Reviews

A cethal gyomrában by Sjón

braedonlowey's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

shnewton's review against another edition

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4.0

I liked it a lot but can think of more people who would not like it than would like it.

harleywarren's review against another edition

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4.0

beautifully written tale of a lost soul. The fragmented narrative, although confusing at times, adds to the overall appeal of the story, while the protagonist is constructed like a real person in history with all of the foibles that any individual would possess. Masterful poetry.

ed_correa's review against another edition

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3.0

Este libro tiene una dualidad que impresiona. Por un lado explora una especie de surrealismo atractivísimo, donde se logra describir de una forma maravillosa una época que se ve poco narrada con una perspectiva así de realista, donde se siente hasta la baja o nula escolaridad de sus personajes. Interesante.
Por otro lado, y quizás por esa misma característica, es un libro que exige mucha atención de parte del lector, tanto así que cuando uno lee algún fragmento estando distraído es más fácil de la cuenta perder el hilo de los hechos.
Un punto muy importante es que no puedo dejar de mencionar que el prefacio o la introducción de este libro es probablemente una de las mejores piezas de ficción narrativa que he leído en mucho tiempo.

joannaelisasor's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

dooney24's review against another edition

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5.0

Lyrical, magical, funny, sad, and above all, raw in the way that only wind and words can make.

mattdube's review against another edition

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3.0

This kind of worked for me-- the story of a man's life, Jonas, told at the end of it, as he reflects and philosophizes and tries to stay alive on a series of equinoxes and solstices in the 1630s. There's a lot of excess in here, from bad science to weird philosophy to potted history and the narrator is kind of annoying. But you read and you read and eventually you're pretty committed to his story and I'll admit that I felt some things when some things happened to old Jonas.... Still not my favorite thing, and I think a lot of the historical events that were interpolated into the book sailed over my head. But it had its moments.

carenp's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

breqthis's review against another edition

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I have no idea how to rate this book so I won’t. 

It was recommended by a coworker for embodying how Iceland feels when you visit. And I see it: it’s told through monologues and soliloquies of the main character, albeit through indirect storytelling. Which was fantastically done, I just wasn’t in the right mindset for that level of abstraction. 

It does, however, make me want to travel to Iceland more, so 10/10 rec, bless. 

space_owl_'s review against another edition

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4.0

I found this to be a grimy and realistic representation of witchcraft. It had me researching on farmer forums to see if maggots really can be found burrowing in a bull’s horn.