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A review by gen_wolfhailstorm
Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze
2.0
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for giving me an e-arc. All opinions remain my own.
This was a buddy read with Read A Book Gem.
Reading vlog: https://youtu.be/ntJrduHQn88
This was a pretty interesting book. From the start there was some high action happening and you really get thrown into it. As I was reading, I began to realise that this was probably somewhat autobiographical, yet I don't recall that being written anywhere, we'll, not until the "About the Author" section.
The writing style was strange; it almost felt like stream of consciousness, no speech marks, long rambly sentences, that sort of thing. However, although I initally wasn't sure how I'd feel about that, I feel like it made the pacing faster and had me more absorbed.
It's cleverly woven how beautiful some of Gabriel's words are (particularly when discussing his uni lectures) in stark contrast to his interactions with his gang and their criminal activities. It was an interesting dynamic to show his two worlds, yet I found that he wasn't ever one or the other, he was always both and you could see that in the general way he lived, for example, how he would still bring up random literary comments to his friends at home, but still wear things like his grillz and talk this intense slang relating to murder, drugs, etc, in his classes/to his peers at university.
Unfortunately, I did find that after completing this book, I'm almost left wondering what the point was. I felt like it gave a really good look at the perspective of gang life in the UK and how that can be, and it was interestingly contrasted with uni life, through the perspective of Gabriel, of which had both of those going for him, simultaneously, but other than that I just felt like I was waiting for this turning point to come, and it never did.
I didn't really feel like I got the message, if there is one, and am just left feeling like I may have wasted my time reading this. But then again, real life doesn't always have a turning point or a massive happy ending and Gabriel's story isn't over. In fact, I guess he he did sort of have this turning point I was craving, but in a more subtle, everyday, realistic way. If I look at it more that way, I grasp some more merit from its telling. It is his truth, after all.
I'm thinking of watching or reading some author interviews soon, to see if I can understand a bit more where the he was going with this, because it almost felt like a diary of sorts, just glorifying these crimes he was committing and most oftentimes getting away with, and had I known that it wasn't necessarily going to be a "moral of the story" kind of outcome, or if I had checked my expectations, I may have got more out of this.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
This was a buddy read with Read A Book Gem.
Reading vlog: https://youtu.be/ntJrduHQn88
This was a pretty interesting book. From the start there was some high action happening and you really get thrown into it. As I was reading, I began to realise that this was probably somewhat autobiographical, yet I don't recall that being written anywhere, we'll, not until the "About the Author" section.
The writing style was strange; it almost felt like stream of consciousness, no speech marks, long rambly sentences, that sort of thing. However, although I initally wasn't sure how I'd feel about that, I feel like it made the pacing faster and had me more absorbed.
It's cleverly woven how beautiful some of Gabriel's words are (particularly when discussing his uni lectures) in stark contrast to his interactions with his gang and their criminal activities. It was an interesting dynamic to show his two worlds, yet I found that he wasn't ever one or the other, he was always both and you could see that in the general way he lived, for example, how he would still bring up random literary comments to his friends at home, but still wear things like his grillz and talk this intense slang relating to murder, drugs, etc, in his classes/to his peers at university.
Unfortunately, I did find that after completing this book, I'm almost left wondering what the point was. I felt like it gave a really good look at the perspective of gang life in the UK and how that can be, and it was interestingly contrasted with uni life, through the perspective of Gabriel, of which had both of those going for him, simultaneously, but other than that I just felt like I was waiting for this turning point to come, and it never did.
I didn't really feel like I got the message, if there is one, and am just left feeling like I may have wasted my time reading this. But then again, real life doesn't always have a turning point or a massive happy ending and Gabriel's story isn't over. In fact, I guess he he did sort of have this turning point I was craving, but in a more subtle, everyday, realistic way. If I look at it more that way, I grasp some more merit from its telling. It is his truth, after all.
I'm thinking of watching or reading some author interviews soon, to see if I can understand a bit more where the he was going with this, because it almost felt like a diary of sorts, just glorifying these crimes he was committing and most oftentimes getting away with, and had I known that it wasn't necessarily going to be a "moral of the story" kind of outcome, or if I had checked my expectations, I may have got more out of this.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén