Reviews

Owlish by Dorothy Tse

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glossyjul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

Many of the reviews for this book are poor because people feel it is hard to understand, I think I will need to reread it but I think it is my favourite book that I have ever read and if you are looking for a reason to read it then let this review be it. It is magnificently surreal and the story drew me in unlike any other book. It was surreal and yet so real, although the history of Hong Kong would inform the reader in understanding the book the fantasy names of the locations make the situation ripe for parallels with any readers own environment, which undoubtedly has understood or is amidst political unreast. As a freshly graduated university student it especially ripped into parts of my psyche that haven’t been able to make tangible sense of the emotional sickness I felt at school from a very young age… the feeling that it was all done wrong.

elenavarg's review against another edition

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3.0

’Owlish’ is very well written and the underlying plot of Hong Kong’s relationship to mainland China and the rioting is very horrifying in its mix of reality and the fantastical.

Sadly, the core of the book, Professor Q and Aliss’s ”love” story did not grab me at all. I have never read any female author write about women the same way Murakami does, but Tse really managed to do that with both Aliss and Maria. I didn’t find the professor sympathetic at all and a story line about a ”good husband falling into an affair” really doesn’t hook me.

Fairly often I was very confused by both what’s happening or what sort of emotions the story was trying to convey to the reader. This might also be a me problem, I don’t know if criticizing a work of surrealism for being too confusing just exposes my disability to understand what I’m reading.