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The Sun Was Electric Light
‘ I read this pure, pained, beautiful book in a single burst, and emerged from it with heart and nerves rinsed clean.’ Helen Garner
Disillusioned with her life in New York, Ruth returns to a lake town in Guatemala where she had been happy a decade earlier. There, in Panajachel, she meets two very different women: the calm and practical Emilie, and the turbulent and intoxicating Carmen. Deciding to stay and build a life at the lake, Ruth finds work first as a nanny to a wealthy local family, then as an English teacher at a village school. Meanwhile, she becomes increasingly infatuated by her friendship with Carmen, pushing away the stability of her connection with Emilie. As Carmen’s fragile relationship with the world splinters, the difference between being a visitor and truly belonging becomes clear, and Ruth is forced to act.
Disillusioned with her life in New York, Ruth returns to a lake town in Guatemala where she had been happy a decade earlier. There, in Panajachel, she meets two very different women: the calm and practical Emilie, and the turbulent and intoxicating Carmen. Deciding to stay and build a life at the lake, Ruth finds work first as a nanny to a wealthy local family, then as an English teacher at a village school. Meanwhile, she becomes increasingly infatuated by her friendship with Carmen, pushing away the stability of her connection with Emilie. As Carmen’s fragile relationship with the world splinters, the difference between being a visitor and truly belonging becomes clear, and Ruth is forced to act.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 680 reviews
April 24, 2025
The title of this book is so beautiful, yet the writing is so shallow and basic. It’s almost formulaic. I enjoy understated writing but there was little variation in the sentence structure, which made it seem like I was reading a very poorly-written account of someone’s life experience. It’s very essay-like (as in topic sentence-supporting details-concluding sentence), and this bothered me endlessly throughout the novel. Please do not tell me that I don’t understand the novel; I picked this up because I enjoy reading about a lost character’s journey through the mundane and finding themselves there. I wanted to read something profound and was instead let down because so little happened and nothing was developed. I get what the author INTENDED to do, but it fell way short. Also: why did this have to be set in Guatemala???! I wanted to see the country and felt like there was no reason for this to be set in this village, other than for the narrator to say she was in this faraway place all alone. Sure, there’s a lake. A beach. We spend so much time at this lake that makes the protagonist feel safe/clear/like herself but I never feel like I actually know what the lake looks like. On top of that….. where are the Guatemalans?!?! They are vendors in the village, they are gardeners, they are the rich family she works for, but they feel so minor and unimportant while this lady is entering their world as a foreigner. Just so many bizarre choices made here, and I am baffled by all of these 5-star reviews.
EDIT: (in response to people who commented about not being able to finish the book) — it was such a slog for me to get through this even though it was quick. For something this short and simply written, it shouldn’t have been so difficult. I definitely don’t blame anyone for not finishing because it was super hard to feel for any of these characters or to get lost in the bland writing…
EDIT: (in response to people who commented about not being able to finish the book) — it was such a slog for me to get through this even though it was quick. For something this short and simply written, it shouldn’t have been so difficult. I definitely don’t blame anyone for not finishing because it was super hard to feel for any of these characters or to get lost in the bland writing…
April 8, 2025
I loved this book for multiple reasons. It's essentially the story of a woman finding herself. It is simply, yet beautifully, written. True literature.
1. If you've ever felt lost in life, then you will relate to Ruth. I found myself thinking,"I've felt that way before," or "Wow, I've actually done that."
2. Some of the lines, especially Ruth's odd comparisons really stuck with me. "At the end of each day, I was tired in a way that felt like charcoal, as though something inside me had been alight and now was all burnt up."
3. The stories lurking in the background - Where does a person really belong? Do people make a place? How much does a person really need? Addiction and the choices a person makes.
4. Let's not forget the cover art. Is it a ghost in bed, or moonlight on water? It's haunting and lovely, and perfect for this novel.
1. If you've ever felt lost in life, then you will relate to Ruth. I found myself thinking,"I've felt that way before," or "Wow, I've actually done that."
2. Some of the lines, especially Ruth's odd comparisons really stuck with me. "At the end of each day, I was tired in a way that felt like charcoal, as though something inside me had been alight and now was all burnt up."
3. The stories lurking in the background - Where does a person really belong? Do people make a place? How much does a person really need? Addiction and the choices a person makes.
4. Let's not forget the cover art. Is it a ghost in bed, or moonlight on water? It's haunting and lovely, and perfect for this novel.
April 10, 2025
As much as I want to support new authors and hate to leave negative reviews-this book was not for me.
Choppy, boring, unrelatable characters and really no plot? It felt like a whole bunch of words scrambled together. The little plot it did have was redundant.
Choppy, boring, unrelatable characters and really no plot? It felt like a whole bunch of words scrambled together. The little plot it did have was redundant.
April 20, 2025
This book has quite a few bad reviews and I actually agree with most of them but for whatever reason it worked for me. I liked it.
April 19, 2025
my first ever BOTM book. i'm sorry but i really, truly hated the experience of reading this.
trust me, i am a huge fan of art that's "about nothing." but usually those pieces of art have something stylistically compelling about them, or something interesting to say, or at the very least some intriguing characters. right off rip, this book failed the vibe check. the prose was so overly sterile and simplistic that it was incredibly distracting and unintentionally hilarious at times.
"That weekend, Emilie went away on a work trip to the mountains. She left on Friday afternoon. On Friday night I walked through the house in bare feet. I made toast and watched TV. I turned the TV off and listened to the wind. I went to bed early but I couldn't sleep.
I got up and made a cup of tea. I leant against the bench and held the tea close to me; I sipped it slowly and breathed in the steam. I hadn't turned on the kitchen light and moonlight shone on the kitchen floor. I looked out the window and the moonlight was shining on the courtyard ground outside. It was ghostly. A cat jumped on top of the fence and walked from post to post. The cat was much bigger than a normal cat that would be somebody's pet. This cat was wild and muscular."
that's the kind of stuff that seems to make up a great deal of the book—some real USA Today, Hooked on Phonics, Duolingo ass sentences. don't get it twisted: i think that straightforward language has its place. but when it's almost always just describing banal details that don't matter in the slightest, it starts to kill me.
especially when no explanation is given for things that might be a little more important, such as... oh i don't know... the protagonist making a complete 180 on how she feels about her life and everything in it? in the rare instances where some insight IS provided, it often amounts to—and i promise i am not making this up—the narrator just saying the character doesn't know why she decided to say something, or why she has a certain impression of someone, or why she feels the way that she feels at all.
"The next morning, for no reason, I felt happy [...] I felt good. I did not know why I felt so good. I felt like a bird about to fly."
for context, this passage:
1. comes 4 pages after this character is absolutely devastated and wallowing about how she just can't find it in herself to make any life changes / improve her situation
2. is immediately followed by a straight up montage of her picking up an old hobby, finding artistic fulfillment, cleaning up the space around her, engaging with her community, and signing up to volunteer. all within the span of 2-3 pages. again, in the author's own words, "for no reason."
yeah, whatever, the other characters also suck. this lady's dearest friends will just oscillate between being extremely rude and perfectly friendly toward her, time and time again, for no discernible reason. i don't know. i'm running out of steam here. i don't want to think about this anymore.
i'm sorry, i promise i'm not usually this big of a hater. i usually play the role of the Art Defender in cases like this. but this was such a consistently disappointing and frustrating experience for me and i just had to shout into the void about it
trust me, i am a huge fan of art that's "about nothing." but usually those pieces of art have something stylistically compelling about them, or something interesting to say, or at the very least some intriguing characters. right off rip, this book failed the vibe check. the prose was so overly sterile and simplistic that it was incredibly distracting and unintentionally hilarious at times.
"That weekend, Emilie went away on a work trip to the mountains. She left on Friday afternoon. On Friday night I walked through the house in bare feet. I made toast and watched TV. I turned the TV off and listened to the wind. I went to bed early but I couldn't sleep.
I got up and made a cup of tea. I leant against the bench and held the tea close to me; I sipped it slowly and breathed in the steam. I hadn't turned on the kitchen light and moonlight shone on the kitchen floor. I looked out the window and the moonlight was shining on the courtyard ground outside. It was ghostly. A cat jumped on top of the fence and walked from post to post. The cat was much bigger than a normal cat that would be somebody's pet. This cat was wild and muscular."
that's the kind of stuff that seems to make up a great deal of the book—some real USA Today, Hooked on Phonics, Duolingo ass sentences. don't get it twisted: i think that straightforward language has its place. but when it's almost always just describing banal details that don't matter in the slightest, it starts to kill me.
especially when no explanation is given for things that might be a little more important, such as... oh i don't know... the protagonist making a complete 180 on how she feels about her life and everything in it? in the rare instances where some insight IS provided, it often amounts to—and i promise i am not making this up—the narrator just saying the character doesn't know why she decided to say something, or why she has a certain impression of someone, or why she feels the way that she feels at all.
"The next morning, for no reason, I felt happy [...] I felt good. I did not know why I felt so good. I felt like a bird about to fly."
for context, this passage:
1. comes 4 pages after this character is absolutely devastated and wallowing about how she just can't find it in herself to make any life changes / improve her situation
2. is immediately followed by a straight up montage of her picking up an old hobby, finding artistic fulfillment, cleaning up the space around her, engaging with her community, and signing up to volunteer. all within the span of 2-3 pages. again, in the author's own words, "for no reason."
yeah, whatever, the other characters also suck. this lady's dearest friends will just oscillate between being extremely rude and perfectly friendly toward her, time and time again, for no discernible reason. i don't know. i'm running out of steam here. i don't want to think about this anymore.
i'm sorry, i promise i'm not usually this big of a hater. i usually play the role of the Art Defender in cases like this. but this was such a consistently disappointing and frustrating experience for me and i just had to shout into the void about it
April 10, 2025
There is something very Ernest Hemingway about the writing here. I get why people may not like it but it works for me.
April 13, 2025
being dull and a bad friend and having no financial obligations: the novel
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2025
Got this book on a whim from Book of the Month, and imagine my absolute delight when I read the first chapter and realized it was set in one of my favorite places I have ever visited - Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. I know this book won’t work for everyone because it’s a book about nothing AND everything, but it really worked for me. I loved it.
April 24, 2025
“You have a duty to accept the trajectory of your life. You must not fight. If you try to fight your life, you will lose.”
This book was so unexpected and simple. It was like a meditation on different ways to live life, and ultimately understanding there’s never going to be a right answer. What will you do? What will you do? What will you DO?
Some people may not enjoy how plain the author’s writing style was, but I felt it made the storyline more real, and even poetic. This book was light and heavy and sad and happy all at the same time.
Would love to see more from this author.
This book was so unexpected and simple. It was like a meditation on different ways to live life, and ultimately understanding there’s never going to be a right answer. What will you do? What will you do? What will you DO?
Some people may not enjoy how plain the author’s writing style was, but I felt it made the storyline more real, and even poetic. This book was light and heavy and sad and happy all at the same time.
Would love to see more from this author.
April 11, 2025
Lowkey just confused as to the purpose of this book. The writing was good but highly repetitive. I fear I saw the same sentence written like 3 times on 2 consecutive pages. The only way I can describe this story is a nothing sandwich. The beginning was good and the end was decent and absolutely nothing actually happened in between. I was just kind of… bored.
April 22, 2025
my god this was fucking gorgeous. written in descriptive and declarative sentences (think: "I ate bread, and the bread was nice and good." - if that reminds you of something you read in high school it's because it's Hemingway coded af), we follow Ruth, a lost soul looking for a life that feels "real". this book is soooo moving, the way it describes friendship, love, life, grief, existential questioning, in the most simple of ways is incredible. this book feels like a really close hug, not sure how else to describe it. so good. read it.
April 22, 2025
Holy hell this is the worst book I’ve read in a while. Book of the month pick and boy did I pick wrong. This was so boring and bland. I haven’t DNF’d a book in years but I was close with this one. It actually pissed me off reading it because I just wanted it to end. Nothing happens and there is no plot. One of the most boring books I’ve read in a VERY long time.
April 11, 2025
DNF at 39%
September 13, 2025
1.6* rounded down
A privileged woman leaves her life to find herself in two small Guatemalan towns and finds a couple friends and exists and does nothing. Oh did I say Guatemala? Yes, but good luck understanding why the hell this book has to take place there beyond there being a lake. There’s an utter lack of culture or care put into the setting.
There were parts of this story I enjoyed, like the exploration of grief, but otherwise what was the point? The writing was also very choppy and repetitive. I found myself skipping a lot of paragraphs that contained unnecessary and dull information. The characters were all bland and boring to me, but I liked Emilie. Main character was a bad friend and a confusing narrator.
A privileged woman leaves her life to find herself in two small Guatemalan towns and finds a couple friends and exists and does nothing. Oh did I say Guatemala? Yes, but good luck understanding why the hell this book has to take place there beyond there being a lake. There’s an utter lack of culture or care put into the setting.
There were parts of this story I enjoyed, like the exploration of grief, but otherwise what was the point? The writing was also very choppy and repetitive. I found myself skipping a lot of paragraphs that contained unnecessary and dull information. The characters were all bland and boring to me, but I liked Emilie. Main character was a bad friend and a confusing narrator.
November 5, 2025
this book actually made me feel nothing which has never happened before so i almost want to give it an extra star for that accomplishment
April 12, 2025
Early release copy from BOTM. On paper a mid life crisis sentimental coming of age story is right up my alley for contemporary fiction. This book did feel ambitious in the themes Morton wanted to tackle but too many aspects fell completely flat for me. I think the beginning was awkward for me in terms of rebuking a "traditional western life" and needed to be a very solid foundation of character for Ruth to set up the rest of the novel. I feel like the reader was simply just told she's fed up with NYC instead of showing more of the relationships/work life that lead her to feel this way.
Once we get to the heart of the novel, the general apathy expressed by Ruth really permeates through every single character interaction and left me confused a lot of the time. Does she really appreciate what she has in each new "friendship" or is she just going through the motions in life, finding the path of least resistance. I see the themes that were attempted to be highlighted (existentialism, loss, mental health) but it just didn't work for me. When I read stories like this, my mind compares them to Tomorrow x3 or Hello Beautiful and unfortunately The Sun Was Electric Light just did not measure up. The prose also was weird for me and took some getting used to.
Once we get to the heart of the novel, the general apathy expressed by Ruth really permeates through every single character interaction and left me confused a lot of the time. Does she really appreciate what she has in each new "friendship" or is she just going through the motions in life, finding the path of least resistance. I see the themes that were attempted to be highlighted (existentialism, loss, mental health) but it just didn't work for me. When I read stories like this, my mind compares them to Tomorrow x3 or Hello Beautiful and unfortunately The Sun Was Electric Light just did not measure up. The prose also was weird for me and took some getting used to.
June 18, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ I truly enjoyed this story! And the polarizing reviews are quite interesting.
I feel just about everyone has had a moment within their life when they want to just drop everything and go somewhere exotic and start fresh with a simpler life. This book captures that idea and brings you along on this woman’s journey, with the ups and downs and the struggles that lie within.
Be warned….The author’s writing is direct and to the point, which I loved. If you like a story in which the author takes 4 pages to describe how a character is breathing, then this may not be the book for you. It’s fascinating how the author captures so much time in such a short novel.
Can we talk about how atmospheric this book is?!? I ended up only wanting to read this book when I was sitting on my balcony in the afternoon sun. For a book to literally take me there with so few words says a lot.
This is definitely not a book for everyone, but it’s a book that warrants a reread for me in the future. Honestly, if you liked this book, we should probably be friends. 😉
I feel just about everyone has had a moment within their life when they want to just drop everything and go somewhere exotic and start fresh with a simpler life. This book captures that idea and brings you along on this woman’s journey, with the ups and downs and the struggles that lie within.
Be warned….The author’s writing is direct and to the point, which I loved. If you like a story in which the author takes 4 pages to describe how a character is breathing, then this may not be the book for you. It’s fascinating how the author captures so much time in such a short novel.
Can we talk about how atmospheric this book is?!? I ended up only wanting to read this book when I was sitting on my balcony in the afternoon sun. For a book to literally take me there with so few words says a lot.
This is definitely not a book for everyone, but it’s a book that warrants a reread for me in the future. Honestly, if you liked this book, we should probably be friends. 😉
April 9, 2025
Got this as my Book of the Month and it was a slender and beautiful slice of a mid 30’s woman’s life. She’s trying to find an authentic life by moving to Guatemala and finds 2 different types of friends: chaotic vs stable. Also lots of unstable parents. I am very interested to see what’s next from this very talented Australian author.
April 12, 2025
This book was not for me. I found it boring and the characters very unlikable.
April 19, 2025
1.5 - I agree so much with the previous 1 star reviews under this novel. I wanted to be able to get into it so badly.
Firstly - for some reason I was under the impression this was a memoir until 30 pages in I realized the main character's name was different from the Author. It's because it reads like a diary page. I feel like someone is telling me small tidbits and details of their day to day life to fill a word quota. It's very simple. Words are repeated with little to no changes in adjectives or verbs. Ex: "I went and made coffee, then I brought that coffee outside where I then stirred my coffee and looked out into the lake while drinking my coffee." - There was also a weird spot where pizza was never brought up and then brought up 3 times in the same few pages in 3 different scenarios.
On the flip side I think I understood the plot of the book. There is a strong bond between the main character and two separate supporting characters. I'm under the impression that it is meant to show which path the main character should take. However, the main character is difficult for me to like and there is almost nothing given to us about her past, her family, her work experience, her education, her likes/dislikes, etc... I have no idea who this person is, what she looks like, what she desires, what her love language is, literally anything.
I would assume that someone who enjoys this novel, thinks that what I just said is the most important part to the plot.
Unfortunately I am not the right audience.
Firstly - for some reason I was under the impression this was a memoir until 30 pages in I realized the main character's name was different from the Author. It's because it reads like a diary page. I feel like someone is telling me small tidbits and details of their day to day life to fill a word quota. It's very simple. Words are repeated with little to no changes in adjectives or verbs. Ex: "I went and made coffee, then I brought that coffee outside where I then stirred my coffee and looked out into the lake while drinking my coffee." - There was also a weird spot where pizza was never brought up and then brought up 3 times in the same few pages in 3 different scenarios.
On the flip side I think I understood the plot of the book. There is a strong bond between the main character and two separate supporting characters. I'm under the impression that it is meant to show which path the main character should take. However, the main character is difficult for me to like and there is almost nothing given to us about her past, her family, her work experience, her education, her likes/dislikes, etc... I have no idea who this person is, what she looks like, what she desires, what her love language is, literally anything.
I would assume that someone who enjoys this novel, thinks that what I just said is the most important part to the plot.
Unfortunately I am not the right audience.
April 11, 2025
An emotional tale of belonging and friendship. The pacing was amazing and the page count was perfect for what it was!
April 22, 2025
a little too flowery for my taste personally but, i loved the descriptions of lake atitlan & how the story is woven together!
July 2, 2025
I really should stop reading these weird slice of life literary fiction. I don’t love them. But alas it was short.
Book 5 of June 2025 readathon!
Book 5 of June 2025 readathon!
June 25, 2025
EARLY RELEASE:
i am so sorry in advance for how harsh this comes out. i know it’s a debut for this author. but i truly am so disappointed with the fact i financially supported the publication of this book.
i was so excited about this book. the title immediately captured my attention, and the synopsis truly reeled me in — and that’s about where that ended.
i feel like i have one really terrible book every single year, and for 2025, this one take’s that spot. it reads like a failed middle school diary. BOTM published its early release with what seemed like little to no proofreading. and i know it is unfair to judge the interpretation of emotions from person to person in the human experience, but the way the author shoves grief into the tiniest misshapen box really infuriated me, as if it’s this simple black-and-white thing that is so easy to comprehend and endure.
the two polarizing friends in the synopsis? still looking for them, because the two that were actually written to accompany the main character had zero personality (aside from being judgmental and mundane and self-centered). the “forced to act” moment that’s also mentioned in the synopsis is basically the main character building her spine from the backs of others. no sense of self, even when she claims she’s finding where she belongs. she lets everyone push her around.
there’s just so much i could say. it felt so elementary. left a poor taste in my mouth. nothing was relatable, even with grief being a universal experience. i fell asleep multiple times reading this book. i mean truly there’s no reason it should have taken me a week to finish a 200-something page book.
the ONLY quote i liked:
“He told me how he had been lonely all his life and how he always thought that one day he wouldn't be lonely anymore. That somehow life would save him from it.
'But, Ruth? He leant forward. He almost whispered now. "It is something wonderous. Like a pearl that is made when the sand gets in. The sand gets in, it shouldn't get in, it is not meant to be there. But it gets in and it rubs and it rubs for many years and then —' he opened his hands out wide '—a beautiful pearl. The priceless thing. The thing that everybody wants. He became serious. But it takes many years, Ruth. It is an art to survive those difficult years. To wait for the beautiful thing."
there — i read it so you don’t have to.
i am so sorry in advance for how harsh this comes out. i know it’s a debut for this author. but i truly am so disappointed with the fact i financially supported the publication of this book.
i was so excited about this book. the title immediately captured my attention, and the synopsis truly reeled me in — and that’s about where that ended.
i feel like i have one really terrible book every single year, and for 2025, this one take’s that spot. it reads like a failed middle school diary. BOTM published its early release with what seemed like little to no proofreading. and i know it is unfair to judge the interpretation of emotions from person to person in the human experience, but the way the author shoves grief into the tiniest misshapen box really infuriated me, as if it’s this simple black-and-white thing that is so easy to comprehend and endure.
the two polarizing friends in the synopsis? still looking for them, because the two that were actually written to accompany the main character had zero personality (aside from being judgmental and mundane and self-centered). the “forced to act” moment that’s also mentioned in the synopsis is basically the main character building her spine from the backs of others. no sense of self, even when she claims she’s finding where she belongs. she lets everyone push her around.
there’s just so much i could say. it felt so elementary. left a poor taste in my mouth. nothing was relatable, even with grief being a universal experience. i fell asleep multiple times reading this book. i mean truly there’s no reason it should have taken me a week to finish a 200-something page book.
the ONLY quote i liked:
“He told me how he had been lonely all his life and how he always thought that one day he wouldn't be lonely anymore. That somehow life would save him from it.
'But, Ruth? He leant forward. He almost whispered now. "It is something wonderous. Like a pearl that is made when the sand gets in. The sand gets in, it shouldn't get in, it is not meant to be there. But it gets in and it rubs and it rubs for many years and then —' he opened his hands out wide '—a beautiful pearl. The priceless thing. The thing that everybody wants. He became serious. But it takes many years, Ruth. It is an art to survive those difficult years. To wait for the beautiful thing."
there — i read it so you don’t have to.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2025
To quote Tyra Banks: "this was so bad that I want to give you a zero. But since that's not possible, I'm giving you a one"
I really wanted to like this book. the premise sounded like a great "finding yourself" type novel, and I want to support authors in their debut books. But as I read, I found myself feeling more and more that the author should've stuck to poetry and left novels alone.
the writing was choppy and repetitive, and honestly, it sounded a lot like when children write their first big paper. There were so many sentences that were approximately 5 words and could've been 1 longer sentence, but instead, we got basically "i prepared my coffee. I poured my coffee in a mug.i brought my coffee to the garden. I drank my coffee" type sections of the book.
the characters felt flat, and I didn't care for them. our fmc had huge 180⁰ mood swings from feeling inspired and alive to feeling like everything was awful, then back again. no real build-up to these changes. Carmen was meant to be the free spirit in the book but honestly came off kinda like a b!+ch. at one point, our fmc wasn't replying to Carmen's texts, so Carmen came over, looked around the house and then cursed out the fmc, and left???? this was never addressed further, no reason for her angry outburst, nothing.
why were we given so much build-up at her job with the boys to something bigger going on with their mom, just to have it go nowhere? no resolution.
also, why were all the main characters, either tourists or children of tourists, who stayed?? there were so few characters who were actual locals of the village. It felt like there was no culture shown that wasn't through a visitors lens.
overall, I really wanted to like this book, but it was almost my first dnf in my life about 6 times while reading.
I really wanted to like this book. the premise sounded like a great "finding yourself" type novel, and I want to support authors in their debut books. But as I read, I found myself feeling more and more that the author should've stuck to poetry and left novels alone.
the writing was choppy and repetitive, and honestly, it sounded a lot like when children write their first big paper. There were so many sentences that were approximately 5 words and could've been 1 longer sentence, but instead, we got basically "i prepared my coffee. I poured my coffee in a mug.i brought my coffee to the garden. I drank my coffee" type sections of the book.
the characters felt flat, and I didn't care for them. our fmc had huge 180⁰ mood swings from feeling inspired and alive to feeling like everything was awful, then back again. no real build-up to these changes. Carmen was meant to be the free spirit in the book but honestly came off kinda like a b!+ch. at one point, our fmc wasn't replying to Carmen's texts, so Carmen came over, looked around the house and then cursed out the fmc, and left???? this was never addressed further, no reason for her angry outburst, nothing.
why were we given so much build-up at her job with the boys to something bigger going on with their mom, just to have it go nowhere? no resolution.
also, why were all the main characters, either tourists or children of tourists, who stayed?? there were so few characters who were actual locals of the village. It felt like there was no culture shown that wasn't through a visitors lens.
overall, I really wanted to like this book, but it was almost my first dnf in my life about 6 times while reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2025
“It is an art to survive those difficult years. To wait for the beautiful thing.”
I love the premise, the idea of leaving your present life behind in search for one full of more meaning... but the writing is just a bit too slow for me at the moment!
I love the premise, the idea of leaving your present life behind in search for one full of more meaning... but the writing is just a bit too slow for me at the moment!
April 17, 2025
Well I think I got my worse book of the year out of the way. There are so many great books about loss and finding yourself; this is not one of them. If you like short choppy basic sentences that tell you everything rather than show this book is for you. It also does this uncomfortable thing about the location and people that feels very white washing, like any place could be substituted in.
April 15, 2025
A bit of a strange read. Cerebral, thought-provoking, and melancholic.
April 30, 2025
I can’t believe I paid for this book
July 17, 2025
I read this mostly on holiday so enjoyed the dreamy existentialisms for a while but didn’t deliver in a lot of ways for me. When serious stuff happened and I felt nothing?? Felt a little robotic or cheesy when there was maybe just enough emotional potential in the subtleties.
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