Unabridged Audiobook
The first thing that struck me while reading the prologue was “I’m going to love this book”. The writing is beautiful and the premise is thought-provoking. The novel starts out with an unnamed first person narrator telling the story of a doomed war and a girl named Sarat. “This isn’t a story about a war. It’s about ruin.” Right there, I was hooked. Unfortunately, the next two-thirds of the novel weren't anywhere near as good. Sarat’s story was interesting enough to keep me reading but I found it tedious and unimpressive. I felt detached from her even though I completely understood why she was the way she was. Sarat’s harrowing story starts when she is 6 years old living with her parents and two siblings. She quickly learns the brutality of war. At the end of each chapter, there is an excerpt about the war after it ended. Sometimes it was an interview, but it was mostly articles about events that occurred and their outcome. These articles left a great sense of foreboding. I really enjoyed the way the author incorporated this into the novel. Another saving grace was the last third of the book when the narratives changed. I was debating on giving this a lower rating but the ending was excellent.
Boring. Nothing really happened. It had potential but too much time was spend on things that weren’t central to the story. I want my money back.
Excellent book
Not something I would normally read, but I still really enjoyed it!
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