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A review by em_reads_books
Restless Souls by Dan Sheehan
3.0
This felt, for better and for worse, like a much bigger and more sprawling novel than its length can really contain. Some really fantastic pieces woven together and some (like how and why Tom went to Sarajevo in the first place, or what happened with the women in Karl and Baz's lives) that got left behind. It lost me a bit in the descriptions of what went down at the clinic, pulled me back in every time the guys started bantering and arguing again. So a bit uneven for me, but altogether a unique angle on the road trip comedy and the trauma story.
A few other reviews bring up the fact that there are barely any women in this story, and none who aren't defined by how our main characters basically idealize or are taken care of by them. It's true, but it at least feels like a deliberate choice the author made to specifically depict men relating to one another, struggling to do that emotional work they've never considered theirs to do until now. Definitely a book about men and masculinity rather than one that's supposed to be about the whole world and just ends up being disproportionately dudely.
A few other reviews bring up the fact that there are barely any women in this story, and none who aren't defined by how our main characters basically idealize or are taken care of by them. It's true, but it at least feels like a deliberate choice the author made to specifically depict men relating to one another, struggling to do that emotional work they've never considered theirs to do until now. Definitely a book about men and masculinity rather than one that's supposed to be about the whole world and just ends up being disproportionately dudely.