth, but it does remind me of an Invisibelia episode about friendship as an overlooked form of human relationship. Lol I also just read some reviews and many of the historical references were lost on me, and I very much didn't understand 'The Secret'.

laurieglorie's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0

annecelines's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

mirroredhearts's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

More...