"... I now think maybe there isn't a real self, just different versions of us we wear in different settings and with different people."⁠

If The Wall was a building, it's architectural style would be brutalist. I at once think it is brilliant, hard, ugly and difficult to deal with. Frank, to the point, chilling.⁠
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I had a friend who would describe things as "worthy" as in "awards-worthy." There are certain books, movies, plays you watch or read and know immediately that it is going to be in the nominations for all the big awards. I'm not surprised this is in the longlist for the Booker Prize. I won't be surprised if it makes the shortlist.⁠
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A novel that both speaks on the environmental crisis and the "migrant" crisis in a way that is dry and encapsulating. I expect this is a book that will be referred to and pulled out frequently as a voice for this moment in history. And yet I didn't love it. I can't love it. The tone is cold and detached and I was unable to build any kind of rapport with any characters. It is brutal and stark and the coldness in the style didn't allow me to love it in a conventional way. I can, however, appreciate it.⁠
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Although it's a novel that is in every way well done, it just didn't capture my soul. ⁠