Rated this 3.5, rounded up to 4 on GR. I give the author credit for creating a truly innovative novel structure. Oona lives her life each year at a time, just out of chronological order. Her body never syncs with her mental age, creating some uncomfortable situations but (because she time hops forward and backward) also gives her wisdom beyond her years as she experiences for the first time something she already knows has happened in her life.
For the first 3/4 of the book, I was hooked by the novelty of the story, likeability of the lead character (mistakes and all) and unpredictability of the book. Sadly, this petered out in the last 25% and I started picking apart the dialogue, correctly predicting characters’ fates, etc. This is also a cleverly constructed book but not a beautifully written one. I only noted 2 memorable quotes, as opposed to 15+ from Where the Crawdads Sing, which I finished 2 weeks ago. I still liked the book well enough (a good summer read) but I am disappointed that the ending fell fairly flat.
For the first 3/4 of the book, I was hooked by the novelty of the story, likeability of the lead character (mistakes and all) and unpredictability of the book. Sadly, this petered out in the last 25% and I started picking apart the dialogue, correctly predicting characters’ fates, etc. This is also a cleverly constructed book but not a beautifully written one. I only noted 2 memorable quotes, as opposed to 15+ from Where the Crawdads Sing, which I finished 2 weeks ago. I still liked the book well enough (a good summer read) but I am disappointed that the ending fell fairly flat.