First of all: I've been reading and commenting some versions of this book along the line as I'm privileged to know the author and be trusted by her. So my view might be biased as I've been seen many sides of this.
But even though I'm biased, I was highly, highly impressed and have no other option but to give this a full five stars out of five, as it truly is that good. Though I was familiar of the tone, the story and the themes, I was still blown away as so many themes unfolded in a fresh new way. It starts out as seemingly random, but slowly reveals a carefully planned network of symbolism and timely themes in a timeless way.
Very clever, yet beautifully hidden. This is the way to do it; make it smooth and easy on the surface, but be sure that the foundation is strong and complex. Like one of my favourite quotes: "Be like a duck. Stay calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath."
So simple, everything unnecessary stripped out. A perfect length; a long, art film and/or a short novel.
Continuing from there: this is highly innovative, fading the line between a radio play, a book, an audiobook and even a film. Hard to put in a box, maybe unnecessary too.
Great acting, though I don't really like the voice actors. And I didn't really care for the characters either, but it still works. And for me that's the beauty of it.
As for the printed book, it's a beautiful object and works as such, but as of the structure it refers to the audio version. And it truly doesn't need anything else, text-wise. Related to Scenes from a Marriage and Before Sunrise, but well acknowledging both works, so it's simply perfect in that sense.
As for the themes and the subject, this was way deeper and more philosophical than I thought. I approached this finalized and definite listening round with a thought in mind; that this was basically a study on love, romanticism and about choice in our modern society. I thought this would have some kinship with Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari, pondering the question on why we have such a hard time staying IN love and who do we belong to and so on... but as this whole thing unfolded I fell deep into a sea of themes and a depth that was way more than that. This is a deep exploration of life, community, tribe, passion and yes, love. It shows that the seemingly shallow and privileged thoughts on l o v e and c h o i c e isn't really about that last kiss or the lack of it, it's not about Sufjan Stevens picking his guitar and making you cry because you can't have it all... it's about a cosmic sense of deep loneliness, of the very essence of our existence and our profound need to love one another in our own ways.
And yes, there's a romantic song playing in the end. And it's just perfect.