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A review by alomie
Karitas Untitled by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
1) I found this book a little hard work, which is totally on me and I shouldn't take it out on the book, but I do feel like I've been reading this for an age. The book is all vibes no plot, which usually I really love, and I had already got this book on my TBR, however, I think it was just the wrong month to start it, I was not in the headspace for it at all, and I really struggled to get through this one. I've kept at it, and I've literally just finished it, which is good, but really grueling I just never hit a rhythm with it, and it was really hard to keep picking up. I'm gutted I didn't love this, it was well written and translated, and I'm overall a little sad about the fact I didn't gel with it.
2) I mean there is still a wage gap, we still have a lot of work to do regarding rights and equality, for minority groups and women, and especially women in minority groups. I think for the time period these women were extremely ahead, a mother who insisted on their education, even if her mum was a bit suspicious of art school as a concept and a free ride.
3) I don't think I can say which one shaped her, it was a death by a thousand cuts the book, wasn't it? She was built up for a second when she was being taught more formally before being sent off to university, and there was a small moment of light there, but the rest was hard going, it felt almost like the author had it in for Karitas, and any time there was about to be a ray of hope, it kind of went to shit.
It was like all the obstacles made her choose things that perhaps she wouldn't have a few chapters previous, but then she got stuck and had to take the only option available at the time, creating a cascading set of horrible events.
4) I really enjoyed these, it was like descriptions of all the art Karitas had done, from a future art gallery, perhaps in the future long after her death, talking about the art, I felt that a lot of the descriptions could have been written by someone else, like describing her life in the snippets she left behind.
5) Artists got to art. I really do feel it was her calling and in some ways brought her back to her father (and happier times), creatively though, in such dire times, anything that can bring even the smallest light into your life you cling to. I feel like Karitas had a real compulsion to create, and this was touched upon when she could not get paints and did the sculptures with the cutlery.
6) I found this a bit literal, but I guess it was a metaphor about overcoming life's obstacles and that you can do anything if you try hard enough or reach new heights if you put in the graft. Perhaps there was a deeper meaning but Sigmar literally says this as he is leaving with the boys. So maybe not.
7) No. But like what real choice did she have? I find it odd that a mother would send her children away with a man they have known for what 4 days (it was definitely no more than a week)? 1 of which he was away with Karitas, 1 he was fighting, and 1 he was recovering from the fight. I understand Karitas possibly needed a break from being a mother having been left with them all those 13 years, but it seems like an unlikely move, from what was overall a fairly anxious woman who lost 2 other children and was bloody desolate about it.
8 ) My Favourite was probably Kara and all her cats, she was ace, coz she was a cat lady who lived with 17 cats, in a hut on a cliff. Brilliant.
My least Favourite was definitely Sigmar, who is a cat-killing prick, and I will not ever forgive the author for mildly traumatising me just before bed. What a prick.
9) Overall rating/any other comments about the book? I'm gonna give it a 2.5/5, it was incredibly well-written and translated as well, so much so, I didn't remember it was a translated novel until the end when the translator was credited, I feel like if I had read this at a less hectic time in my life I probably would have loved it, but alas, not a hit for me this one, which I am genuinely gutted about.
2) I mean there is still a wage gap, we still have a lot of work to do regarding rights and equality, for minority groups and women, and especially women in minority groups. I think for the time period these women were extremely ahead, a mother who insisted on their education, even if her mum was a bit suspicious of art school as a concept and a free ride.
3) I don't think I can say which one shaped her, it was a death by a thousand cuts the book, wasn't it? She was built up for a second when she was being taught more formally before being sent off to university, and there was a small moment of light there, but the rest was hard going, it felt almost like the author had it in for Karitas, and any time there was about to be a ray of hope, it kind of went to shit.
It was like all the obstacles made her choose things that perhaps she wouldn't have a few chapters previous, but then she got stuck and had to take the only option available at the time, creating a cascading set of horrible events.
4) I really enjoyed these, it was like descriptions of all the art Karitas had done, from a future art gallery, perhaps in the future long after her death, talking about the art, I felt that a lot of the descriptions could have been written by someone else, like describing her life in the snippets she left behind.
5) Artists got to art. I really do feel it was her calling and in some ways brought her back to her father (and happier times), creatively though, in such dire times, anything that can bring even the smallest light into your life you cling to. I feel like Karitas had a real compulsion to create, and this was touched upon when she could not get paints and did the sculptures with the cutlery.
6) I found this a bit literal, but I guess it was a metaphor about overcoming life's obstacles and that you can do anything if you try hard enough or reach new heights if you put in the graft. Perhaps there was a deeper meaning but Sigmar literally says this as he is leaving with the boys. So maybe not.
7) No. But like what real choice did she have? I find it odd that a mother would send her children away with a man they have known for what 4 days (it was definitely no more than a week)? 1 of which he was away with Karitas, 1 he was fighting, and 1 he was recovering from the fight. I understand Karitas possibly needed a break from being a mother having been left with them all those 13 years, but it seems like an unlikely move, from what was overall a fairly anxious woman who lost 2 other children and was bloody desolate about it.
8 ) My Favourite was probably Kara and all her cats, she was ace, coz she was a cat lady who lived with 17 cats, in a hut on a cliff. Brilliant.
My least Favourite was definitely Sigmar, who is a cat-killing prick, and I will not ever forgive the author for mildly traumatising me just before bed. What a prick.
9) Overall rating/any other comments about the book? I'm gonna give it a 2.5/5, it was incredibly well-written and translated as well, so much so, I didn't remember it was a translated novel until the end when the translator was credited, I feel like if I had read this at a less hectic time in my life I probably would have loved it, but alas, not a hit for me this one, which I am genuinely gutted about.