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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, and Mental illness
Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
tamunra's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I got this book for free from Amazon First Reads last year, and finally picked it up now. Based on the description, I didn't expect it to be happy. And, it was as expected.
I just finished this book yesterday, and I feel compelled to review it immediately, just so I can get it out of my head. Often when a book is stuck in your head, it's a good thing. Not so for me with this one.
My gut feeling, from the beginning, didn't change. I didn't like this book. I slogged through it because I wanted to read about a disaster. I didn't expect that Anna's life would be the primary disaster in the novel, though. I tried to start skimming just to reach the end; it's a bit of a surprise that I made it at all. I think I'm writing this review mainly to complain.
The good: I liked the way Bjornsdottir juxtaposed Anna's failing, flailing relationships with the progression of the volcanic eruption/earthquake(s).
The intermediate: Yes, this read a bit too sciencey. I didn't mind much. I'm very interested in natural disasters, and used to adore disaster movies. Although, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to appreciate the scale of the issue without a full map of Iceland.
The bad: so, many, commas, I found it hard to parse them, I found it hard to read them, hard to care. Is this common in Icelandic? Is this how Bjornsdottir wrote the novel, with all these commas, or was this a stylistic choice that the translator made? I really didn't like it. I didn't like that I couldn't always identify who was speaking. I didn't like the stream-of-consciousness effect that commas gave. It helped me speedread, which is nice because I found I really didn't like Anna or what was going on, but it blunted any emotional effect I possibly should have experienced while reading this.
While I was interested in the disaster, I was not interested in Anna's family or love life. I didn't like her.I didn't like the affair sub/plot. I found their instalove unrealistic. Tomas was unappealing and one-dimensional. Anna was unappealing. It's not a romance (nor do I expected it to be), but it doesn't feel plausible; it's just a plot device that the author put there. That said, I had no problem believing that Anna could love her husband (platonically, complicatedly) while she's infatuated with Tomas. Perhaps it's believable because her instalove is unbelievable.
This book was slow, and largely uninteresting, until the eruption actually starts. I got irritated at the complacency of almost all officials, including Anna, toward the impending crisis. (But that, too, was believable enough.)
The ending was perhaps the only ending there could have been. I don't like it, but I understand it. After I read Anna's last chapter, I needed to go cuddle with my own 9-year-old daughter so I could fall asleep. Anna's choice to stay with her daughter is perhaps the most believable thing that she did. I wish I could have found her sympathetic and understandable before that.
I just finished this book yesterday, and I feel compelled to review it immediately, just so I can get it out of my head. Often when a book is stuck in your head, it's a good thing. Not so for me with this one.
My gut feeling, from the beginning, didn't change. I didn't like this book. I slogged through it because I wanted to read about a disaster. I didn't expect that Anna's life would be the primary disaster in the novel, though. I tried to start skimming just to reach the end; it's a bit of a surprise that I made it at all. I think I'm writing this review mainly to complain.
The good: I liked the way Bjornsdottir juxtaposed Anna's failing, flailing relationships with the progression of the volcanic eruption/earthquake(s).
The intermediate: Yes, this read a bit too sciencey. I didn't mind much. I'm very interested in natural disasters, and used to adore disaster movies. Although, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to appreciate the scale of the issue without a full map of Iceland.
The bad: so, many, commas, I found it hard to parse them, I found it hard to read them, hard to care. Is this common in Icelandic? Is this how Bjornsdottir wrote the novel, with all these commas, or was this a stylistic choice that the translator made? I really didn't like it. I didn't like that I couldn't always identify who was speaking. I didn't like the stream-of-consciousness effect that commas gave. It helped me speedread, which is nice because I found I really didn't like Anna or what was going on, but it blunted any emotional effect I possibly should have experienced while reading this.
While I was interested in the disaster, I was not interested in Anna's family or love life. I didn't like her.
This book was slow, and largely uninteresting, until the eruption actually starts. I got irritated at the complacency of almost all officials, including Anna, toward the impending crisis. (But that, too, was believable enough.)
The ending was perhaps the only ending there could have been.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Infidelity
mthereader's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Infidelity
Moderate: Death
Minor: Animal death
harrietolivia456's review
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death
tiffanyfernandez96's review
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Minor: Animal death
janenx01's review
dark
emotional
informative
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.5
I couldn't put this down - it was absolutely terrifying. I knew going in that there was going to be a volcanic disaster - the blurb makes this clear - and waiting for it to happen was incredibly tense. The end of the book was devastating and kept me up at night. I've always wanted to go to Iceland, but I think it's a little too scary for me now.
Translated from the Icelandic, which was a little challenging at times, but that's the kind of challenge I like so it was fine once I got used to the punctuation.
Translated from the Icelandic, which was a little challenging at times, but that's the kind of challenge I like so it was fine once I got used to the punctuation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Child death
Moderate: Infidelity and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Car accident
readinglibraesq's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
4.5 rounded up - I have been staring into space after reading the last 60% of this in one sitting. A beautifully translated piece of work that constantly questions morals, ethics, and human nature. I won’t shut up about this for a LONG time
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Child death
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