bldinmt's review against another edition
4.0
The way these stories were inspired by historical documents—sometimes weaving the actual words from letters and diaries into the tale—made a good thing even better. I thought it was a really swell collection.
oabird's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An educational and thought provoking read, but one that took me some time to get into.
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I picked this up. I knew it was a series of short stories ruminating on what it means to be a migrant (although it plays with what that means and how people can be in transit). I didn't expect it to be largely historical. There are stories in here that are pretty brutal. Slavery, and with it racism, plus sexual assault, feature in several stories. It therefore was often a heavy read and required me to dip in and out of the stories.
I particularly enjoyed Emma's afterword which brought everything together including her own experiences of being an immigrant. This book couldn't be more timely with our current news cycle of war and the climate crisis only displacing more people. The historical stories told in this book are largely set in the late 1700 or 1800s, but the themes are universally human.
I also learnt about historical events I'd not heard of before. And it was great to learn of LGBT people from several hundred years ago, particularly the story featured in Daddy's Girl.
As ever very well written with great world building. An important read, esp to put a human voice to some of our headlines about migration.
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I picked this up. I knew it was a series of short stories ruminating on what it means to be a migrant (although it plays with what that means and how people can be in transit). I didn't expect it to be largely historical. There are stories in here that are pretty brutal. Slavery, and with it racism, plus sexual assault, feature in several stories. It therefore was often a heavy read and required me to dip in and out of the stories.
I particularly enjoyed Emma's afterword which brought everything together including her own experiences of being an immigrant. This book couldn't be more timely with our current news cycle of war and the climate crisis only displacing more people. The historical stories told in this book are largely set in the late 1700 or 1800s, but the themes are universally human.
I also learnt about historical events I'd not heard of before. And it was great to learn of LGBT people from several hundred years ago, particularly the story featured in Daddy's Girl.
As ever very well written with great world building. An important read, esp to put a human voice to some of our headlines about migration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Sexual violence
Minor: Vomit
mandyherbet's review against another edition
3.0
Emma Donaghue has a clever way of adapting her style to different eras, voices, and situations. Every story featured in this collection has the original inspiration included alongside it and uses a different style to tell the story - some working better than others. For me, the strongest stories were "The Gift", "The Long Way Home" "Last Supper at Brown's", "What Remains" and "Daddy's Girl".
Donaghue shows herself to be a talented short-story writer and I'd definitely recommend this collection - 3 out of 5 stars simply because not all the stories worked as well IMO.
Donaghue shows herself to be a talented short-story writer and I'd definitely recommend this collection - 3 out of 5 stars simply because not all the stories worked as well IMO.
rlk7m's review against another edition
3.0
A nice collection of short stories with themes of travel. I didn't think anything I read was groundbreaking, and after a while all of the characters (based off real-life reports; each story was slightly embellished) seemed a little too uncertain for me. I don't know that any of these stories truly had a happy ending. But, if life is a little too busy, it's a good pick for when you can't hold your attention on anything longer.
sese's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review against another edition
5.0
Short stories are my new thing solely due to the pleasure of reading this book. Highly, highly recommend.
krosa's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, War, and Racism
ronanmcd's review against another edition
5.0
A pot of emotion, filled with all characters from diaspora, migration and movement. From underlings & down-trodden to the landed & remote Donoghue investigates the stories, real-life, of the peopling of new lands and meeting of new horizons.
caitrisriding's review against another edition
1.0
I did not enjoy this book much at all. There was one maybe two stories that were decent and I enjoyed a little. Other than that most of the tales in this book were dull, boring, or incredibly over sexualized and with no meaning to them. The concept of the book I liked, but for me it could of been done in a much better way. It was personally not my taste, and was hard to get through many of the stories.
julibug86's review against another edition
3.0
She writes so well and the stories were interesting, but I wish she'd just taken one of the stories and developed it into a novel.