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#BookReport 09/24

I read a lot again this week. I had high expectations of all three of them, too high I think in hindsight. Hard Girls is really good, just not what I expected. Both others, hmmm 🤷🏻‍♀️

This book felt like a De Beauvoir-about-Sartre novel of the 21st century. Set in Stockholm instead of Paris, still very European. Intellectual talks, misunderstandings, casual sex. It didn‘t really work for me, I didn‘t like the three main characters and their conversations. Other than that, nothing much happens unfortunately.

#ATY24 - Two word title starting with The #52BookClub24 - Abrupt ending

We follow Hugo, August and Thora during their studies in Stockholm. It‘s a love story, a friendship story, yet there‘s a distance throughout, which could be because this is translated from Swedish. An intense story with no real plot, slow and at times frustrating, but I also liked it. Imagine the relationships in Conversations with Friends crossed with Elena Ferrante‘s writing maybe? It also left me hanging, and I kind of liked that too.

I enjoyed this book, which reminded me a little of Sally Rooney (but no one can quite write these types of stories like she does). Wonderful character development and I loved how the story progressed as told from three different perspectives until the end. A portrait of the small ways we make decisions in our lives that don‘t always make sense.

repost for @BarbaraBB:

March 2024 picks for the #EuropaCollective! I‘d love to read both and can‘t wait for your votes. Links to the books in the comments! Thanks for hosting Jamie!

#Buddyread

vote on the original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2585718

Hmmm. I‘m not sure I liked this but I persisted to the end. I couldn‘t see how there was enough fire in the relationship to cause so much distress. Maybe it‘s those cool Scandinavians.

The scenery might be more interesting if you live In Stockholm or grew up there. The story however is both more free from time and place. When do you really know someone and what does it mean to share a life or part of a life?