freddie's reviews
295 reviews

An absolute stunner! What's not to like? - eloquent in storytelling, Dickensian in stature, this novel has layered characters and compelling plots. This book is also an emotion roller coaster! This novel is a classic story of a ragtag cast of characters coming together despite their differences and bonding with each other. If you love that trope (like moi), then this book is highly recommended for you. This book just took my breath away!

Finally I'm done with this book. The inconsistency in style is jarring. At some points the prose is lush and descriptive, at certain places it becomes a listicle, at some other places it becomes a one-line-one-paragraph form a la a badly written Medium article. Then there's the stilted dialogue. If you have to rely on ALL CAPS and multiple exclamation/question marks (????!!!!) to convey the characters' emotions, your prose is not doing job - better FIRE IT!!!!!! This book would have also benefitted from being a longer work, because many important themes are crammed into this book and treated superficially.

Incredibly gripping - not because it is a murder mystery, but the snarky and critical narration makes me wonder what remarks would Janina make next. Some parts of this novel feel anvilicious, but beyond that the writing feels like gusts of refreshing cold air. Part eccentric, part noir, part fuzzy, this novel has a special voice.

The book is both smart and stupid - makes sense since it reads like the main character narrating her thoughts as events happen, so certain reflections sound profound and wholesome while some others just come across as shallow. For a book with a plot concerning a woman who, in the face of many impending deaths around her, experiences need to feel alive by exploring more sex, there is surprisingly little sex and lots of philosophising. The almost fetishization of a foreign culture in the last chapter is problematic to me, however. But overall I was entertained by the book - with its crude and self-deprecating humor.

If you can't fit in with society the way you are expected to be and you know your own value, then you do you! There is something so reassuring and uplifting with this novel. Not to mention, it is also funny. Very entertaining and meaningful.

The book explores the trauma of the Holocaust with precise and poetic words. It manages to be a pageturner despite having a slow pace. Absolutely love the character developments. A very human book.

A lovely little book. The story is nuanced and the premise in which a person is subjected to conflicting cultures is really interesting. I do wish to feel more connected to the character of Gogol as I feel that there is a bit of distance between him and me the reader. It's like he's holding back something from me.

An absolutely breathtaking book. It's a book that combines tragic experience, absurd comedy, deliciously evocative writing, and Hallmark movie level of sentimentality. It's literally just about a guy starting a new life someplace new after a series of shitty things happened to him, and dang it's an inspiring story.

Melancholic, somber, nostalgic... Stories of relationships (especially friendships) forged and lost almost always get me. I'm like a puddle of melted butter now. This novel is not one with a goal-based plot, but rather shows a progression of the characters' relationships with each other, spiced up with some crazy baggage from the past and equally crazy present. The story is set in 1980s South Korea, so yeah, things were *crazy* back then.

Dazzling book! Z's story is one of self growth and it is told in a funny yet introspective ways. There are some bits that feel unrealistic with this book (especially the parts involving various sexual encounters) but overall it works if it is read as a work of fantasy with some real life baggage rather than pure realism.