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What scares you the most? Ghouls, vampires, slime-fanged aliens ...or something terrible that truly could happen? For me it's definitely the latter.
Our narrator, Jon, is a historian witnessing the most monumental event of humanity but at a great distance. He feels compelled to keep a record of the people isolated with him in a vast hotel. He collects their stories and feelings in the faint hope that some sort of civilisation will survive long enough to rediscover them. Through his journal we experience what it would be like to be aware that the world was ending, billions dying, but be totally disconnected from the horrific events.
Most books set during an apocalypse are fraught with traumatic dashes, violent brushes with death, horror and misery. There are elements of that here but this book mostly poses the question of what you would do if there was little drama but lots of time to dwell on things. The people in the hotel are comparatively safe in an old hotel surrounded by forest. They wait for something to happen, for someone to rescue them, or perhaps just for their food to run out. Jon embarks on a quest to solve one cruel murder, taking him down a path of mistrust and near hysteria.
I enjoyed the blend of dystopia and murder mystery; the first half of the book reads like a modern day progeny of George Orwell and Agatha Christie. Asking your audience to imagine bombs wiping out entire countries but then drastically limiting their focus to one death amongst multitudes is startling. I also liked the references to real people and places, there were definite shades of the Cecil Hotel here for a true-crime/horror podcast junkie like me to appreciate. However, I do feel that the novel lost it's way towards the end - trying to be all things to all people perhaps. It's definitely worth reading and I'm keen to see more from this author.
Our narrator, Jon, is a historian witnessing the most monumental event of humanity but at a great distance. He feels compelled to keep a record of the people isolated with him in a vast hotel. He collects their stories and feelings in the faint hope that some sort of civilisation will survive long enough to rediscover them. Through his journal we experience what it would be like to be aware that the world was ending, billions dying, but be totally disconnected from the horrific events.
Most books set during an apocalypse are fraught with traumatic dashes, violent brushes with death, horror and misery. There are elements of that here but this book mostly poses the question of what you would do if there was little drama but lots of time to dwell on things. The people in the hotel are comparatively safe in an old hotel surrounded by forest. They wait for something to happen, for someone to rescue them, or perhaps just for their food to run out. Jon embarks on a quest to solve one cruel murder, taking him down a path of mistrust and near hysteria.
I enjoyed the blend of dystopia and murder mystery; the first half of the book reads like a modern day progeny of George Orwell and Agatha Christie. Asking your audience to imagine bombs wiping out entire countries but then drastically limiting their focus to one death amongst multitudes is startling. I also liked the references to real people and places, there were definite shades of the Cecil Hotel here for a true-crime/horror podcast junkie like me to appreciate. However, I do feel that the novel lost it's way towards the end - trying to be all things to all people perhaps. It's definitely worth reading and I'm keen to see more from this author.
ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Museum of Broken Promises in Books
Sep 8, 2019
I would absolutely visit this museum!
This is a story about a museum that contains the physical objects that symbolise a broken promise or a betrayal to those who have donated them (and this is SUCH a good idea for a museum!). The Museum of Broken Promises is in Paris, and its owner Laure chooses the items that go in to the museum after she either speaks to the donator, or simply reads the note that is sent with the item. Laure has experience in these matters: her own object sits in the museum.
I don’t know what I was expecting from this novel, but I was so surprised by the way this story progressed. Laure as a young woman becomes an au pair for a Czech family in Paris after her father dies. She then realises that she needs a break from university to grieve and get away from her life for a while. So when the family return to Prague for the summer, Laure goes with them. And so begins her life behind the iron curtain.
What follows is a love story between Laure and a musician and political activist, Tomas. We see how restricted people and their thoughts were, and we see why Laure becomes the woman she is in present day Paris.
I really liked the way we moved back and forth through time with Laure, and got to see Prague before its Velvet Revolution, Germany just after the Wall comes down and Paris in the present day. Laure is far more complex a character than I expected her to be at first.
I adored this book. It’s a sad story told so well - and I warn you that the end should be read with tissues to hand.
Many thanks to the publisher Corvus and NetGalley for my copy of this book, and to Pigeonhole for actually making me read it on time (I love my Pigeonhole gang!)!
I don’t know what I was expecting from this novel, but I was so surprised by the way this story progressed. Laure as a young woman becomes an au pair for a Czech family in Paris after her father dies. She then realises that she needs a break from university to grieve and get away from her life for a while. So when the family return to Prague for the summer, Laure goes with them. And so begins her life behind the iron curtain.
What follows is a love story between Laure and a musician and political activist, Tomas. We see how restricted people and their thoughts were, and we see why Laure becomes the woman she is in present day Paris.
I really liked the way we moved back and forth through time with Laure, and got to see Prague before its Velvet Revolution, Germany just after the Wall comes down and Paris in the present day. Laure is far more complex a character than I expected her to be at first.
I adored this book. It’s a sad story told so well - and I warn you that the end should be read with tissues to hand.
Many thanks to the publisher Corvus and NetGalley for my copy of this book, and to Pigeonhole for actually making me read it on time (I love my Pigeonhole gang!)!
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BookwormLea (3034 KP) rated Fangirl in Books
Sep 29, 2020
I'm glad I finally got round to reading it...
Contains spoilers, click to show
This has been on my list for a long time. And when it came to choosing my books to take on holiday, I decided I should let Rainbow have her shot. Now, I'm glad I finally got round to reading it but thats not to say I loved it. I didn’t hate it, it was actually a rather lovely ending, but the journey to get there was soooooo long. I would classify myself as an introvert most day, at the risk of being stereotypical. But obviously Caths case is far more serious. But because of this, and not knowing anyone as serious as her, I couldn't follow. I don't see how she could have someone as lovely as Levi around her all the time and not be at least a little more accepting of strangers. And why go to college if all you want to do is write? At least she has a path chosen.
But, aside from that, the book is really lovely. You see a more realistic side to teen love. Slowly getting to know each other because quickly falling in love and not even realising it. And as inexperienced as Cath is, she's never forced into anything or made to do something she doesn't want to. And unlike a lot of other similar books, when her poor excuse of a mother comes back, she doesn't go running into her arms and all is forgiven. That just wouldn't happen. Similarly to Wren's alcohol poisoning. In most teen reads, they drink all they want with no consequences but Rainbow explored the apparently unheard of possibility of a teen underage drinking to the point of hospitalisation.
So, because of the realistic aspects, it was a brilliant book. But because I can't relate completely to the FL, or understand her very much, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have.
But, aside from that, the book is really lovely. You see a more realistic side to teen love. Slowly getting to know each other because quickly falling in love and not even realising it. And as inexperienced as Cath is, she's never forced into anything or made to do something she doesn't want to. And unlike a lot of other similar books, when her poor excuse of a mother comes back, she doesn't go running into her arms and all is forgiven. That just wouldn't happen. Similarly to Wren's alcohol poisoning. In most teen reads, they drink all they want with no consequences but Rainbow explored the apparently unheard of possibility of a teen underage drinking to the point of hospitalisation.
So, because of the realistic aspects, it was a brilliant book. But because I can't relate completely to the FL, or understand her very much, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have.
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