sydn3y3's reviews
373 reviews

flew through this one. i liked the beginning the most, when the pov was focused on only one character - it got a little shallow when the book was torn between two povs the rest of the time. i was wanting more i think, a little rushed towards the end. enjoyable read overall though 

This was heavy but very beautiful at the same time. I couldn’t put it down, especially in the second half - would they do it? Would they finish the Road? Weatherby’s struggle with how to move forward was palpable throughout. His love of the mountain people was sometimes the only thing driving him, especially as their difficulties multiplied. A true story too, which had me google mapping a lot of the places mentioned in the book -  the fact that Hurricane Helene has just pummeled this exact area is sooooo heavy. I can’t imagine what people are dealing with. Mutual aid will be the only option to move forward for many, many people in the area - we must lean on each other.
Some favorite lines:

“But I love you, too. I love you because of so many different reasons that I love you in different ways. It’s like a spring or a place in the creek where children have dropped colored stones, and as the water ripples, you don’t know, you can’t say what color it is.”

“I’ve got so much to be pleased about it burdens me.”

“He stopped on the path and stood there a minute, listening to the birds and staring off at the farmed mountains, speculating in his mind about the outland places of the earth and wondering how men there could know themselves if they had no mountains to judge themselves by.”

really good stuff - i learned so much about the transition from feudalism to capitalism and how women were used as scapegoats. death to capitalism 

these stories gave me a glimpse into the lives of Kashmiris, which i didn’t know much about beforehand. they definitely challenged me; there is a lot to be read in between the lines - things left unsaid, but there still. as i read, i drew parallels between kashmiris and palestinians, two occupied, oftentimes displaced peoples. the relations between different religions and cultures were obviously a big feature as well. i enjoyed them overall

loved this! beautiful writing of Charlotte’s inner life, reflecting on her life so far and what she wants to change, as well as her family’s journey along the Rhine. loved the way her dreams/imaginings happened subtly. loved the full circle at the ending especially. virginia woolf+jane austen vibes 

let’s go lesbians
funny, dark, AND cozy?? what more could you want. couldn’t put it down, had to find out how it ended. almost wish it was longer 

at times very slow and dense.. but i liked it? everyone’s soooo melodramatic! justice for rosaria. the epilogue was my favorite- love u alvaro 

they’re brilliant friends!!!! 😭
wow this was so good. highly recommend the whole quartet but this one really punched it for me

wow. it took me almost 8 months to finish this book, but i sped through the last 2/3rds in the last week. so sprawling. such an important picture of ww2 that americans really don’t learn about. life is freedom! 
“i believe that it is not only man’s power that will evolve, but also his soul, his capacity for love.”

wow. so tense so moving with such a short text. so simple yet important