_coco_'s reviews
98 reviews

This is such a beautifully written book. It doesn't get bogged down in excessive and lengthy descriptions and yet is able to capture every moment in perfect clarity. The relationships formed are moving and believable and the sense of the inevitable end from the very beginning of the story really drives the narrative. 
Being narrated from the perspective of a child, it is not particularly convincing that she would think in such a philosophical and clear way, but this didn't really draw away from the novella for me, though I can see why it would annoy some. That is probably my only criticism.
Truly such an incredible use of so few words.

I enjoyed this book much more than I thought it would. It felt fairly fast-paced considering that it only really had one setting. As unrealistic as it was, watching Robinson Crusoe adapt to his new environment reminded me of middle-school adventure books in a nostalgic way. It was deeply entrenched in racism and notions of hierarchy, which made it interesting and divisive - definitely a window into its time.

A very digestible edition. I enjoyed Odysseus and Penelope's relationship the most, though the politics were decent too.

A pretty decent book. The prose was beautiful, with the final few pages being so well-written and the book was entertaining as a whole. I thought the switches in time worked well to keep the book tense. The main letdown were the characters and their relationships. For a book that is so character-driven, each character felt too two-dimensional. Though David was likely the most complex, he was also quite unlikeable, so I found it hard to care about his relationship with Giovanni or Hella. The latter two also came across as very stereotypical. The various discussions of gender and sexuality and love throughout the book were interesting, but it often felt like the characters were only there to represent a point in any given argument, rather than being real, fleshed out people. As I result, I didn’t find many of the emotional scenes particularly moving as I had no attachment to the characters. Overall, I’m glad I read the book but it wasn’t as remarkable as I had expected.

Such a fantastic read that I would recommend to anyone and everyone. It is touching, moving, funny, and immensely tragic. Each character feels so realised, and Murray does an excellent job allowing each of them to garner sympathy from the reader. The little details planted at the beginning of the book that ultimately become huge plot-points by the end make it a rewarding and well-rounded read. I do think the ending was disappointing. I didn't mind its open-endedness, but the level of absurdity/how unrealistic it was felt like too swift of a change from the otherwise quite eccentric but realistic portrayal of human nature and the actions of people caught in ever-worsening situations. Despite this, I will continue to think about these characters and their journeys for a long time to come and feel this book deserves all its praise.