Reviews with content warning for Gore - In the Distance

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

In the Distance by Hernán Díaz

9 reviews

carojust's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

This is a story about survival, solitude, human connection, and the great frontier. It's centered around a true hero, Håkan, a boy from Sweden who is lost and alone upon arriving in San Francisco, wandering into old age.

Hernan Diaz has the ability to create such a vivid world with what feels like effortless simplicity. Like in "Trust," he's able to illustrate every detail with historical loyalty, drawing you into worlds of goldmining, Native American families, naturalists, and the animals, deserts and plains of America.

A good portion of the book is dedicated to Håkan's isolation away from a society that has traumatized him, and these moments of carefully learning how to survive remind me so much of "I Who Have Never Known Men." If you love that book, you'll love this one. Both heroes are innocent in how they perceive other humans, while entirely shaped by nature.

Also, that loyal burro, I hope he lived a happy life 🥺

Content Warnings

readerette's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

If you liked Grapes of Wrath, you'll probably like this, since it's basically the same story but about one man surviving in the Old West instead of a family surviving during the Great Depression. If you're expecting something akin to the wonder and depth of Trust, though, you'll be disappointed (though if you didn't like Trust maybe this would be more to your taste, since it's quite different). Well-written and Håkan is easy to empathize with.

The edition I read had a rather distasteful note after the story that "literature is not the same as publishing", which in the context of this overwrought book feels snobbish.

Content Warnings