All This Belongs to Me

This debut novel from a then 23-year old Czech writer, knocked my socks off. This is densely packed 200 page story of a family living as herders on the Mongolian steppes. The tale unfolds from the perspective of 5 women in the family. It is powerful, gut-wrenching, and heart-breaking, and ultimately about families, misunderstandings, belonging, and women's lives in an utterly backward corner of the globe.

The first half of the book is told from one sister's perspective and then pieces (sometimes missing pieces) are told from other women's perspectives. This was so powerful to see unfold--the damage done by without intention, the missed opportunities to connect and understand.

I thought the book cold use a bit more editing and the show more addition of a glossary for the Mongolian terms would have been helpful.

Highly recommended and good book club selection IMO. show less

Execellent book that provides different perspectives on the same events, yet manages to tell a continuous story, without dwelling on one event. Although it's a story of a family, it's actually a narrative of family relations, telling about the fears, alianation and a search for stability on one's own terms that haunts any relationship, but especially those of kin. Great writing style, and a very good way to introduce a culture clearly foreign to the European reader without seeming trite. It gets a bit repeptitive in the end and I wasn't so impressed with the finale.

Reviewed in Issue 4 of Belletrista: http://www.belletrista.com/2010/issue4/reviews_2.php

Herlezen naar aanleiding van gelijkaardige lectuur. ............ Best geslaagd om een indruk op te doen van het leven daar binnen de tijdsspanne van 3 generaties.