I gave this one 1.5 stars but I rounded up. I was excited to get this one as the description and idea seemed good. I like culturally diverse stories and was excited to get historical fiction from this part of the world as it’s not something I’ve seen a lot of. And that was where my happy feelings ended….
I found the writing to not be great. Maybe it was just the translation, but the words felt far away from the characters and seemed to describe their experiences shallowly. The characters were hard to connect to and I ended up not really caring what happened to any of them. The book proclaimed liberal thinking but the main character’s sister disappeared as soon as she got married.
Maybe this last issue I had with the book is a cultural one, but I really struggled that the only family dynamics I saw through generations were the teachings of how to have good foreplay. I did not need the images of a priest watching two teens have sex to grade his teachings. I did not need the image of brother and sister discussing how to have successful foreplay or father and son. The other issues the family faced felt melodramatic like a soap opera.
I found the writing to not be great. Maybe it was just the translation, but the words felt far away from the characters and seemed to describe their experiences shallowly. The characters were hard to connect to and I ended up not really caring what happened to any of them. The book proclaimed liberal thinking but the main character’s sister disappeared as soon as she got married.
Maybe this last issue I had with the book is a cultural one, but I really struggled that the only family dynamics I saw through generations were the teachings of how to have good foreplay. I did not need the images of a priest watching two teens have sex to grade his teachings. I did not need the image of brother and sister discussing how to have successful foreplay or father and son. The other issues the family faced felt melodramatic like a soap opera.