sophiebillekens's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
mistercrow's review against another edition
3.0
DNF. Some of it are very intriguing and other times I didn't have the focus.
maddieskye's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
borumi's review against another edition
4.0
This book reminded me of W.G. Sebald and Bruno Schulz. Could they have some cultural connection with this Polish author? Possibly, but Tokarczuk's scope of meandering seems to be much broader in both time and space and theme. I haven't expected a journey of such a capacity when I picked up this book, so I was a bit confused at first, but as I went on the strange amalgam of various viewpoints seemed to gain focus and I was hooked. This book is more like a constellation of thoughts rather than a straightforward sequence of events and I know there are people who aren't going to enjoy this kind of disjunctive narrative. I, on the other hand, have been a constant migrant all my life and not just in my physical state. If you've ever woken up in the plane or the train wondering where and when you are, or even who you are in a foreign land, you have an approximate guess of what it feels like to not belong to any specific thing yet feeling okay about it as long as you are constantly on the move. This kind of multilayered stories and meditations was familiar to me in a deja-vu kind of sense, and I found it odd how the human civilization has been constantly moving towards a direction in which we try to put boundaries around oneself and the group and stabilize it in a constant form whereas the human race, like all living organisms, has migrated and adapted to a flux of environmental changes for much more than the duration of human 'civilization'. It is also a subject of wonder when we consider the modern global crumbling of the artificial and technical boundaries. By taking us into the small rustic islands, deep anatomy labs, neglected alleys of the homeless, the wax museums and cabinets of wonders, Olga Tokarczuk takes us into the diverse and chaotic world that underlies beneath the superficial inert order and seems to scoff at the futile attempt to fool ourselves into being able to fix everything down to their designated stations and classify everything into here and there or us and them.
karinj's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
knitterscasket's review
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
5.0
crazytourists_books's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
2.5
Η Όλγκα για άλλη μια φορά δεν καταφέρνει να γίνει φίλη μου.. Τα διηγήματα που ήταν κρυμμένα μέσα στις εκατοντάδες σελίδες αυτού του βιβλίου μου άρεσαν, αλλά όχι αρκετά ώστε να με κάνουν να παραβλέψω τις σκόρπιες και καθόλου ενδιαφέρουσες σκέψεις τις περί αεροδρομίων, ταξιδίων κλπ. που γεμίζουν τις υπόλοιπες (περίπου τριακόσιες) σελίδες.
Ένα βραβείο booker κι ένα nobel που για την ώρα αδυνατώ να καταλάβω...
Ένα βραβείο booker κι ένα nobel που για την ώρα αδυνατώ να καταλάβω...
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content