Kristjana Gunnars

Well, I really, don't know quite what to say about this one. It makes for a fractured, fragmented read, but maybe that is the intention since we are dealing with a narrator going through the throws of an emotional angst/release. A story somewhat disengaged like our narrator. Some of the literary quotes - like the one from Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars - I recognized. Others, like the numerous quotes from Clarise Lispector and Italo Calvino, I did not recognize. I get the emotional turmoil bit and did enjoy the story as written, there was a lot that I didn't understand or connect with. The book flap talks about this story as being, and I quote: "a transformative tale that articulates the dense codes of love, the passion of waiting, and the terrifying intensity of a life on the edge of abandonment." Sounds amazing when put like that but I didn't find the story transformative or the intensity described as being terrifying. It is a story of a woman who was lost - set adrift by her own choice, if you will - and through time and reflective thought, finds her true self once again.

It is possible that I rushed through this one and it may make more sense on a slower, second methodical read-through but for the most part I have to call this one one of those literary works that are smartly written and offer themselves up to the reader for in-depth examination, something I wasn't up to tackling on the second last day of 2013. It did capture my interest enough that I will do something I don't normally do - I am going to keep this copy for a future re-read.… (more)