Litsy

so-so

I loved the first third of this NBA longlister for Fiction in Translation.

Then it got VERY repetitive and long-winded.

The final third was more interesting but I‘d already guessed what was going to happen, although not the ultimate ending, so that lessened the impact a bit. That, and the fact that i5 was all rather depressing, kept this as a so-so..

BarbaraBB Kudos for finishing it. I haven‘t read it yet but read another one that I enjoyed a lot. 3w

Hooked_on_books Good job pushing to the end, though! I love the idea of this book but where was the editor?! 3w

58 likes2 comments

Hooked_on_books

The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje

so-so

This is a supremely frustrating book. The writing is great, but it is in desperate need of editing. It goes on and on in a way that just makes it a slog, then finally perks up in the last quarter. The only reason I stuck with it was that I was determined not to bail on two #NBAshortlist for translated lit books in a row. If you try to read it and get bogged down, I recommend skipping forward to chapter 11 and going from there.

BarbaraBB Thanks for the heads up. I want to read it too but it‘s such a chunkster. I now know what to expect. 2mo

squirrelbrain Gah! I was so looking forward to this one….. 2mo

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo

43 likes3 comments

squirrelbrain

The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje

Another 4 books on the National Book Awards longlist. I had no idea the tagged book was such a chunkster until it arrived!

I also have 2 on order from eBay but they‘re not arriving for a few weeks yet.

I‘m reading The Antidote in print - it‘s too early to say what I think yet. I‘m also listening to The Sisters on audio and, goodness me, it‘s long! 😬

Hooked_on_books

AnneCecilie The Sisters is amazing and worth its length 3mo

squirrelbrain I‘m quite a long way through it @annececilie and usually I don‘t mind a lot of detail but it‘s just starting to grate on me a little bit. 😬 3mo

AnneCecilie @squirrelbrain I love details and have also read several of his previous novels and enjoyed them. 3mo

See All 6 Comments

Hooked_on_books I‘m also listening to The Sisters on audio! I‘m at the 60% mark and so far I‘m a little underwhelmed. I really feel like the first half didn‘t know whether to center the narrator or the sisters and ended up a little disjointed. I don‘t know that I would have made it through in print. And I didn‘t know the tagged was so chunky, either! 😱 3mo

squirrelbrain I‘m probably around the same point as you @Hooked_on_books - I‘m struggling with knowing / understanding the timescales as it seems to jump about all over the place. Funnily enough a blurb on the bag of the tagged book says ‘not a moment too long‘ (or wtef)! 😜 3mo

BarbaraBB The Dutch one is a chunkster but she‘s such a good writer. You‘ll probably fly through it!

The Remembered Soldier

3mo

60 likes6 comments

Mattsbookaday

The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje

pick

The Remembered Soldier, by Anjet Daanje (2019, transl. 2025)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A former soldier experiencing severe amnesia and PTSD struggles to recover his memories and life after he is brought home from an asylum by a woman who identifies him as her husband.

Review: This is a stunning, deeply moving literary love story that will reward patient readers. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday I say patient because it‘s well over 500 pages long, and it employs long, run-on sentences and paragraphs. But the pay-off is beyond worth any annoyance. This will almost certainly be among my top reads of the year.

Bookish Pair: The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa (2005, transl. 2009) 3mo

BarbaraBB Great review. I loved The Housekeeper and Daanjes other book (which hasn‘t been published in English yet) so this is a must read for me!

Song of Stork and Dromedary

(edited) 3mo

13 likes2 stack adds2 comments

Blueberry

The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel | Yoko Ogawa

#Maid. #CharacterCharm

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs I can relate…my partner has less than 5 minutes short term memory now, but can recall events from 50 years ago 4mo

Blueberry @Eggs I'm sorry to hear that. It's challenging. I've had Cptsd with dissociation for about 5 yrs which makes my immediate memory bad...like what am I saying right now. But I believe I'm getting better. Prayers for you and me. 4mo

Eggs @Blueberry Sorry to hear that 😟 dear. I pray for healing for you 🧡 4mo

51 likes3 comments

TheBookgeekFrau

What Alice Forgot | Liane Moriarty

#CharacterCharm #Amnesiac

Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs Do you recommend this one? 4mo

TheBookgeekFrau @Eggs Yes. It's nothing you expect it to be; and the way Moriarty rolls it out makes unputdownable 4mo

37 likes1 stack add2 comments

NovelNancyM

The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel | Yoko Ogawa

pick

I truly enjoyed this book except for the last paragraph which didn't seem to fit with the conclusion. I'd rate it a 4.95 if I could. A beautiful story about memory loss, friendship, love, mathematical formulas, and Japan.

BarbaraBB I loved this too 5mo

35 likes1 comment

Jari-chan

Housekeeper and the Professor | Yoko Ogawa

so-so

Ogawa writes beautifully and sometimes even dream-like. But I do prefer her newer books to her older ones. I knew that this one wasn't going to my favorite. As a person with dyscalculia I just let the characters go on about maths and how to solve this and that. I would have loved to learn more about the professor's condition and how he deals with it.

36 likes

Jari-chan

Housekeeper and the Professor | Yoko Ogawa