natashak1's Reviews (265)

I think I'll need to come back to this to really dig into some of the philosophy bits. It's a much more reflective book than the other Han Kang books I've read, so it was a little more tricky to get through than I expected. Very interesting, though.

Definitely a little bit raw given the context, but completely beautiful. A couple bits here and there that I might have a slight bone to pick with but to be perfectly honest the pacing is so brilliantly thought through that any sins basically get brushed passed before you can think about them too much.

Every page I was finding some turn of phrase or description that was setting my teeth on edge. It was like the opposite of show don't tell. No plotline can hook me enough to make up for writing to me like I'm an idiot.

Obviously it's difficult not to compare this to The Handmaid's Tale, but even without the comparison it isn't exactly a modern masterpiece. It's okay. There are plotlines that seem fabricated just to bulk up the main story, and the relationships are unfailingly one dimensional. It does have some interesting commentary buried in there somewhere, but when the same point has been made so much more eloquently it is quite hard not to be critical.

Like I genuinely have no idea how any other sci-fi is ever meant to live up to the Ender books. To so perfectly understand people but also to be able to express it so beautifully. 

It took me quite a while to get through this one, but I think that only added to how much I enjoyed it. Half way through the entire vibe shifts and become much more reflective but it's all so subtle and just beautifully written. Would consider returning to this at some point.

He talks about another author being self indulgent, and perhaps he is, but after reading this it's hard to sympathise with that view when the book istelf is exactly that too. Maybe more enjoyable if you're very into Murnanes other stuff, but I am sadly not.