Kelsey
You could've fooled me into believing this was a Thomas Hardy novel (though I should add that I haven't read any Thomas Hardy in about ten years). That is, until the last ~100 pages.
This is an excellent, sleepy novel that I'd highly recommend for a rainy/snowy day. I made the mistake of choosing this as my travel book for a trip to Greece/Italy; I call it a mistake because I tend to prefer easy, lighter reads during vacation. But this delightful and funny feminist take on early 1900s ideology still kept me turning the page during all my transportation (my favorite place to read).
I've been a big Olga Tokarczuk ever since I read Flights, and I should have known (especially given the title) that this one would be a doozy. The book is set in the early 1900s and the whole plot (no spoilers, promise) is basically a bunch of men going on walks, coughing, smoking, drinking, and talking about “ideas” (mainly that women are inferior beings). And yet it's narrated by female tree spirits. (Whaaaaaa?!)
I'd like to say that it's scary to consider that this was actually how people thought during that time period, but... I'm not entirely convinced a whole lot has changed. It was really fascinating to read how she turned gender on its head (trying to avoid spoilers so I'll leave it at that) all while framing these “women are lesser than” arguments as scientific fact.
I'm just rambling at this point, but all things considered, I'd say Tokarczuk has done it again. She's created a world for us in which everything feels somehow simultaneously familiar and foreign all at once. She's yet again challenged our mode of thinking (similar to Flights) in a way that feels a little repulsive, a little confusing, and juuuust a little naughty.
You could've fooled me into believing this was a Thomas Hardy novel (though I should add that I haven't read any Thomas Hardy in about ten years). That is, until the last ~100 pages.
This is an excellent, sleepy novel that I'd highly recommend for a rainy/snowy day. I made the mistake of choosing this as my travel book for a trip to Greece/Italy; I call it a mistake because I tend to prefer easy, lighter reads during vacation. But this delightful and funny feminist take on early 1900s ideology still kept me turning the page during all my transportation (my favorite place to read).
I've been a big Olga Tokarczuk ever since I read Flights, and I should have known (especially given the title) that this one would be a doozy. The book is set in the early 1900s and the whole plot (no spoilers, promise) is basically a bunch of men going on walks, coughing, smoking, drinking, and talking about “ideas” (mainly that women are inferior beings). And yet it's narrated by female tree spirits. (Whaaaaaa?!)
I'd like to say that it's scary to consider that this was actually how people thought during that time period, but... I'm not entirely convinced a whole lot has changed. It was really fascinating to read how she turned gender on its head (trying to avoid spoilers so I'll leave it at that) all while framing these “women are lesser than” arguments as scientific fact.
I'm just rambling at this point, but all things considered, I'd say Tokarczuk has done it again. She's created a world for us in which everything feels somehow simultaneously familiar and foreign all at once. She's yet again challenged our mode of thinking (similar to Flights) in a way that feels a little repulsive, a little confusing, and juuuust a little naughty.