astridandlouise's Reviews (665)

It felt weird going into a Harper book and not seeing Falks in the narrative, but the character it did centre around was still engaging and layered. I don't know if any of her books will live up to the first (it was so fresh), but I found this to still be intriguing and impressive. Definite page turner.

The beginning of this book was a little tedious for me, but once the first big plot twist hit about halfway through I was all in. Was it perfect? No. Was I disappointed with the ending? Not necessarily, but I was hoping for something less generic and perhaps a little heartbreaking. It would be nice to read a book of this genre and have the ending surprise you, which more often than not, it doesn't.

The message is strong and engaging, however the ending seemed rushed and incomplete. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Great debut. Sometimes mysteries/thrillers contain information not relevant to the story which just makes the narrative long-winded, this one didn't and I appreciated it. The story moved at a good pace and White used prose to the advantage of the story. The ending was not completely unexpected, but I still enjoyed this none the less.

Murakami is a genius. brilliant.

I loved Jones' use of language and the eloquence of her prose, however I didn't feel any warmth toward any of the main characters which impacted my response to the book overall. I understood certain actions or reactions from the characters, but I didn't relate to them. Certainly well written and constructed well nonetheless.

This is such a moving story and we're lucky that Sokolov decided to share it with the world before he left it. Stories like these need to be told so the mistakes of the past are not repeated into the future, just as Sokolov explained to Morris when narrating his story.

The let down of this for me was the writing. I found it to be simplistic, where it had the potential to be full of significant and emotive language. For me it fell flat when in fact it should have pulled me in and taken me on Lale and Gita's tumultuous nightmare alongside them. I wanted it to make me feel those emotions on a deeper level which unfortunately it did not.

gifted a proof. thank you to my secret source!

Definite elements that you expect when reading a Murakami but there were also parts that were quite unexpected, especially in regards to his writing style. There were sections toward the end that dragged a little but most of the storyline was engaging. Felt like it could have benefited from a stronger edit.