Anamaria Vere

3.5

3.5

2.5. Might have been higher, had I read it as a child.

3.5

3.5

This is probably a 3 star book. I realize that. But it gets that extra star for the way it took me back to first loves and first kisses and adventures in big cities and nights in which all the feelings were felt and life seem infinite.

4.5

3.5

2.5

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.5

I think I cried on literally every page of this book. But this is a book about a beautiful little boy dying, so that is not surprising. What is perhaps amazing is that every other page, through my tears, I laughed. This books contains all the emotions - it contains life and death and everything in between.

Also, this book made me feel less alone. Either a volcano has exploded all over your life and left a crater of devastation in its wake, or it hasn't. I raise a glass to all my explosion-surviving brethren.

“What is a game?” Marx said. “It's tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It's the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”

I found this book enjoyable, but not great. Although the various story lines come together surprisingly and satisfyingly at the end, I wish the book had dedicated a little more time in the early chapters to developing those first characters we meet. The narrative and pacing of the first part of the book felt lumbering and disjointed to me; I enjoyed the second part much more. I did find the ruminations on pandemics very interesting.

3.5

Que felicidad tener otro libro de Pedro Badrán! Este tiene todas las cosas que tanto amo en la obra de este escritor. El ritmo de su lenguaje; los sonidos, sabores y olores de los lugares descritos, que el libro va soltando con cada página que paso; y, como siempre, las increíbles listas que siempre he adorado y que parecen más poesía que prosa. Que delicia de lectura! Gracias, Pedro.

I enjoyed my second read-through as much as the first, although the inevitable ending pressed down on my chest as I rushed towards it. This is beautiful tragedy, beautifully written. It is full of desire, joy, despair, grief, loss, rage, and so many kinds of love. I am always amazed that this many emotions can be so perfectly captured on the page. Reading is a gift, and so is this book.

“There is no law that says that the gods must be fair, Achilles,” Chiron said. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left behind on earth when another is gone. Do you think?”

★ ★ ★½

★★½

★★★½ A sweet, enchanting book about finding out who you are and being true to yourself; about living, loving, losing, and going on living; about choosing courage; and about loving more, not less.

I gave this book ★★½, but ★★★★ for the last two pages, because reflections on first loves give me all the feels.

I read this book three times in 24 hours. The first reading frustrated me and the book seemed to me to be an unsuccessful work. Three stars. But it nagged at me, so I read it again. During my second reading, I began to understand how the words had been woven together into sentences and I glimpsed their secret meaning, just beyond. Four stars. Upon completing my third reading, I realized this little book contains the whole world. Five stars. Of course, the book didn't change at all from one reading to the next. But I did. Reading is such a gift.

3.5