Elena > Recent Status Updates

For everything that Mrs Elm says, she's never helpful. She always replies in questions or just ignores questions and keeps saying "that's not the problem" , "it's not like that" , "don't you understand?". So Mrs Elm rarely adds something useful, even though she is a central character too.

This was a moment I literally rolled my eyes and banged my head against the book - SO ANNOYING!!!!
"Yet, she sensed that, for all the perfection here, there was something wrong amid the rightness. And a thing that was wrong couldn't be fixed because the flaw was the rightness itself. Everything was right, and yet she hadn't earned this."

DAMN YOU NORA
And the book goes on and on like this every time. Whyyyyy

The book keeps getting boring. If the option of lives is neverending, and each life can take two pages without affecting the next lives, what's the point of reading all of this??
Delirious.
And nothing really satisfies this girl.
"This seemed pretty good. Almost annoyingly good. It was an excess of good". Pfff. I want to tell her - get a life!

Interesting to see different conversations and dialogues that give us more content and context, without being told. It feels a little empty.

Not a fan of the writing or the different lives of Nora's. Although each life has a little detail worth remembering, and it could make a puzzle in the end, I'm always wondering - why am I reading this?
I am halfway in and this book hasn't captured me, contrary to all my other readings. I'm usually obsessed in the beginning and lose interest later.
I'm sticking to reading this till the end for its popularity and fame.

I can see that this is an old book.
For example, Ways of describing a woman are so dated and cringe (not to say sexist) today. I'm past that part, but I remember reading "very feminine bottom under a skirt" etc.
Hurting a child with a belt is not child abuse. They say "he's violent and he's loose with his belt, but he doesn't beat his children. It's not child abuse". I know current society wouldn't be so sure.

"Their frantic lovemaking by the river" was unexpected and he "planned to take her right there". "Their frantic lovemaking by the river" was unthinkable. "Their frantic lovemaking by the river" hadn't changed the fear she felt.
I didn't think I didn't think this was an erotic novel, but their frantic lovemaking by the river proved me wrong 🤣

Like it happens for a lot of my books, I was loving the story when I was just learning who the characters are, where they are and how they lived. But as the plot thickens, the book loses many points. The way characters talk about tragic events, it's disappointing. A plot twist and big discovery was just shoved in the middle of a chapter, in a dialogue, while everyone pretended like it's just something normal to hear.

Getting closer to the end, the mystery is unveiling and is getting solved. There are optimist moments that make it a nice read.
Although questions in every paragraph are not stopping. Literal questions in Rachel's mind "how could she do this now?" Or "what happened to her brother". Every paragraph? We don't need that reminder. It's just annoying and stops the flow. so. Many. Times.

The premise is good, that your reality depends on what you wish for, it depends on how you think - good or bad things will come back at you, like a mirror.
One thing that annoys me is that every 5 sentences there's a mention to the brother she lost. Every paragraph's action is interrupted by the same repetitive thought ever and ever again.

Never have I read a book so dark and grotesque, because I stay away from this kind of nonsense. I feel better thinking that this book is good enough to be written by someone on drugs.
Many of the bridegroom's chapters are just thoughts about some random morbid, macabre stories. Flesh, blood, hair and an "engraved tooth" are overused words.

Every page, I battle with the thought of turning to the next page or just throwing the book in the trash and never looking at it again (well, it's from the public library so I can't really do that). I am choosing to keep reading because I want to know what happened, how it ends. I'm scared, every character is mentally ill, but there's a dark horror story there. It's testing me. I'll be strong.

Eeeewwwww!!! Paedophilia!!! What the hell, Chokshi
Are they all SICK?!?!
Starting the book, I am skeptical I will ever like it, because I accidentally saw that trigger warners include "adult predation of a child, bullying, murder".
The narrator must be schizophrenic and I'm waiting for the solution of a mystery.
The first few pages has a few too many erotic mentions.
Children in this book are violent and unhealthy.

"Local" is giving me vibes of "World of Wonders". Some stories about the culture and history, with memories from personal life. I gave " wonders" 3/5 stars - although it was poetical, philosophical and dreamy, it was hard to make sense of what I was reading at times.
Constant Hawaiian names and words that I can't learn from only reading once in my life, that is actually very challenging and a bit discouraging

I have never been to Hawai'i and this is the first work that is making me understand a little about the islands and their people. I have lived in Portugal and it is nice to sense a bit of familiarity with her father, although all his descriptions are extremely different from the Portuguese I know.
Childhood memories dominate the 1st chapter. 2nd dives in sex related topics, which was unnecessary and inadequate, imo

Haven't read the 3 books before, because I found this for $1 in a NY bookstore. Story has too many names and too many people - very hard to keep track; frustrating when there's not much explanation of who the people are and what is their role; and difficult to understand if you should memorize one name or if it's just a one-time mention.
The book is touching and encircles you with the anxiety felt by Germans in 1933.