A review by snazzyrhombus
Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

i was recommended this by my gf because she said it was amazing - at first and even half way through i wasn't super convinced of the hype, the first half is very slow paced and the whole book you essentially live alongside the main character while she works at this cinema, meeting and getting to know the people there. at first i thought nothing super noteable was going to happen throughout the entire book, it was just a slice of life style thing, but then some big events start happening around halfway and the story takes such a dark and gorey turn.  from gross customers to gruesome events this book has quite a lot of disgusting elements honestly which was quite interesting. 

there are a lot of random horrifying events that are never explained though, kind of frustrating but a cool touch
e.g. the other screen room with the dead naked man in it like what the hell was goinf on there


the last handful of chapters go so so fast especially in comparison to the rest of the book but i think it works well
considering it's representative of the job they all cared for completely transforming into something awful after iris died
and really makes the run up to the finale quite gripping.

i loved the writing style, despite a lot of gross and gorey details so much of it is phrased so beautifully
especially near the end where she imagines cutting down the chandelier and compares it to a big release of tears
 

something i found kind of weird that may not be intentional is that the main character (and therefore me as the reader) felt so lonely, even when
she made friends with and hung out with the other staff lots, and was sleeping with paolo a lot, you're always so in her head that she feels quite dissociated and isolated
she always seemed to be talking about herself in the present and other people in the past which made her seem super disconnected.

idk if the author was trying to make a point about SOCIETY or just trying to write a whacky book but i do feel like it paints a horrifying picture of the capitalisation of small businesses and how it affects people within the business which is interesting but also extremely sad

i didn't expect the ending to be quite so sad either, kind of leaves you feeling a bit depressed when you finish it honestly, depressed and shocked lol
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