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vigil's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
this book was so weird and bizarre that i have no idea how to give it a review. I cannot in good conscience recommended to someone but I would love for more people to read it, and I say that because it is too weird to pitch to a person.
the writing is beautiful and untraditional, switching between “regular prose,” epistolary, and ethnography (?) formats. the author discusses child labor and abuse, feminism, sex work, disability, how young men are groomed into violence, water, the past, nature, humanity, linguistics, knowledge, etc etc.
if i tried to discuss everything In this book would be here all day. i do think at certain points the book was stuffed full to bursting of these themes, but she did so much of what I enjoyed, in such a way, that i did not mind, though I do think certain people absolutely would.
this book read like a fever dream. It was out of bounds of what is normally considered the “literary standard” (whatever the hell that may be). it is written nonlinearly; it has a plot, but the plot is meant to serve the greater purpose of the narrative and is unconcerned on telling a cut and dry straightforward story.
i don’t think this is anywhere near an adequate review of the book, but it’s the only one I can provide. this is a book that you really just need to read and decide for yourself about.
the writing is beautiful and untraditional, switching between “regular prose,” epistolary, and ethnography (?) formats. the author discusses child labor and abuse, feminism, sex work, disability, how young men are groomed into violence, water, the past, nature, humanity, linguistics, knowledge, etc etc.
if i tried to discuss everything In this book would be here all day. i do think at certain points the book was stuffed full to bursting of these themes, but she did so much of what I enjoyed, in such a way, that i did not mind, though I do think certain people absolutely would.
this book read like a fever dream. It was out of bounds of what is normally considered the “literary standard” (whatever the hell that may be). it is written nonlinearly; it has a plot, but the plot is meant to serve the greater purpose of the narrative and is unconcerned on telling a cut and dry straightforward story.
i don’t think this is anywhere near an adequate review of the book, but it’s the only one I can provide. this is a book that you really just need to read and decide for yourself about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent
mmccombs's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This was a wild, twisty, time travel-y ride. I sometimes had a hard time following the action, but I loved the circular plot and everything it had to say about our (dis)connection to the Earth. It was hopeful and very human, also very kinky! Give me more talking whales and turtles and grumpy worms. I don’t think this is a book that will be universally embraced, but it was full of stunning imagery, prose, and messages.
"Do not be afraid. We are with you into the everything. We are in the air and the water and the earth, the plants and the animals. We are even in the night sky; we are made from everything in the cosmos. We arrive, we leave, we emerge, we dissolve. We are in the meteor, in this tsumami, in all the bones of whales on the floors of the world's oceans. All the fish and creatures, all the roots and branches of trees, everything reaching into everything else.”
"Do not be afraid. We are with you into the everything. We are in the air and the water and the earth, the plants and the animals. We are even in the night sky; we are made from everything in the cosmos. We arrive, we leave, we emerge, we dissolve. We are in the meteor, in this tsumami, in all the bones of whales on the floors of the world's oceans. All the fish and creatures, all the roots and branches of trees, everything reaching into everything else.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Xenophobia