suzyreadsbooks's review
heartfelt autofiction about the narrator losing her mother, with many asides about writing, queerness, abuse, etc.
my eyes glazed over during the discussions of authors writing throughout time, i want to be a person who is interested in that but it just doesn’t do it for me
my eyes glazed over during the discussions of authors writing throughout time, i want to be a person who is interested in that but it just doesn’t do it for me
leoniekross's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
3.0
missmelia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kelseysreads's review
What a journey this book is. I assume it was branded as a novel to encourage more people to pick it up, and that’s fair, as I’m not sure what else to call it. It’s memoir, poetry, literary criticism and theory, and narrative nonfiction all rolled into one.
Our author uses this book to process her mother’s death and recount the journey she had to take to bring her mother’s ashes back to their small town in Siberia. Along the way we get incredible meditations on life, death, queerness, and the difficulties of their relationship. I have a tough relationship with my own mother so I was so impacted by this, despite being lucky enough to have both my parents alive.
I didn’t read this as soon as I wanted because I’d seen reviews discuss the narrator’s sexual assault of her girlfriend and it put me off. While this is true and was not handled well at all by the author, either in the moment or in the book looking back, it’s a small moment of a book that is about so much, and is about a bunch of imperfect people. I don’t think we are supposed to view the assault as anything but negative.
I have already recommended this book to a friend and I’m planning to recommend it to more. I leave you with one of many quotes that I loved:
“I love being on the road. The road seems like the only sure way of being here, in this world. It's a space in which there are no concerns about place, but instead a slow mastering of places, an absorption of places into yourself, into your memory. Later, memory doesn't offer up places in their entirety; it lives on within you, like a complex, tangled ribbon.”
Endless thanks to @catapult for the #gifted copy.
Our author uses this book to process her mother’s death and recount the journey she had to take to bring her mother’s ashes back to their small town in Siberia. Along the way we get incredible meditations on life, death, queerness, and the difficulties of their relationship. I have a tough relationship with my own mother so I was so impacted by this, despite being lucky enough to have both my parents alive.
I didn’t read this as soon as I wanted because I’d seen reviews discuss the narrator’s sexual assault of her girlfriend and it put me off. While this is true and was not handled well at all by the author, either in the moment or in the book looking back, it’s a small moment of a book that is about so much, and is about a bunch of imperfect people. I don’t think we are supposed to view the assault as anything but negative.
I have already recommended this book to a friend and I’m planning to recommend it to more. I leave you with one of many quotes that I loved:
“I love being on the road. The road seems like the only sure way of being here, in this world. It's a space in which there are no concerns about place, but instead a slow mastering of places, an absorption of places into yourself, into your memory. Later, memory doesn't offer up places in their entirety; it lives on within you, like a complex, tangled ribbon.”
Endless thanks to @catapult for the #gifted copy.
roisinsreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.0