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mariebrunelm's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Book alchemy is a strange thing. Sometimes a book ticks all the boxes but the magic doesn’t happen. Sometimes a book sound like something you’d rather pass by, and yet it provides such thoughtful insight it feels like it was written for you. The Absolute Book fits the first scenario. It was recommended by readers whose opinion I hold in great value, and from the blurb to the cover it sounded like the right book for me. I first tried to read it in the summer of 2022 and abandoned around a quarter of the way in (my entry says 40% but I have no memory of reading the pages from 25 to 40%). On a sentence-based level, I had trouble understanding who was doing what and what was happening. I blamed it on my focus which was very wobbly at the time. Here comes 2024. I’m looking at my TBR trolley and deciding what book to read for the #LetsReadThatTBR challenge. I spot this one, which has been daunting me for a year and a half, and takes a lot of space on that trolley. It’s time to find out if we’re really meant to be. And it turns out we aren’t. I still don’t understand in detail what’s happening in this book. I really want to, and I guess the broad strokes, but nothing more. And that’s relevant, I think, for a book in which some things are harder to perceive than others, and characters walk the very blurry line between worlds. This time, I finished the book. That’s most of what I can say about it. And that’s okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Fatphobia, and Violence
imogenlj's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Fatphobia