danilanglie's review against another edition
4.0
I wanted to give this five stars, and I would have if I had stopped 75% of the way through. This book is beautifully written. Like, really really beautifully written. Sometimes when people try to write in purple prose, it's very pretentious, but this is not. Simply stunning use of the English language. And the characters all felt very real to me, especially Ilse. I felt like they could be a real family. I felt like I knew them.
All of this is enough to overcome my one big complaint with the book, which is that in some ways it lacked consequences. I don't feel like going in to spoiler territory with this one, simply because I think this is a book that's best to go into totally blind. It unfolds in a really nice, almost gentle way, but still manages to keep you interested. My problem is this: one of our main characters makes two very, very big decisions to do something really crazy. And he suffers no consequences. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but... no.
As I was nearing the end of this book, I was waiting for that moment of revelation, when you finish a great read and you have to sit there and absorb it for a moment, letting it wash over you. I really loved reading this book, but I didn't get that feeling. I think it's because it didn't really stick the landing. The ending didn't really tie anything up, or suggest a new idea to go out on... it just sort of ended.
Like I said, I don't think that's enough to ruin the book or anything. But I guess I wanted a little more out of this one.
All of this is enough to overcome my one big complaint with the book, which is that in some ways it lacked consequences. I don't feel like going in to spoiler territory with this one, simply because I think this is a book that's best to go into totally blind. It unfolds in a really nice, almost gentle way, but still manages to keep you interested. My problem is this: one of our main characters makes two very, very big decisions to do something really crazy. And he suffers no consequences. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but... no.
As I was nearing the end of this book, I was waiting for that moment of revelation, when you finish a great read and you have to sit there and absorb it for a moment, letting it wash over you. I really loved reading this book, but I didn't get that feeling. I think it's because it didn't really stick the landing. The ending didn't really tie anything up, or suggest a new idea to go out on... it just sort of ended.
Like I said, I don't think that's enough to ruin the book or anything. But I guess I wanted a little more out of this one.
More...