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May 27, 2022
Michelle
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A friend recently asked me what I was reading for book club, and I told her, "well, there's this ancient greek fantasy tale about a guy who gets transformed into a fish and a bird and sees the whole world, and that's a framing story for multiple characters whose tales get braided together by the end... um, it's very literary."
And that's both true and utterly not what the book is about. The blurb up top, which describes those separate characters and their varied lives - a girl in Constantinople ...more
And that's both true and utterly not what the book is about. The blurb up top, which describes those separate characters and their varied lives - a girl in Constantinople ...more
I rotated between loving this book and actively disliking it.
First, the many points of view were very hard to follow at the beginning of the novel, and it took me about 1/2 of the book to get any understanding of how they could possibly intertwine.
- - - BUT, I must admit that once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the many worlds Doerr created, and the way in which the stories came together.
Second, I was annoyed by the fact that this seems to be such a rip-off of Cloud Atlas, even to the very title ...more
First, the many points of view were very hard to follow at the beginning of the novel, and it took me about 1/2 of the book to get any understanding of how they could possibly intertwine.
- - - BUT, I must admit that once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the many worlds Doerr created, and the way in which the stories came together.
Second, I was annoyed by the fact that this seems to be such a rip-off of Cloud Atlas, even to the very title ...more
I got 17% in and I still have no idea what was going on.
This was a slow going at first, as I tried to follow each character's story. But towards the end, when I could start to see how the stories intertwined, I was completely drawn into the book.
...more
This was soaringly beautiful and soul-healing in ways I can’t describe without sounding pretentious and hyperbolic. I want to read it again next week. I am, admittedly, a sucker for books about the power of stories, and this embodies what I love best about that sun-genre. There is a cast of vividly realized characters, an array of compelling narratives and settings, and it’s all intricately braided together with a fantastical ur-story. Doerr repeatedly shows the power of books to preserve forgot
...more
This was a remarkable book that for the most part I did not enjoy
Sep 02, 2021
Jackie
marked it as to-read
Oct 15, 2021
Beth
marked it as to-read
Nov 19, 2021
Mike
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Nov 26, 2021
Willow
marked it as to-read
Jan 17, 2022
Caroline
marked it as to-read
Feb 12, 2022
Meg
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2022
Summer Rae Garcia
marked it as to-read
May 06, 2022
Debra Chiplin
added it
May 31, 2022
Cait
marked it as to-read
Jun 06, 2022
Kate
marked it as lost-interest-didn-t-finish
Oct 30, 2022
Maggie
marked it as to-read
Apr 02, 2023
Elizabeth
marked it as to-read
