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A review by pomengranate_moon_
The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
1.0
Wow, I absolutely hated this book.
This convoluted mess of a novel has so many characters and pretty much no character development. To make matters worse it’s a colonialist love letter to Ernest Hemingway. It feels like it’s trying its best to check diversity boxes without the details having place in the rest of the narrative or teaching us anything about the characters that advances their stories individually or advances the plot (ex the one chapter where we learn that a character is queer and then it’s never mentioned again for any reason. It feels like it’s just there for diversity points).
Getting through to the end of this was about as fun as having teeth pulled.
This convoluted mess of a novel has so many characters and pretty much no character development. To make matters worse it’s a colonialist love letter to Ernest Hemingway. It feels like it’s trying its best to check diversity boxes without the details having place in the rest of the narrative or teaching us anything about the characters that advances their stories individually or advances the plot (ex the one chapter where we learn that a character is queer and then it’s never mentioned again for any reason. It feels like it’s just there for diversity points).
Getting through to the end of this was about as fun as having teeth pulled.