I - who normally really enjoys a plot-heavy story - was absolutely mesmerised by this book. It’s contemporary feel while being so deeply rooted in its historic time… Thanks for always finding the right words, Willow!
I'm so glad I went into this book blind. It was such a powerful and emotional journey, I couldn't put it down. This is one of those rare books that stays with you long after you finish it.
I just finished this book and it left me speechless (in a good way). I relate to the narrator quite a lot because I've been living alone for many years (away from home), and sometimes I wonder the same thing: does it matter how I live if I'm the only one around? We follow so many rules created by society, and we are so used to obeying them because we're too afraid of being the odd one, so we never question them! What makes us human in the end is our pure existence, not something that has to be completed by others.
This book is SO GOOD! I'm a girl who loves character so this book was perfect for me. It borders on horror in my humble opinion because it's so liminal and so dream like and so haunting.
This book left me so depressed and mourning our narrator and the friends she developed through the novel. The curious part of me that insists on knowing everything needs answers and to hear others theories of the why of it all with this book. It felt like Jacqueline was leaving us clues for something- why keep the people in the bunkers alive to not to abandon them and leave them for death, why did the road end, why did the guards have books on gardening of all things, who was meant to live in the final bunker? I know it’s not the point of this book yet I NEED to know others thoughts on it.
I think there’s also an interesting element of when keeping someone or something alive is cruelty rather than compassion- this in the context of the Nazi concentration camps really hits me hard.
This is such a big book for me! It feels like a dream to read - unsettling and unnerving, but not strictly a nightmare. Just a deep sense of wrongness. I love love _love_ that we get no answers! We end up with far more questions, in fact! We have to let ourselves go and flow with the book. We have to accept that we're never going to understand everything. Even though they're nothing alike, it reminds me of Piranesi (another favourite) in that we have to stop fighting the book, to sink into what we're reading and let it carry us away. This is the kind of book that can/will affect a person differently depending on the stage of their life they read it in, I think. I can't wait to reread it again and see what I learn anew. 🍄
I read this book almost a year ago and I can’t stop thinking about it 😢 It left me questioning, breathless, thoughtful. It’s such a short book, but a really powerful one.
I read this book about 2 or 3 years ago and I was invested but in the end I had so many questions that I felt like I lost something important to understand the story, but I couldn't find a convincing explanation. I was left very confused and frustrated, and I still don't know how I feel about the book.
If I pick up this one, I think I will feel the same way! I think Willow is correct, then, when she calls it speculative fiction. A lot of that genre is left "open" and the narrative isn't succinct, with clear "goals" or "themes" to latch onto as we expect. I see it as a genre whose "purpose" is to be discussed further in a group, not to entertain one alone & completely... (I prefer the latter...!)
Just finished reading it. Loved it. What an original and thought-provoking premise and story. Most original book I have read in a while. I really appreciate your analysis. Many thanks.
I read this last night and I think you’re spot on with the theme of humanity. I had dreams in the setting and with the women and it was absolutely nuts but also feminist which was cool. I think it’s also sort of poses so many social questions almost in a Jean Jacques Rousseau sense or maybe even a Foucault. What happens when all structure is torn away? What remains? Obviously eating and primal needs can’t be stripped away like eating and the need for shelter. The big theme is love as with in the erotic sense (meaning Eros/desire) but also in a wider sense. It’s absolutely brilliant and will recommend it henceforth.
I also was thinking, that it was written recent years and in English, till your video. It is also really hard to discuss this book without spoiling everything what happens after alarm. I haven't felt that the novel focused exactly on feminism (for me, it also was proved by their findings in the second part). But it really changes few things, to have a community only of women: if they don't find other people, they all will slowly die, all of them, they know and accept that (also reproduction topic is out) and it's totally other social dynamic in the group without any men. Thanks to this choice, we can concentrate on other topics of our lives, existence.
I feel like you'd lose some intrigue if the guards were both women and men, as the separation is another question you carry as you read that is ultimately left unanswered. If the group was mixed, I think the situation of the group would be radically different, with far less stakes. They ended up creating their own society, but a society doomed from inception because they have no partners to procreate with. The emphasis on searching for another sign of life, and the slow realization that they are yet again helpless and alone would've been less impactful, as they'd have the second option of procreating and developing a new society.
Yes the book was written in French . The English translation is actually very good. I ‘ve read both versions . I do not agree with the book being a feminist one. I can not go into it without giving spoilers but you know very well what they see on their journey. Talking about feminism is again looking to something from the past and trying to manipulate it to squeeze it into your own mindset . Feminism has literally nothing to do with this book. The Holocaust has ! The camps, the treatment, the division …. Credit to you that by the end of your video you can recognize that . The background of the writer is very very important in this case. Greetings from Belgium from someone who grew up listings to first hand experiences about the camps
Reading this book led me to "Herland" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Written in 1915, it makes me laugh out loud at how accurate and relatable it still is. Modern feminist can learn so much from our elders. Thank you for your review, Willow.
What also kept coming to mind as I read this was Poor Things. So if we look at the idea of what makes humanity, humanity and what makes a woman a woman, without social constructs that all looks very different. Willow, your mention of how humans argue about what is natural or normal but in the construct of commercialism and consumerism is so interesting and essentially what Bella goes through on a level as well. She has no idea about what it means to be a "woman" she has no social understanding and simply does things for pleasure, knowledge, or exploration. The only true difference is she has an audience and that shapes her as she grows into her "womanhood" our main character has no audience per se so her type of "womanhood" looks very different. She never went through puberty she never menstruated, does that make her any less of a woman? To her, no but in this new rigid sense of gender the world is trying to force does this change what womanhood means (we all know the answer is no, but its good to pose the question). Thanks for another lovely review, I have learned about so many amazing new authors and works since following your page.
also if you are interested in this "woman cut away from the norms of society" uh...genre I guess we could say, The Wall by Marlen Haushofer is this book's antithesis.
Interesting Cartesian suspension of senses writ large in a society. How will she discover themselves as part of a group/culture. Then when they go out after epoche (suspension) they find nothing. Philosophically cannot resolve. At the end of the novel she is writing not knowing if anyone will or can read this, just a hope. Same for us, when we take a solipstitic attitude there is a hope but a doubt (and yet still all) -- Problem: no one would voluntarily choose this isolation, even her bookish paradise. It's still an enforced situation after leaving the prison Flipside: Education as a consolation for loss (she does have enlightenment ideals - she uses rationality daringly)
I loved it, but also felt unsettled by the lack of information. But I think that’s part of the point, and I appreciated the artistry
I - who normally really enjoys a plot-heavy story - was absolutely mesmerised by this book. It’s contemporary feel while being so deeply rooted in its historic time…
Thanks for always finding the right words, Willow!
I'm so glad I went into this book blind. It was such a powerful and emotional journey, I couldn't put it down. This is one of those rare books that stays with you long after you finish it.
I just finished this book and it left me speechless (in a good way). I relate to the narrator quite a lot because I've been living alone for many years (away from home), and sometimes I wonder the same thing: does it matter how I live if I'm the only one around? We follow so many rules created by society, and we are so used to obeying them because we're too afraid of being the odd one, so we never question them!
What makes us human in the end is our pure existence, not something that has to be completed by others.
This book is SO GOOD! I'm a girl who loves character so this book was perfect for me. It borders on horror in my humble opinion because it's so liminal and so dream like and so haunting.
love your enthusiasm to broaden literary canons 😍📚
This book left me so depressed and mourning our narrator and the friends she developed through the novel.
The curious part of me that insists on knowing everything needs answers and to hear others theories of the why of it all with this book. It felt like Jacqueline was leaving us clues for something- why keep the people in the bunkers alive to not to abandon them and leave them for death, why did the road end, why did the guards have books on gardening of all things, who was meant to live in the final bunker?
I know it’s not the point of this book yet I NEED to know others thoughts on it.
I think there’s also an interesting element of when keeping someone or something alive is cruelty rather than compassion- this in the context of the Nazi concentration camps really hits me hard.
This is such a big book for me! It feels like a dream to read - unsettling and unnerving, but not strictly a nightmare. Just a deep sense of wrongness. I love love _love_ that we get no answers! We end up with far more questions, in fact! We have to let ourselves go and flow with the book. We have to accept that we're never going to understand everything. Even though they're nothing alike, it reminds me of Piranesi (another favourite) in that we have to stop fighting the book, to sink into what we're reading and let it carry us away.
This is the kind of book that can/will affect a person differently depending on the stage of their life they read it in, I think. I can't wait to reread it again and see what I learn anew. 🍄
Just from your review I ordered the book, can't wait to read it
I read this book almost a year ago and I can’t stop thinking about it 😢 It left me questioning, breathless, thoughtful. It’s such a short book, but a really powerful one.
Ohhhhhhh I didn’t know about this author’s past - the book means a lot more to me now .
I read it last year. I can't stop thinking about it and how sad and upset that book made me feel. I really liked it. 💜
I read this book about 2 or 3 years ago and I was invested but in the end I had so many questions that I felt like I lost something important to understand the story, but I couldn't find a convincing explanation. I was left very confused and frustrated, and I still don't know how I feel about the book.
If I pick up this one, I think I will feel the same way! I think Willow is correct, then, when she calls it speculative fiction. A lot of that genre is left "open" and the narrative isn't succinct, with clear "goals" or "themes" to latch onto as we expect. I see it as a genre whose "purpose" is to be discussed further in a group, not to entertain one alone & completely... (I prefer the latter...!)
Just finished reading it. Loved it. What an original and thought-provoking premise and story. Most original book I have read in a while. I really appreciate your analysis. Many thanks.
I would like to recommend these short sci-fi books-
1. Rosebud by Paul Cornell
2. Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden
3. Trafik by Rikki Ducornet
No wonder I haven't had luck finding it at the shop ! I thought it was fairly new as well. I'm looking forward to finally reading 💙
I continue to periodically think about this book months after reading it
Just bought that book! Can't wait to read it
I read this last night and I think you’re spot on with the theme of humanity. I had dreams in the setting and with the women and it was absolutely nuts but also feminist which was cool. I think it’s also sort of poses so many social questions almost in a Jean Jacques Rousseau sense or maybe even a Foucault. What happens when all structure is torn away? What remains? Obviously eating and primal needs can’t be stripped away like eating and the need for shelter. The big theme is love as with in the erotic sense (meaning Eros/desire) but also in a wider sense.
It’s absolutely brilliant and will recommend it henceforth.
I have just finished reading this book and found it absolutely stunning.
I also was thinking, that it was written recent years and in English, till your video. It is also really hard to discuss this book without spoiling everything what happens after alarm. I haven't felt that the novel focused exactly on feminism (for me, it also was proved by their findings in the second part). But it really changes few things, to have a community only of women: if they don't find other people, they all will slowly die, all of them, they know and accept that (also reproduction topic is out) and it's totally other social dynamic in the group without any men. Thanks to this choice, we can concentrate on other topics of our lives, existence.
I read this a few years ago and loved it!
Ok! Another book on hold at the library...
Time to read Orlanda by her, Willow ❤
Ok
@@WillowTalksBooks It’s about gender roles
I feel like you'd lose some intrigue if the guards were both women and men, as the separation is another question you carry as you read that is ultimately left unanswered. If the group was mixed, I think the situation of the group would be radically different, with far less stakes. They ended up creating their own society, but a society doomed from inception because they have no partners to procreate with. The emphasis on searching for another sign of life, and the slow realization that they are yet again helpless and alone would've been less impactful, as they'd have the second option of procreating and developing a new society.
I loved the book, but the mystery is killing me. I want answers!
Yes the book was written in French . The English translation is actually very good. I ‘ve read both versions .
I do not agree with the book being a feminist one. I can not go into it without giving spoilers but you know very well what they see on their journey. Talking about feminism is again looking to something from the past and trying to manipulate it to squeeze it into your own mindset . Feminism has literally nothing to do with this book. The Holocaust has ! The camps, the treatment, the division …. Credit to you that by the end of your video you can recognize that . The background of the writer is very very important in this case. Greetings from Belgium from someone who grew up listings to first hand experiences about the camps
Righto lol
Reading this book led me to "Herland" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Written in 1915, it makes me laugh out loud at how accurate and relatable it still is. Modern feminist can learn so much from our elders. Thank you for your review, Willow.
Have you read The Wall? A different book but similar themes, very good!
What also kept coming to mind as I read this was Poor Things. So if we look at the idea of what makes humanity, humanity and what makes a woman a woman, without social constructs that all looks very different. Willow, your mention of how humans argue about what is natural or normal but in the construct of commercialism and consumerism is so interesting and essentially what Bella goes through on a level as well. She has no idea about what it means to be a "woman" she has no social understanding and simply does things for pleasure, knowledge, or exploration. The only true difference is she has an audience and that shapes her as she grows into her "womanhood" our main character has no audience per se so her type of "womanhood" looks very different. She never went through puberty she never menstruated, does that make her any less of a woman? To her, no but in this new rigid sense of gender the world is trying to force does this change what womanhood means (we all know the answer is no, but its good to pose the question). Thanks for another lovely review, I have learned about so many amazing new authors and works since following your page.
also if you are interested in this "woman cut away from the norms of society" uh...genre I guess we could say, The Wall by Marlen Haushofer is this book's antithesis.
Interesting Cartesian suspension of senses writ large in a society. How will she discover themselves as part of a group/culture.
Then when they go out after epoche (suspension) they find nothing. Philosophically cannot resolve.
At the end of the novel she is writing not knowing if anyone will or can read this, just a hope. Same for us, when we take a solipstitic attitude there is a hope but a doubt (and yet still all)
--
Problem: no one would voluntarily choose this isolation, even her bookish paradise. It's still an enforced situation after leaving the prison
Flipside: Education as a consolation for loss (she does have enlightenment ideals - she uses rationality daringly)
📖