bella613's Reviews (551)

This is super boring. It's the story of a bunch of petty rich people who make up things to get upset about because they don't have any real problems. Nothing has happened halfway through the book, and I checked the other reviews which seem to say it's not worth finishing. Stopping at 4hrs.

Well. Nothing has even happened yet and already, everything about this is just extremely uncomfortable. I suppose that's the point, and that the author wants the style to unnerve the reader. But I don't want to read it, and, well, I don't have to. So DNF it is. 

I will note that it does a great job of capturing the atmosphere of young "theatre kids" who are told by adults that they should throw themselves into every passionate feeling in the name of authenticity and art. (Which is really just telling teenagers to make a bunch of really bad decisions and follow every impulse [raging hormone] immediately because of course that's more true to yourself than actually thinking things through) Theater kid culture is gross and this book does a good job of giving you the same feeling. 

It took me a while to rate this book. I don't have any license to talk about what makes a middle grade book good except that I read a lot of books at that age. It's hard for me to critique a book meant for non-adults as an adult, and I would love to ask my kid self what I thought of it back then.
I first read this back in elementary school, 9 years old I think. It was for an advanced student class and we read a number of books for it. I remember my teacher being very excited about this one but I honestly don't remember my reaction to it. That's why I wanted to reread it now, as an adult. 

I definitely understand why this book won an award and why it's highly regarded for children's historical fiction. But to be completely honest, it seems a little overrated. It's important for kids to understand topics like immigration, classism, racism-- and to hear stories from many different perspectives. Esperanza's perspective is not a very common one in children's literature (especially when it was first published), so it stands out. But the representation alone doesn't make a story. I think this one is very good, but not great. 

I like the beginning of the story and found it very easy to get into.

We jump right in with her father's death, and add villainous uncles for a reason to flee. (The uncles never try to find them or make any appearance again, which seems a little too easy to me but whatever)

The description of getting work on farms focuses much more on Esperanza, and her slight struggle to learn simple tasks since she comes from a rich background, than on the treatment of workers who are seen as disposable by their employers, despite their hard work and loyalty. It does a good job of touching on the strike and immigration coming to cart people away, which I suppose is all you can really do in a children's book. But there is no nuance or explanation which makes me think this book would be much better for kids reading it in a class situation, and not all that educational for kids reading it on their own. This is a book to make a foundation for classroom discussion, but it doesn't do much speaking on its own.  
Esperanza as a character isn't all that interesting or compelling (at least to me). She's just a kid, and really does handle her situation very maturely and grow throughout the book. I understand middle grade books can't be all that long, but kids can handle much more complex emotions than adults often expect them to. This book could definitely have fleshed out her character more with detail in her thoughts, emotions, and reactions. 

All this to say it's a well written book from an underrepresented perspective, but not all that memorable or impactful. I'd probably recommend it for classroom reading and it certainly wasn't a bad read for an adult. But it's not one of the greats either.

This is now one of my favorite books! I didn't really know what to expect going into it, as I simply wanted more of this author and blindly picked this one up. It's so well done and compelling that I'm surprised I found it on my own and hadn't heard of it before.
Mr Stevens' calm recollections and ruminations make you almost feel the emotions on his behalf. He's perfectly put together, but missing so much of what goes on in his own life. It seems at first that he is simply oblivious, but becomes increasingly clear (through his language, the book he hides, and the "misunderstanding" he gives others about himself) that he has deep fear, grief, and regret pushed down underneath his perfect butler dignity.  

Highly recommend and will definitely be on my list to buy in physical copy. 

Some books have a plot twist. Others have several looping curves. This one is just a tangled mess.
Tell the same story enough times in slightly different ways and it just gets annoying. Like, why gender bend characters and then act like that's some profound new side of the story? Idk it started good and then went off the deep end. 

This isn't my favorite of Murakami's novels. It features his classic young protagonist who loses both job and wife, and proceeds to do nothing much but make very strange friends (acquaintances?) who either tell him their life stories or come onto him very strongly. Somehow Murakami uses this same structure often and still makes completely new stories. 

I love Murakami's writing style. He's both straightforward, and roundabout. Descriptively realistic and still wildly fantastical. But this novel didn't do as much for me as his others. I'm not exactly sure what it was (or wasn't) because the main character was definitely more likeable to me than the lead of Norwegian Wood. I liked the side stories, especially the war time ones, even if it was uncomfortable at times to read. I think the overall feeling of this book just vibed with me a little less. 

Also- just a little warning if you haven't read it yet. It's not horror but there are rather graphic descriptions of gore and violence and it feels pretty horrific at times. All of Murakami's stuff is definitely adult rated but this one is a more specific-to-horror type feeling.
If you don't like dark reading this one isn't for you.