The whole book felt like an abridged version of a much longer, more interesting and full story. So many things happen off page and we only hear about The whole book felt like an abridged version of a much longer, more interesting and full story. So many things happen off page and we only hear about them after the fact, when those events could have been shown and raised the stakes or been utilized to develop the characters and our connection to them more.
I liked the political maneuvering of this story and didn't even mind that it wasn't a ton of action in the traditional sense, but things happened so quickly and without the same gravity that they held in book one.
By the end I felt like a silent, distant observer rather than sucked into the story like I did with Dune. I rarely say this but I think this book actually could've been a lot longer and I would've enjoyed it more....more
[3.5 stars] Noor and Salahudin are teenagers growing up in a small desert town in California. Noor, brought over by her uncle from Pakistan after her [3.5 stars] Noor and Salahudin are teenagers growing up in a small desert town in California. Noor, brought over by her uncle from Pakistan after her entire village including her parents are killed in a deadly earthquake when she was six, longs to get out of Juniper. Salahudin, the only son of Pakistani immigrants, wants nothing more than to save his sick mother, his addict father, and their failing motel. After months of cooling off after a fight in which Noor professes her love to Salahudin, the two are brought back together under dire circumstances. How they choose to move forward, seeking out the fulfillment of their own dreams while honoring the legacies from which they come, will force them to reconcile and brave the storm together or risk losing everything they've known and loved.
I've never read anything from Sabaa Tahir before, but I've heard wonderful things about her fantasy series and this National Book Award winning novel. I found her writing, especially her attention to more intense themes, to be compelling and lend itself to easy reading without lacking depth. The book is obviously geared toward younger readers than myself, and I felt she captured their voice and mindset well, albeit falling from time to time into tropes or cliches of the YA 'genre.' A particular highlight for me were the interstitial chapters from the point-of-view of Salahudin's mother, Misbah. She recounts her betrothal to his father up to the beginning of the novel's events, and offered a refreshing look at coming of age and the very life-altering decisions we do or do not make.
My biggest complaints about the book don't quite outweigh what I think works really well here. While the final section is quite rushed, a bit unrealistic, and resolves in a way that felt like it catered more to the reader than to the truth of the characters (by that I mean not ending in a devastating way like I'm used to in literary fiction hah), there are tender, honest moments that do shine through. Perhaps some of the messaging and delivery of it was a bit on the nose or stereotypical, which you could argue plays, again, to the main readership, but I think it could have retained its moral statements without having to be so obvious at times by what it wants to say. Kids are a lot smarter than are given credit, and the more harrowing themes addressed in this book show they can handle more than we often expect; I appreciate when the medium honors that same intellect.
All in all, while it's not a book I'd typically read (this was picked by my wife for a challenge I'm doing to read books from her shelf in 2025), I'm happy to have read it and that it exists for the perfect reader to find!...more
A Western following an Irishman? Star-crossed lovers? Lyrical writing? Coen Brothers-esque humor? Sign me up.
Tom Rourke is a layabout and letter writA Western following an Irishman? Star-crossed lovers? Lyrical writing? Coen Brothers-esque humor? Sign me up.
Tom Rourke is a layabout and letter writer for his fellow Irish emigres to Butte, Montana circa 1891. He waxes poetically and wins the hearts of women back east to come marry his brethren, while he remains destitute and lovelorn in the dusty mining town.
Polly Gillespie arrives by train one day to marry one of Rourke’s lonely compatriots, but fate has other plans for these two.
When the two set out for San Francisco, Gillespie’s scorned husband sends some trackers on their tail and sets off a classic Western caper that can only end in either heartbreak or happiness.
I admired Barry’s writing from the get-go. It’s playful and snarky, but with a ton of heart. Rourke is a sympathetic, though sometimes just pathetic, character that begins to find his way in the world when he falls for Polly. And she, though remains mostly a mystery, comes alive on the page.
Though the book lost me a bit in the middle with POV switches, I also did appreciate how the author gave us a chorus of voices and made some creative storytelling/narrative choices here and there. It took this from a cliche Western storyline to something more profound. And I loved the ending! ...more
I read this whole book in one sitting on my flight and it was such a journey! but honestly I’m gonna need to read some Reddit threads about that endinI read this whole book in one sitting on my flight and it was such a journey! but honestly I’m gonna need to read some Reddit threads about that ending because huh????...more
'View' is both a noun and a verb. You can look forward, look backward, look inward, look outward. The narrator, and other characters in this story, sp'View' is both a noun and a verb. You can look forward, look backward, look inward, look outward. The narrator, and other characters in this story, spend a lot of time looking out windows at things. They spend time looking back at their nation's history, and their own experiences during and after WWII, as well as looking forward to better things. They see things they'd rather forget, images that stay with them into the present day. Things that are recalled by new landscapes that propel them into the past to deal with their trauma, or at least try and face it as it may or may not have happened.
Etsuko, our narrator, does just that when her second child, Niki, visits her in her English countryside home. Her arrival prompts her mother to reflect on decades prior, when she was pregnant with her first daughter, Keiko, who would eventually take her own life in England, unhappy and unsettled with the uprooting from Japan she experienced. Etsuko particularly recalls one summer when she met a woman named Sachiko and her daughter, Mariko, who moved into an old cottage near the rebuilt apartment complex Etsuko lived in with her then husband Jiro after the bombing of Nagasaki. At the same time, Jiro's elderly father comes to visit and instigates discussions within the household that reflects larger issues of nationalism and intergenerational conflict.
Ishiguro seems so confident from the start. As a debut, this is extremely measured and sure of itself. It has all the hallmarks of his later work: a shrouded mystery, a haunting atmosphere, sharp dialogue, and many layers to peel apart, demanding a re-read.
For such a short novel (my edition has only 183 pages) it's incredibly dense, and though it can be read quickly, it's something that demands attention. It's the kind of story that would greatly reward revisiting because of the 'mystery' you uncover as you continue to read; I'm sure there are hints to something lurking beneath the surface I missed all throughout.
I find most fascinating Ishiguro's obsession with memory and experience. His narrators are often somberly reflective of questionable pasts. You can't always trust what they say, or at least the total veracity of their claims. But they don't seem purposefully deceptive. It's a human trait to want to construct the narrative of our lives in a way that puts us at ease, and Ishiguro doesn't seem to condemn his characters for that desire, but instead looks at what that need for storytelling has on them and those around them.
Is the view that of pale hills, distant reminders of a past rather to be forgotten, or is the viewing pale and dubious, leaving out what clarity and truth would put in stark relief?...more
Working my way back through Emily St. John Mandel's earlier work, I'm impressed, but not surprised, to see how consistent she has been as a writer andWorking my way back through Emily St. John Mandel's earlier work, I'm impressed, but not surprised, to see how consistent she has been as a writer and storyteller for so long.
This one is a more simple and smaller scale story of crime and retribution, of instability and fear in a society that teeters on the edge of collapse. What does it take to 'make it out'?: for Anton, that's out of the family business; for Aria, out of poverty and isolation; for Elena, out of her country and into a better life. These characters circle each other and make the moves necessary to get ahead in life, or at least get to where they want to be, beyond their current selves. Added into the mix is a detective we learn very little about, with her own ambitions and motivations.
It's a sort of noir/crime drama with Mandel's signature clarity and sophistication. Not your typical thriller, but thrilling nonetheless. It's clever, character-driven, but equally as compelling in form, with pacing that keeps you going with ease. A perfect book to get me out of my foggy head and focus on another life for a bit, and a lovely addition to the author's body of work....more
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