Second half

[Melanie]

And your final thoughts

[Marie]

This was a really mixed bag for me. I always struggle with a stream-of-consciousness narrative, and even more so when it’s a drug trip, so I found every other chapter to be difficult and tiresome to read. The more straightforward chapters from Iquela’s point of view were great, though. Such an insightful exploration of the generation gap and the weight of expectation from those who have gone before. The more I think about the book, the more I am seeing the “remainder” motif represented all over the place in the plot. The theming is very cleverly done.

[Sherri (Harte Reads)]

This is one beautiful book. Just wow. I finished it only a few minutes ago so I can't put my thoughts together yet but it is truly amazing. I found myself researching the political history of Chile and read several articles about what is going on now. This reading group is just fab. Thanks, Mel!

[Melanie]

Interesting to read both of your views. I loved the book as you may have seen already, the longer I think about it, the more I love it. I am particularly taken with the remainder theme, what is left over, but also in a mathematical sense where can not neatly compute a number, but are left with a remainder.

[Ed]

I liked it, i really did. But i can't help to want more of this story and those characters.

I'm used to read big books so it's kind of a departure for me as the book is thin and the plot quite simple. Alia Trabucco Zeran has a writting style very personnal and promising. It's colorful, metaphorical. There are magical realism touches here and there. A travel in the subsconscious of our three main characters. But i wanted to be more invested, i wanted to know the characters better ( Iquela, Paloma , Filipe and the parents) to read more dialogue between them, to hear more about Santiago and the political crisis, i wanted to FEEL more. So i'm not entirely satisfied.

However i'll probably read it again because i have the feeling it can grow on me.

[Beatrizmallow]

I absolutely agree with Ed, I really enjoyed the book but wanted more. According to wikipedia the author belongs to a movement that has been called the Literature of the Children (as in sons and daughters not kids) and I'm going to be checking more of their books.

[Britta]

I just finished the book and I loved it, especially the surrealistic atmosphere of Felipe's obsessive counting and the equally surrealistic road trip.

[Jo]

There was so much I appreciated about this book, the relationship between the Iquela and Felipe, the sense of another world or of a world ending, the stream of consciousness of Felipe’s chapters which I just found really rhythmic- although the drug addled ones were a bit too much. I liked the way it hinted at the dictatorship and the underground fighters, the many deaths that happened and people never found and the way it left the story unresolved.

I’m not sure that I ever really connected with the characters though and this was probably because of the length of the book and the style of narration. I suppose I too wanted to know more. Either way, a really enjoyable read and this is an author whose name I will keep an eye out for in the future.

[Penelope]

What a read! Is this book one of the reasons we all love a debut novel? At times I was forced to read very quickly as am not good at reading about bodily fluids and functions. Thank you Felipe for that. The stream of consciousness method was perfect for this character and offset by the two women’s part in the story and the road trip from the ash of Santiago to the sunshine of Mendoza was beautifully realised.

[Melanie]

Thank you all so much for reading along this month, I absolutely loved all your comments and you have made a bleak January a lot less bleak with your participation.