I don’t know how Backman does it. I have read enough of his works to easily and quickly recognize his style yet he still manages stab me in the heart multiple times consistently throughout the novel. I love how he told this vast yet intimate story and cannot get enough of his writing.
Only a few days later, and I already remember next to nothing about this book. I have read from this author before and was less than impressed. I also believe that I mistakenly assumed that once upon a time I had read The Picture of Dorian Gray upon which this book is based, but I must not have. I did not really engage with the narrative and found some of the actions perplexing. I’m not actually sure why I continued, likely only because the thought of a DNF did not enter my head.
This book is delightful. The witty tone that made the author and the bookstore popular on social media shone through every page of this narrative, which describes rather mundane events with a sparkle and smirk that kept me reading and enjoying what I read.
Elizabeth Acevedo is back. I absolutely loved her return to the YA demographic with this heartbreaking and very real look at the juvenile carceral system as well as how people deal with the emergence of mental illness in a loved one. Acevedo does not shy away from hard-hitting topics but also finds a way to give her characters happiness.
Sometimes cozy mystery works for me, but this one fell flat. I see where the author was going with the copious number of tropes typical of this genre that she threw into the narrative, but the other aspects that she included that were of a more serious nature made the tropes stick out like a sore thumb. At least I fulfilled a square on the HRCYED challenge.
Genevieve Gornichec writes historical fantasy so well. I do prefer The Witch’s Heart over this book but will still keep this book in my personal library. Part of what kept me from rating this book higher was the difficulty that I had in keeping names straight towards the beginning of the narrative, although that is likely a consequence of listening to this Norse based work as an audiobook. I can tell that this author did a fantastic job in her research and loved being able to almost see the environment as I remembered visiting these places a couple years ago. I look forward to reading more from her.
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