I listened to Claire Danes narrate most of this, and that was such a treat. It was good to read a story that begins in the middle of a mess as we nearI listened to Claire Danes narrate most of this, and that was such a treat. It was good to read a story that begins in the middle of a mess as we near the end of the pandemic. I wouldn't have understood or enjoyed half as much without Emily Wilson's brilliant 90 page intro. I appreciated how she encouraged us to read through a lens as welcoming travelers, and her translation of certain lines, like about the horror of homelessness, unexpectedly apply to 2020 as well.
I wish I had read in 2018 before I went to Greece, like I meant to!...more
To me this book was half-baked, which can be good like cookie dough sometimes, but to me it went over more like soggy pancake.
It had a lot of potentiTo me this book was half-baked, which can be good like cookie dough sometimes, but to me it went over more like soggy pancake.
It had a lot of potential for me, someone wearing an evil eye bracelet she bought for good luck in Tilos as she types, but I felt more like I was reading character notes than an actual novel: one character has a traumatic childhood in Washington state; two characters wrestle; one writes poems. None of these things feel fully or neatly explored to me.
Rape, pregnancy, and violence also seem to happen just because. These are the kinds of characters who don't care about the consequences of their actions and seem to be horrible people on purpose without any sort of evolution, which works for some readers but not for me.
I'm also fresh from reading intimate novels told from a single perspective, and was not feeling the narrative or timeline switches at all.
I have to hand it to Hoffman on the one-liners though. The commentary on passports and countries as blood spilled over, temples made by slaves, Boyfriend of Navas, etc.
I'm sure there's something lovely and profound in the book I just wasn't in the right headspace or place to get. ...more
Loading...
