mkdeco's reviews
38 reviews

This book was good. The plot was a bit slow but the actual story and themes were really interesting. The ways that the characters mixed together and complimented each other was well done. I don’t read many books where i dislike the main character so that drew me in a bit as well. I think that the themes of this book are well established (leaving/running, (& isolation?), class divides, experiences with Covid). 

There were some sections that I felt dragged on and I felt like the end zipped up a bit too quick. 

I think a couple of highlights of porters writing is the scene where Darla wakes up in the woods. She really makes the panic / confusion of that situation clear. Hoping to be found while worrying about who would find you.  Maureen’s reflection on 9/11 made me tear up on the bus. And Ruby arriving in Japan and her experiences there was another really strong point to me. It was a really interesting setting to dive into her character and her story with Katsumi.

In the edition I read there were some issues with dates and the timeline within the story that bugged me a bit. Hopefully they were caught in later editions!

i feel like this book had a really gorgeous style of writing . I loved the font as well but thats. not all that important.  I liked how well youre able to see the pieces of eachother that the characters display. I think it was a really well layed out philiosophy about memory. How memory is maleable to a moment in which it's remembered. I think the examples of seeing grief through the. eyes  of these characters along side the philosophy that your 'ghosts" can speak to you through the absence. or the presence of something. We start seeing these ghosts in a very literal way through the lens (ha) of a soldier come home from war. While the ghosts he photographs are technichally other peoples, they reflect himself in a way. His memories (the boy and the mother) him AS a memory (the woman and the baby). It's very well written. I think the first chapter was beutifully constructed. He tries to think of these things that make him happy/grounded but of course the experience of being bombarded in war bleed through into these memories. The chapters about peter maya and alan have so much packed in them and it's all a beautifully laid out story about grief. I loved it! 

I'm not giving it a star rating because I don't feel like i have the best gauge for this type of writing. 

Library hold ended :(

I'm a fan of time travel! There's so much you can do with it and I feel like they really did so much with it haha! I think this world is really interesting. The idea of time travel as a bunch of different "Strands" of time, where different futures occur based on what strands are crossed and interact in the past is neat! I like the (sort of) parallel universes this creates. I think the imagery of how red and blue interact with time is really cool (unpicking the braid, hearing your footsteps up/down thread, etc).
It was super easy to dive into. The characters felt very 3 dimensional and genuine. I really enjoyed the repetitive structure of each chapter

It lead to it being really striking when this repetition was interrupted. You expect a letter that doesn't come.

I like that all the characters were women. I think the characters really popped off the page. You get to see a really intimate part of them (the letters for no-one else eyes) so you really understand them as much as they understand eachother. There is a review/quote by Kelly Link (I think) at the front of the edition I read (#librarybook), "There is the pleasure of a long series, and all the details of a much larger world, presented in miniature here." Which I agree with! I think it was the perfect length to tell this story. If it had been much longer I think the repetition would've gotten to be a bit much, & I think the pace was perfect. I love how though they start out as "enemies", it's clear that there is a general respect/admiration for each other already, and the fact that their enemies is just happenstance. It's very sweet to see them getting so excited to read each letter.

And I love Romeo & Juliet as a Comedy! That's so meta!

Looking back to the start after the finishing:

I was a bit confused after the first chapter because I read it as Red returned to the first letter and re-read it. When I re-read the chapter, I realized it was the Seeker. But really I was right the first time! Ha! I'm wondering if that was a bit confusing initially on purpose or if I'm just an Idiot lmao!

 

Bumping up my rating because I just realized it’s this is how you lose the time war in sense that they shake it off / lose a tail / LOSE IT from being part of them!! Woooooahhh I love reading

Interesting and all. Nothing bad to say. I’ll note that one of the first things to change in an innocuous yet weird way being some change in menstruation would’ve made way more sense than the sniffles 

So so sad after finishing it. I didn’t Expect that they would all be connected because they die.

incredibly well written the characters stories are all so interesting and their voices were all very distinct. I’m actually feeling rather devastated. I wish I could say more. Amazing book.

I think there’s so much symbolism and so much said. The way the characters all have similar thoughts and make analogies with themes that are connected to the im wondering if there’s a connection between the point of view the characters are written in and their outcome. It makes me think maybe 8 is not a good number unfortunately. I’m really sad.

borrowed from the library and I might buy a copy. 

I don’t like audiobooks 

Wasn’t expecting something sad